Volume 9, numéro 2, juin 2008

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Distance education in Brazil has evolved more slowly than distance education offerings in other developing countries. This is because all aspects of Brazil’s publicly-funded educational system are excessively regulated, highly bureaucratic, and tightly centralized. Such highly centralized bureaucracy and strict control has resulted in tremendous hurdles that work to thwart the adoption, provision, and diffusion of distance education. This is not good news: Like many developing countries, Brazil is also characterized by wide gaps in wealth distribution, with 20 percent of its population functionally illiterate and living below the poverty line. Distance education, therefore, could be used to help train Brazil’s citizens. Brazil’s emerging status in the global economy, however, is generating enormous opportunities that are fueling demand for change. For example, in their quest to be competitive in the emerging global economy, Brazil’s corporate sector has addressed this challenge by establishing corporate universities to train and educate their employees; much of this corporate training and education takes place online and at a distance. The established and emerging educational opportunities provided by Brazil’s corporate sector, in turn, is fuelling the demand for the provision of distance education throughout Brazil. Indeed, most Brazilians are ready for distance education. Many Brazilian households own television sets and cellular telephones, and its expanding communication infrastructure has capacity to support distance and continuing education models. Moreover, this capacity is currently being used by Brazil’s rapidly expanding corporate university sector. In spite of Brazil’s emergence in the global marketplace and its private-sector educational success stories, Brazil’s public educational institutions have not kept pace. This is due to Brazil’s long-standing stringent regulation of its public education sector. Recent public initiatives, however, such as the Open University of Brazil, do hold promise in fueling the growth of distance education to meet the needs of its citizens, poor and rich alike. This paper analyzes the evolution of distance education in Brazil. It explores interrelationship between the nation’s corporate and publicly-funded higher-education sectors, and the influences Brazil’s highly regulated distance education practices has on the corporate environment. The paper concludes with a broad-brushed overview of ‘success stories’ of Brazil’s corporate universities.

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This study examines a) the methods used to structure the pedagogy necessary to underpin distance education delivery used by the Hellenic Open University (HOU); b) the adoption of pedagogical and epistemological conceptual systems HOU uses for the development of its pedagogical practices; and c) the role of information and communication technology (ICT), and the degree of ICTs incorporation into distance education delivery at HOU. This study shows that: a) in terms of providing rigorous course contents, strong framing exists between HOU’s various learning modules; b) in terms of pedagogical practices, there is a strong hierarchical relationship and framing between HOU’s academic staff and tutors, while conversely, framing is weaker between its tutors and students; c) in terms of ICT usage HOU, in general, uses technology for administration, while conversely, and depending on the program of study, it currently only has limited use for student learning.

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Social loafing research has spanned several decades and fields of study. Research has provided support for both the existence of social loafing and its antecedents within the laboratory, classroom, and work place. Studies regarding the perceptions of social loafing and its effects in the online learning environment, however, are largely non-existent. This study surveyed 227 online learning students who were participating in online learning groups. The study seeks to determine whether the perception of social loafing exists within online learning groups. In addition, several psychosocial factors identified in face-to-face environments are analyzed to determine their impact in online learning groups. Evidence supports both the perception of social loafing in online learning groups as well as similarities between social loafing antecedents in face-to-face groups and those in the online learning environment.

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Positive perceptions of online course communication and collaboration have been associated with better academic outcomes, while self-regulatory learning behaviors have also been linked to academic achievement and other positive learning outcomes. In the current study, we examined whether self-regulatory learning behaviors may be considered as mediating the relationship between student perceptions of online course communication and collaboration with academic achievement as measured by grade point average (GPA). Results indicate that online self-regulatory learning behaviors, though not strongly associated with academic achievement in and of themselves, do mediate the positive relationship between student perceptions of online course communication and collaboration with academic achievement.

