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Teaching venues are playing an important role in the filed of open and distance education (ODL). In China's ODL system over 70% enrolled students are from Radio and TV Universities (RTVUs). Many off-campus teaching venues of e-colleges in 67 conventional universities have been established in RTVUs at prefecture and city level. In this article, the authors have done a direct survey on the data of distance education cost over the past consecutive 4 years in 21 RTVUs at prefecture and city level from 3 provinces (Xinjiang, Hunan and Fujian) in China's western, central and eastern areas, and empirically studied the scale effect in teaching venues at prefecture and city level under the hypothesis condition-teaching effect of ODL and conventional education is the same. The study result illustrates that the average student cost of RTVUs at prefecture and city level demonstrates a scale economy feature, that is, with the expansion of enrolled students scale, there is a fall in the average student cost. The study indicates large differences between average student variable cost and average student cost, which shows a possible average cost reduction in RTVUs at prefecture and city level. In terms of geographical and economic differences, some imbalances of development have been found among RTVUs at prefecture and city level. A quadratic form regression model has been established for doing this research in the perspective of education economics. The results of the regression show that the optimal enrolled student number of RTVUs nationwide at prefecture and city level is around 7,800. For provinces, the most optimal enrolled student numbers are as follows: 9,100 for Fujian, 3,800 for Hunan, and 2,200for Xianjiang, which can serve as the reference for expanding scale economy in ODL. The research finding also indicate the changes in student average cost resulting from the changes in scale, the problem of determining investment direction. It is suggested that more input which benefit the quality improvement of distance education should be made.

Web-based course assessment is a new thing at China's Open University – China Radio and Television Universities (China RTVUs). This article reports an innovative pilot study in this research area. The experimental course for integrated web-based assessment in this study is Advanced English Writing, which is a compulsory course in the B.A. English programme at China Central Radio and Television University (CCRTVU). The study started in March 2005 and it is still in progress at the moment. This article first describes the webbased assessment design of the course and the implementation procedures. Then it moves on to report some initial feedback from the student participants on the pilot study. The article ends with a tentative plan for further actions based on the current study.

The purpose of this paper is to identify staff skills and competencies on which Chinese open universities should focus their professional development activities in order to enhance the quality of open and distance learning (ODL) in China.

Data were collected from surveys of 220 academic and academic-related Chinese staff, each of whom participated in one of seven 3-day Learning Design and Course Creation (LDCC) workshops at three large regional open universities in China between 2017 and 2019. The workshops were based on the UK Open University (UKOU) approach to learning design (LD) and course creation. Using content analysis methodology, textual responses were analysed and compared against the Instructional Design Competencies framework provided by the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (IBSTPI).

(1) Designing instructional interventions, (2) keeping up to date with design theories, (3) communicating in order to manage stakeholders, teams and projects were the main competencies identified from the participants responses. However, these three identified competencies differed in emphasis between the institutions that took part.

In Western higher education institutions (HEIs), LD has developed as an important approach to improving quality. A need has been identified for robust approaches to quality and professional development opportunities to enhance teaching and learning standards in open and distance learning (ODL) in China. This paper identifies and discusses specific LD skills and competencies that could be targeted to improve the quality of ODL in China.