Researching the efficacy of online learning: A collaborative effort amongst scholars in Asian open universities

This article reports on a collaborative effort amongst scholars from ODL institutions across Asia that resulted in an analysis of the status of online learning. Eleven leading open universities participated in this project, each having representatives join the project team. The exchange among team members and data collection was conducted solely online and comprised the following three stages: (1) continuous email exchange; (2) institutional profile survey; and (3) student perception survey of online learning. Altogether, 1906 students returned valid questionnaires. The results reveal an array of methodologies used to design, implement and deliver online learning and include the perceptions of users on the advantages, disadvantages and barriers to learning online from an ODL perspective in Asia.