Britain's Open University is an innovative and highly successful distance learning program that utilizes television coursework and printed materials to extend college and graduate-level education to nontraditional, nonlocal students. Founded in 1969 with financial support from the government and a commitment of airtime from the BBC, the Open University offered its first courses in January 1971. Targeted at working adults who had not continued beyond on to higher education, it was an immediate success: over 40,000 people applied for 24,000 places. In 1994 over 200,000 students were enrolled, making it Britain's largest university. It has served as the model for other distance education programs in over 30 countries worldwide, including Holland, Spain, Germany, and Australia.

The Open University is "open" in several senses. First, it is open to applicants of any age or background. Unlike conventional universities in England, there are no entrance requirements of any kind. It has also been especially useful for traditionally underserved populations, such as people with disabilities. Second, it is open in the sense that it utilizes an array of educational methods, including television and radio broadcasts, small group tutorials, mailed correspondence lessons, and on-campus summer school sessions. It is also expanding its use of new information technologies enabled by modem-equipped personal computers, such as electronic mail and online conferences. Third, it is open in the sense of place. It has no campus and is equally accessible to students from even the most remote locations. (Administrative offices and production facilities are maintained in Milton Keynes, England). Fourth, it is open in terms of time. Students can set their own schedule and progress at their own pace; there is also no time limit for completion of a degree.

Originally to be called "University of the Air," television played a key role in the Open University concept from the beginning. It was felt that television served as a crucial bridge to the "average" nonacademic person. It also provided a human dimension to the prevailing distance education model then known as correspondence study; through television, students could "meet" their faculty. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, television offered the most cost-effective means for delivering higher education content to a mass public.

Open University courses are developed by teams of academic, education, and media specialists. Course materials generally consist of printed booklets that contain the lessons, supplementary readings, and specially-designed broadcast notes and exercises to accompany the television programs. Televised lessons are approximately 30 minutes in length, aired during nonpeak viewing times on BBC 2, and usually repeated during the same week. Videocassette recorders enable many students to time-shift their viewing to more convenient times.

The Open University contracts with the BBC for production of the programs. Initially, most were studio productions (in black and white) but location shooting was increasingly added as more experience was gained in the educational qualities of the medium. In addition, some courses utilize archive footage from the BBC. Because the Open University pays for production costs, the programs are produced solely for use in coursework and not for wider commercial appeal. Nevertheless, some programs are no doubt watched by the incidental viewer, who may develop an interest and end up taking a course.

Television brings a number of unique abilities to the teaching/learning experience: it can interview a leading authority in the field under study; illustrate abstract mathematical and economic concepts through animation; demonstrate scientific experiments, speeding them up or slowing them down; and visit actual sites of sociological, anthropological, or historical interest.

Great care is taken in course planning and execution to attain quality standards equivalent to conventional universities. An Open University degree has become well respected, and credits received are transferable to regular universities. Indeed, many Open University students, perhaps as many as two-thirds, have the academic credentials to attend regular universities but choose not to for a variety of personal or logistical reasons.

-Jerry Hagins