ENHANCING DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENTS' LEARNING EXPERIENCE THROUGH EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Providing excellent and rich students' learning experience is a challenge that most distance Higher Education Institutions face, due to the distance nature of students' interaction with tutors, peers and content. Nonetheless, innovative and emerging technologies can be a powerful enabler in providing authentic and immersive students' learning experience and in preventing students' feelings of isolation and alienation, especially in distance education. For this reason, the newly established Laboratory of Educational Material and Methodology (LEMM) of the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) developed a long-term plan, in which emerging technologies are utilized through a student-centered, interactive course learning design methodology, in order to enhance distance students' learning experience. In particular, this paper discusses the design and development of pilot implementations, in which LEMM, in collaboration with the respective academic staff, integrated emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, digital games, scenario-based simulations and automated assessment tools, in OUC courses. These pilot implementations offer valuable insights regarding LEMM's ongoing long-term plan of integrating emerging technologies in OUC's teaching, learning and assessment.