<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This paper presents a content analytic approach on doctoral dissertations in the field of distance education in Turkish Higher Education context from the years of 1986 through 2014. A total of 61 dissertations were examined to explore keywords, academic discipline, research areas, theoretical/conceptual frameworks, research designs, research models, tests and analyses, data collection tools, participants, variables/research interests, and leading contributor institutions. It is believed that this study can be beneficial to the field of distance education in Turkish context to identify research trends and set a research agenda by exploring dissertations that were published between 1986 and 2014.</abstract>

Research Trends in Turkish Distance Education: A Content Analysis of Dissertations, 1986-2014

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Wikis, being one of the popular Web 2.0 tools, have impacted students’ engagement and performance particularly in the aspects of second and foreign language learning. While an increasing number of studies have focused on the effectiveness of wiki in improving students’ writing skills, this study was conducted to examine the attitudinal factors that influence English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ group collaboration in using wikis for a writing task that was divided into three phases: pre-writing, individual-construction, joint-constructions. Data collected from these students after completing this task was analyzed based on three attitudinal aspects: motivation, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use. The findings reveal high mean scores for all aspects. Further multiple regression analysis reveals that motivation is the most important factor associated with group collaboration, indicating the need to boost students’ motivation to encourage effective collaboration in completing wiki writing tasks.</abstract>

Attitudinal Factors Affecting Wiki Group Collaboration for English Writing

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The effective communication between the learners and the tutor-counsellor has been proved to significantly promote the positive emotions, reduce the negative ones and reinforce the learners’ participation in a distance learning program. The main purpose of our research is to investigate the emotions experienced by the learners of the Hellenic Open University (HOU) and how these emotions may vary through interaction with the tutor-counsellor. In order to carry out the research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was implemented. Data collection was performed via an anonymous questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The sample of the research consisted of undergraduate and post-graduate students of the HOU. Our findings confirm the dominant place occupied by emotions in the learning process, a place that has been until recently entirely attributed to reason, while highlighting the communicative and supportive role to be taken by the tutor-counsellor in distance learning programs.</abstract>

University of Crete, Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Education

Secondary Education Teacher, Kavala, Greece

Emotions Experienced by Learners and their Development through Communication with the Tutor-Counsellor

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Open educational resources (OER) have been identified as having the potential to extend opportunities for learning to non-formal learners. However, little research has been conducted into the impact of OER on non-formal learners. This paper presents the results of a systematic survey of more than 3,000 users of open educational resources (OER). Data was collected between 2013 and 2014 on the demographics, attitudes and behaviours of users of three repositories. Questions included a particular focus on the behaviours of non-formal learners and the relationship between formal and non-formal study. Frequency analysis shows that there are marked differences in patterns of use, user profiles, attitudes towards OER, types of materials used and popularity of different subjects. The experience of using OER is fairly consistent across platforms in terms of satisfaction and impact on future behaviour. On the whole, non-formal learners surveyed were highly positive about their use of OER and believe they will continue to use them. With regards to this making formal study more likely some degree of polarization was observed: some believed formal study was now more likely, while others felt it made this less likely. On the whole, while non-formal learners are enthusiastic about using free and online resources, the language and concept of OER does not seem to be well understood in the groups surveyed. A range of findings relating to OER selection and use as well as differences between repositories are explored in the discussion.</abstract>

Who are the Open Learners? A Comparative Study Profiling Non-Formal Users of Open Educational Resources

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Online fora have become not only one of the most popular communication tools in e-learning environments, but also one of the key factors of the learning process, especially in distance learning, as they can provide to the students involved, motivation for collaboration in order to achieve a common goal. The purpose of this study is to analyse data related to the participation of postgraduate students in the online forum of their course at the Hellenic Open University. The content of the messages posted is analysed by using text mining techniques, while the network through which the students interact is processed through social network analysis techniques. Furthermore, sentiment analysis and opinion mining is applied on the same dataset. Our aim is to study students’ attitude towards the course and its features, as well as to model their sentiment behaviour over time, and finally to detect if and how this affected their overall performance. The combined knowledge attained from the aforementioned techniques can provide tutors with practical and valuable information for the structure and the content of the students’ exchanged messages, the patterns of interaction among them, the trend of sentiment polarity during the course, so as to improve the educational process.</abstract>

A Learning Analytics Methodology for Detecting Sentiment in Student Fora: A Case Study in Distance Education