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While Garrison and colleagues’ (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework has generated substantial interest among online learning researchers, it has yet to be subjected to extensive quantitative verification or tested for external validity. Using a sample of students from 55 online MBA courses, the findings of this study suggest strong empirical support for the framework and its ability to predict both perceived learning and delivery medium satisfaction in online management education. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential implications for online management education researchers and those interested in further study of the CoI framework.

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Although online courses at postsecondary institutions promise adults access, flexibility, and convenience, many barriers to online learning remain. This article presents findings from a qualitative case study, which explored the phenomenon of undergraduate and graduate women learners’ persistence in online degree-completion programs at a college in the Northeast of the United States. Research questions asked why women learners persisted or failed to persist, and how factors supporting or hindering persistence influenced learners. Interviews with a purposeful sample of 20 participants revealed the complexity of variables affecting learners’ persistence to graduation. Findings suggested that multiple responsibilities, insufficient interaction with faculty, technology, and coursework ranked highest as barriers to women’s persistence. Strong motivation to complete degrees, engagement in the learning community, and appreciation for the convenience of an online degree-completion option facilitated persistence.

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As students increasingly opt for online classes, it becomes more important for administrators to predict levels of potential academic success. This study examined the intrinsic factors of emotional intelligence (EI) and personality to determine the extent to which they predict grade point average (GPA), a measure of academic success, among students attending community college. Stepwise multiple regression revealed that EI emerged as the most significant direct predictor of GPA. The addition of personality to EI significantly increased the amount of variance accounted for in GPA. Main conclusions are that soft skills are pertinent to academic success and may constitute a useful profile of the successful online student that could be applied to marketing, advisement, quality assessment, and retention efforts.

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In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing ePortfolios to serve multiple purposes from recruitment to evaluation. This p aper analyzes ePortfolios created by graduate students at a Canadian university. Demonstrated is how students’ constructions can, and should, be more than a simple compilation of artifacts. Examined is an online learning environment whereby we shared knowledge, supported one another in knowledge construction, developed collective expertise, and engaged in progressive discourse. In our analysis of the portfolios, we focused on reflection and deepening understanding of learning. We discussed students’ use of metaphors and hypertexts as means of making cognitive connections. We found that when students understood technological tools and how to use them to substantiate their thinking processes and to engage the readers/ viewers, their ePortfolios were richer and more complex in their illustrations of learning. With more experience and further analysis of exemplars of existing portfolios, students became more nuanced in their organization of their ePortfolios, reflecting the messages they conveyed. Metaphors and hypertexts became useful vehicles to move away from linearity and chronology to new organizational modes that better illustrated students’ cognitive processes. In such a community of inquiry, developed within an online learning space, the instructor and peers had an important role in enhancing reflection through scaffolding. We conclude the paper with a call to explore the interactions between viewer/ reader and the materials presented in portfolios as part of learning occasions.

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This paper presents research on a convenience sample of the Open University of Sri Lanka’s engineering faculty. Examined in this research are faculty’s opinions on the instructional strategies they use to teach engineering courses at a distance. First, this paper details the pedagogical strategies used by the faculty, which is then followed by an overview of faculty’s opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of engineering courses offered by the Open University of Sri Lanka. Recommendations are given to improve the overall effectiveness of the engineering courses. It is anticipated the adoption of these recommendations will result in greater student competency and lower drop-out rates.

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This paper examines one of the traditional technologies of distance education, radio, and presents examples of educational and community radio usage in Asia and Africa. Instead of merely transposing western approaches to distance education in developing countries, it is suggested that the developed world can learn from uses of radio in developing countries, and that the medium deserves greater attention as a means of giving educational opportunity to rural, isolated peoples worldwide.

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This paper looks at the diffusion and applications of mobile phone technology in Asia and Africa, compared with North America. It indicates that Asian distance education can be the global leader in the development of educational uses for the mobile phone; and it considers the potential for mobile learning in Africa and other developing regions. The paper concludes that it would be a serious disservice to learners and instructors if Asia and Africa were to cast their lot with Web-based learning. By comparison, mobile phone technology is widespread, easy to use, and familiar to learners and instructors.