Maintaining e³‐learning while transitioning to online instruction: the case of the Open University of Indonesia

Abstract

The Open University of Indonesia (Universitas Terbuka, UT) has over 450,000 students distributed across a vast, diverse archipelago. UT will play a central role in meeting the requirement that over 1 million primary teachers earn four‐year postsecondary degrees by 2015. While the Open University has considerable capacity in print‐based and CD‐ROM‐based instruction, the university must begin to provide its students with greater online learning opportunities. In this article we describe the challenges faced by the Open University in augmenting online instruction. Lessons learned from the university’s history of print‐based distance education, combined with growing experience with online instruction at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, provide a way forward as the Open University increases online instruction of in‐service teachers while maintaining and enhancing efficient, effective, and engaging learning.

Keywords:

• distance education
• Indonesia
• online learning
• teacher education