Has distance education entered the mainstream of higher education？

Junhong Xiao

In the past five decades， distance education practitioners have been striving so hard to enter the mainstream of higher education. This article reviews the ‘mainstreaming process of distance education from a historical perspective. Informed by existing literature， it first classifies the convergence of distance education and campus-based education into three types： dual-mode， add-on/blended， and full convergence， with the last type having yet to be fully realized. It then analyzes the interplay between these two models of education. Implications of convergence are discussed with the main argument that distance education universities should be proud of the increasing presence of distance education in campus-based universities but with confidence to maintain their advantages in distance education provision and that campus-based institutions should adopt a systems approach to integrating distance education into their campus-based practice if they intend to take full advantage of distance education. The article concludes with the assertion that distance education has entered the mainstream of higher education not because it is part of campus-based education but in its own right.

Keywords： distance education； online education； campus-based education； open university； campus- based university； convergence； mainstream

Using big data to improve educational research

Wunong Zhang

Educational research has always been striving to be rigorous. An important aspect of educational research is data processing， including the establishment of data models， data acquisition and analysis， as well as data pattern discovery， which leads to the formulation of theories. Nevertheless， education is humanistic in nature. Different approaches between scientific methods and humanistic interests make natural science research methods confronted with difficulties in the field of education research. The big data method tends to be more humanistic than scientific， which somehow softens the contradiction between the two， and thus， is of great value in ensuring the rigorousness of educational research. But the big data method is far from perfect with limitations of its own which need to be clarified.

Keywords： Big data； big data methods； classical science； scientific data； educational research； scientific； value； limitations

Construction mode and quality assurance of massive private online courses：

The case of the Open University of China

Lei Shi， Gang Cheng， Zhimin Liu and Liguo Feng

Massive Private Online Courses （MPOCs）， as a new form of online courses and instruction， developed from Massive Open Online Courses （MOOCs）， with both individualized instruction and timely service， have become a development trend of online education， a profitable operation for educational institutions. The Open University of China （OUC） adopts MPOCs for its course delivery and learner support due to their massive and private access， grouping facilities， payment functions and teaching team support. Drawing from existing online course quality indexes， the authors construct an MPOC quality model covering five main dimensions， instructional team， technology， administration mechanism， course design and development， and course delivery， and depict the work flow of OUC MPOCs covering design， development， delivery， quality assurance mechanism， etc. The authors also analyze the achievements of OUC in terms of development cycle， learner and teacher satisfaction， learning behavior data， learning outcomes and learner pass rate， hence verifying the MPOC quality model.

Keywords： MPOCs； MOOCs； online courses； quality model； quality assurance； course construction mode

Is open and distance learning ready for the digital innovations？

Ramesh Chander Sharma

Information and communication technologies （ICTs） have greatly transformed all sectors of our life. Over the past few decades， technology in its simple or complex form has brought grand changes in the way instruction and learning is designed and delivered. It has significantly influenced the Open and Distance Learning （ODL） sector. Expansion of the Internet has been a big catalyst for such transformation. New tools and technologies offer teachers innovative ways to plan， design， deliver and evaluate teaching and learning. This article discusses some innovations in digital technologies and their implications for teaching and learning in the digital society. It also examines the readiness of ODL for such digital innovations.

Keywords： ICT； big data； learning analytics； artificial intelligence； mobile learning； Internet of Things； virtual and augmented reality； open and distance learning

Data governance： Means and methods to improve the quality of educational data

Qing Li and Junhong Han

With the development of the Internet and information technology， data has become an important asset related to the development prospects of society and all industries. How to analyze and utilize data effectively becomes an issue of immediate relevance， which is what ‘data governance is about. With the increasing use of IT in education， enormous amount of data has also been accumulated in the field of education， so the need of educational data governance is urgent. In order to popularize the concept of data governance and introduce its practices into the field of education， this study summarizes data governance practices through literature review and case studies in e-government， health care and financial fields. Suggestions are put forward to solve the problems in educational data governance， including setting up educational data governance organizations， establishing and improving data standards， promoting data sharing at different levels and dimensions， implementing and improving data privacy protection mechanisms， and developing data management platforms. Finally， the paper introduces two specific cases of educational data governance.

Keywords： data governance； big data； data quality； use of IT in education； education data； quality management； data standards； organization framework

（英文目錄、摘要譯者：劉占榮）