not Web based. 

These Web courses provide credits which are transferable and can eventually lead to an 

undergraduate degree. The costs are as follows: 

   $20 in addition to the normal cost per credit hour ($250) to take a distance taught course. 

   Non credit program courses cost about $90. 

The dates of the for credit courses are in line with the traditional semesters. Students taking 

the non credit program must still participate in set cohorts, but the dates are more flexible. 

Open and Distance Teaching Universities 

The open and distance teaching universities are established to serve distance education 

students with their special needs. In many ways, the web is just another technology to serve 

the students. Hence, the web is not as revolutionary for open and distance teaching 

universities as it is for other universities. It is worth while to note that Massey and Corry 

(1999, ii) state that few providers [of online post secondary education] developed an online 

strategy that contributed to an overall institutional mission. However, the exceptions were the 

open and distance universities. 

Among the open and distance teaching universities in the CISAER analysis were The 

Athabasca University [22], Open Learning Agency [26], the Open University of Hong Kong 

[28], Indira Gandhi National Open University [42], the Open University of the Netherlands 

[54], Universidade Aberta [71], UNED [80 82], and the UK Open University [108]. 

The Athabasca University [22] (

http://www.athabascau.ca/html/courses/online.htm

) in Canada 

offers 40 courses in: Information Science, Nursing, Social Sciences, Computer Information 

Systems, and Psychology. The course on  Accessing Information  is print based but it requires 

students to have access to a computer with modem. One of the units in the course deals with 

accessing information over the Internet including the web. Course work on nursing courses 

includes participation in e mail, computer conferencing, and exploration of web sites. An 

electronic reference shelf of web research and document sites is provided for the social 

science courses. Computing and psychology courses are developed for delivery using the web 

and computer mediated communication. Athabasca University students have a choice of 

either studying courses as home study or as ViTAL (Virtual Teaching and Learning). A course 

package in ViTAL includes the software, Lotus Notes, and some print materials, i.e. 

textbooks. Depending on the course, students will download course materials from the ViTAL 

server or the electronic course materials will be included in the course package. 

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