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Millions of users around the world have registered on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered by hundreds of universities (and other organizations) worldwide. Creating and offering these courses costs thousands of pounds. However, at present, revenue generated by MOOCs is not sufficient to offset these costs. The sustainability of MOOCs is a pressing concern as they incur not only upfront creation costs but also maintenance costs to keep content relevant, as well as on-going facilitation support costs while a course is running and re-running. At present, charging a fee for certification seems to be a popular business model adopted by leading platform providers.In this position paper, the authors explore possible business models for courses, along with their advantages and disadvantages, by conducting a literature study and applying personal insights gained from attending various MOOC discussion fora. Some business models discussed here are: the <italic>Freemium</italic> model, sponsorships, initiatives and grants, donations, merchandise, the sale of supplementary material, selective advertising, data-sharing, follow-on events, and revenue from referrals. This paper looks at the sustainability of MOOCS as opposed to the sustainability of MOOC platforms, while observing the tight link between them.</abstract>

Massive Open Online Courses and Economic Sustainability

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In many countries, <italic>open and distance education</italic> is perceived as a way to meet the growing need for higher education. This paper explores the development of online and distance education in three countries that are still a white spot on the landscape of international distance education research although they have implemented elaborated distance education systems: Turkey, Russia and Saudi-Arabia. In order to understand the current state of distance education systems in the three countries, their respective systems are described from a historical perspective, compared in regard to their organization, important institutions for open and distance education and current developments. This comparative analysis directs the focus on little investigated education systems and contributes to an enhanced understanding of their past, present, and future.</abstract>

Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany

University of Münster School of Business and Economics, Germany

The Development of Distance Education Systems in Turkey, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 26 (2024): Issue 1 (March 2024)

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European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning

Call For Papers for the EURODL Special Issue: “The Integration of Generative AI (GenAI) in Teaching and Learning”. The deadline to submit your full paper is 28 February 2024.  Aims and Policies  The European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL) is an electronic, multi-media, open access journal. It has no article processing charges (APCs) and not article submission charges.  The double blind peer-review journal publishes the accounts of research and presents scholarly work and solid information about open, distance, online and e-learning in technology-enhanced education and training in its most inclusive definition since 1995.  By covering all sectors within education and training, this e-journal promotes the work of researchers and practitioners in education and wishes:   to present a forum for discussion of ODL issues at all educational levels and in all training contexts;  to create a place where European concerns and experience of the learning potential in new educational media can be articulated;  to exchange ideas on cross-cultural collaboration and knowledge transfer;  to explore and demonstrate the potential of electronic publication;  to weave links between journal contributions and other resources and forums in European ODL.   The language of publication is English, with an abstract in the author's chosen language. Additionally, there is an option to publish the originally submitted paper's identical copy in another language; however, this latter contribution is not refereed. The journal allows all the languages of Europe to appear, as the abstract and/or the optional contribution will be in the chosen language of the authors and will therefore extend e.g. from Lithuanian to German.  Focal Themes of EURODL   Implementing distance and e-learning in traditional contexts  The influence of various concepts and methodologies of education and training  Developing and implementing institutional strategies  Searching for best practice in support of professionalisation  Coping with resistance in existing "cultures" (research – teaching – management)  Learning process design, teaching methodologies  Learner support, student-teacher interactions  Teacher and tutor training  Collaborative learning issues  New technologies and new learning: concepts and models  Developing and designing new models of production and delivery in ODL and e-learning  Multimedia approaches, virtual education and virtual mobility issues  E-Learning environments and platforms  Informal arenas of learning – learning opportunities in daily life and the workplace  Social networking and learning  Quality, evaluation and accreditation challenges  Quality assurance, quality management systems and frameworks in distance and e-learning  Evaluation and benchmarking methods and procedures  Standardisation issues  Assessment and accreditation of courses and institutions  The European dimension and cultural factors in ODL  The influence of political, institutional and cultural traditions on ODL  Open, distance and e-learning in international contexts: motivation, interests and experience in the educational world  Values in European approaches to distance and e-learning in a global context  Impact and achievements of EU initiatives in the fields of distance and e-learning  Distance and e-learning policy and development  Modernisation of education in policy – Evolution of the discourse about ODL and e-learning from historical perspectives  The state of art of the technology-methodology development; consolidating the distance and e-learning practice for the new knowledge societies  The role of internationalisation in the consolidation, standardisation and professionalisation of the European ODL and e-learning  The role of e-learning and distance education in the modernisation process of economies, societies and education systems  Management and Organisational Development  Logistic and organisational challenges  Strategic leadership and organisational change in distance and e-learning contexts  Management styles for distance and e-learning organisational development  Economic models for distance and e-learning activities   Copyright Information ©  European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning is the journal of the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) published by Sciendo.  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.   BACK ISSUES:  EURODL volumes published before 2014 are available here. 