Many distance learning programmes include an element of face-to-face tuition. This paper reports on a research project concerned with various issues related to face-to-face tutorials in the Open University of Hong Kong's distance education system, including students' expectations of the benefits they will gain; their reasons for attending; the approaches they prefer; and their overall satisfaction with what tutors actually provide. Some comparisons are drawn between students in the university's different schools-and the overall findings are compared with those reported for distance learners in the West, in an effort to assess the impact of cultural context on student attitudes to tutorials. The research found that the Hong Kong students' attendance at tutorials was very high compared to that found in other similar studies, possibly reflecting Hong Kong's geographical compactness, but also possibly reflecting a preference for face-to-face meetings; that the students looked for specific guidance and support from tutors within a largely directive framework; that even where the format of the tutorial departed from the students' expectations, the students did not necessarily give the tutorial a low evaluation, provided that it was a fruitful experience; and that the cultural context within which a distance education system operates affects students' expectations and learning styles.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/026805100115452]

Because most previous studies on college student performance have focused on conventional learning environments in Western cultures, in this study the authors evaluated factors related to student performance in the open and distance-learning environment in Hong Kong. Using two-way cross-tabulations with chi-square testing and equality of academic performance by proposed factors, the authors examined 168 students in a distance-learning business communication course. Results show that tutorial attendance, gender, relevant academic background, previous academic achievement, and relevant learning experience were related to student performance. The results are mostly similar to those of prior studies despite differences in culture, teaching mode, and subject.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Business is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320209599674 ]

Some critics have commented that online courses may discourage teacher–student interaction, which is considered by teachers and researchers as an important element in language learning. A total of 60 associate degree students who attended an online English course in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire asking them about their effort and interest in learning English, their anxiety about computer applications, their self‐monitoring capability, their interactions with the teacher and their peers and their competence in English. Analysis of variance results showed that those students who perceived themselves as more competent had more favourable perceptions of their interaction with the teacher than did those who were less competent, but for all other variables the two groups did not differ. The findings imply that online language learning does not necessarily diminish interaction. Instead, the level of interaction may depend on the learners' sense of competence in the target language.
[Copyright of Educational Media International is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523980600641429]

An urgent need for a relatively large number of qualified Putonghua language teachers in Hong Kong has led the Open University of Hong Kong to establish a distance education programme for in-service language teachers, most of whom are non-native speakers. The programme designed by the university involves distance study coupled with regular face-to-face tutorials, and is designed to enable the in-service teachers to apply their learned knowledge directly in their daily teaching. The article explains how evaluation of the first presentation of the course in 1996 showed that the course alone could not fully address the actual deficiencies in the teachers' Putonghua listening and speaking skills while, additionally, there was also a need to restructure the teaching methodology component of the course. The basis upon which these judgements were made is explained, and the steps taken to strengthen the course to meet these perceived deficiencies, while not adding to the students' workload, are outlined.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/026805100115434]

In order to build a knowledge‐based society and meet the needs of lifelong education, open learning opportunities are growing at exponential rates. While such growth is commendable, there appears to be a very strong demand for distance guidance services in open education programme selection. The purpose of this study was to develop the online self‐directed inventory, the Academic Programme Preference Instrument (APPI), for the lifelong learners in Hong Kong. The methods of questionnaire survey and standardized psychological measurement were employed. In this study, 2775 respondents were surveyed in order to identify and verify the inventory, using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. The inventory consists of 112 items under nine personal attribute types, namely: organizational; mechanical; scientific; sociological; mathematical; literary; musical; aesthetic; and social service. Eighty‐nine distance and continuing education professionals were invited to help to determine the most important personal attributes that a learner should possess in order to meet the minimum entry requirements of each of the 73 education programme categories that account for over 800 open education programmes in Hong Kong. The online APPI, in English and Chinese versions, has been linked to the homepage of the Hok Yau Club in Hong Kong for the public to use freely. As Hong Kong aims to foster lifelong learning in a knowledge‐based society, it is expected that the APPI can help lifelong learners to make wise open education programme selection and to enhance learners’ success in pursuing continuing education.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370600990952]

This paper uses the case-study method to examine detailed data related to student and tutor usage of an asynchronous discussion board as an interactive communication forum during a first-semester associate degree course in applied psychology at the City University of Hong Kong. The paper identifies 'what works' in relation to discussion board use, demonstrating how students might gradually create an online community of their own, but only if prompted in a timely and appropriate way by the course structure. It also identifies three distinct phases in online interaction and suggests these might, to some extent, be mediated by assessment tasks.
[Copyright of ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687760701673592]

Conceptions of learning and preferred learning approaches have been suggested to vary cross-culturally. The extent to which learning is 'student-centred' or 'teacher-centred' also appears subject to cultural variation. This has led some to conclude that particular cultures exhibit learning preferences more suited to distance learning than do other cultures. This article examines the strategies that students from varying cultural backgrounds use to manage the experience of the isolation of distance learning. Two distinct isolation experiences emerge that reflect differences in the perceptions of the student-teacher relationship. These, it is argued, can be classified as a 'surrogate teacher' model in the Asian cultures of Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia and a 'student identity' model in Europe.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0268051032000131035]

This paper discusses cost-effectiveness as it applies to education, focusing particularly on the delivery of online courses in open and distance learning. The general concept of cost-effectiveness is discussed, and issues concerning the costs and effectiveness associated with using online technology in distance education are then addressed. Finally, a pilot project on an online course at the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) is used as an illustrative example. The key features of the pilot project relating to costs and effectiveness are outlined, and ways to improve its cost-effectiveness in implementing its second stage are suggested.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/026805100750036908]