Converting traditional distance learning into fully online learning: A case study of practice at the Open University of Jiangsu

Xiangyang Zhang
The Open University of Jiangsu
Nanjing, China

Shu-chiu Hung
Ming Chuan University
Taiwan

The Open University of Jiangsu (OUJS) is an accredited, publicly funded, distance education institution with administrative offices in Nanjing. In 2012, the Ministry of Education of China granted it the status and name of a genuine university with the right to issue bachelor’s degrees (non-honours) to adult students. This was a key development from the Jiangsu Radio and Television University (its former name), a provincial educational branch offering the Central Radio and Television University courses. The new University has now been converted from a blended teaching educational institution into a fully online teaching university.

This case study describes how the OUJS was changed into a fully online teaching university. The study adopts a systems framework to focus on the circumstances and issues concerning the online programmes delivery and the student support services.