According to the QAA (2005) one of the consequences of Higher Education’s emphasis on autonomous learners is the emergence of new strategies to promote autonomy, including distance learning and the use of electronic materials. The combination of optimum online conditions for autonomous learning though is far from established. Studies considering HE courses which are delivered fully (without face to face interactions) online were not found. Moreover when autonomy was considered in online learning it was often as part of a broader study and was not a subject in its own right, evidence on autonomy seeming then incidental to a wider investigation. Some initial indications of how autonomy may be facilitated online may be drawn.

The fully online nature of the Ultraversity degree is coupled with principles of collaborative community learning, and prominence is given to individuality and negotiated learning, independent learning planning, peer review, reflective study modules, action research projects, staffing by experienced personal learning facilitators and the multi media approaches to learning and assessment.
Ultraversity then draws upon a range of methods of delivery and engagement which are not new or necessarily unique, but they are unique in combination and in the scale of success

My research questions then are:
i. What are the strategies used in online higher education to promote the development of autonomous learning?
ii. How effective are these strategies?
iii. What strategies may be further developed to promote the advancement of autonomous learning in online higher education?

The first step in answering the research questions was to undertake some reconnaissance observations; that is looking at what strategies are provided to promote the development of autonomous learning. This reconnaissance was completed by observing provision the of resources - the provisional findings of this first part may be seen here.