Supporters of distance education highlight the many advantages of online learning as compared to face-toface education, such as greater openness, diversity of teaching materials, adjustment to student learning styles, the speed of learning, and more. Despite the advantages, the growing number of programs, and the increased acceptance of distance education in national strategies worldwide, distance learning providers are faced with the problem of dropouts. Studies have shown that the dropout rate in distance educational programs is higher than the dropout rate in traditional programs. Understanding of the reasons and determinants behind dropping out of an educational program is a challenging task for educators, researchers, and policymakers. In this paper, we describe the main characteristics of distance education, and analyze the models that try to describe and prevent students from dropping out of these programs. Our analysis suggests that the circumstances that affect the dropout rate should be considered in the planning and implementation of distance education programs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes towards learning and perceptions of the learning environment. Our theoretical examination is based on the social-cognitive theory of motivation and research that emphasizes the connections between an individual's perceptions of the learning environment and his/her motivation, interest, attitudes and confidence. Recent theories that deal with 'powerful learning environments ' (Fraser, 2002) stress that the teacher should not look only at the physical aspects of the environment in which learning takes place, but also at the learner's perceptions and beliefs. The importance of multiple aspects of learning environments will be stressed and some recommendations for improving the effectiveness of these environments will be given. Additionally, some theoretical concepts of learning environments will be reviewed. We will examine empirically the differences and correlations that occur in adult learners' motivation and attitudes due to their psycho-social and physical learning environment. An international comparison between various post-socialist countries has also been carried out.

In this research, we have examined the characteristics of university students’ motivation and its connection with perceptions of the learning environment. Higher education teachers often find it challenging to decide how to organize their lectures and what instructional strategy they should use to be most effective. Therefore, we endeavoured to determine which  characteristics of the learning environment best predict the motivational orientation of students and their satisfaction with the course. The survey included 120 postgraduate students of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana. In order to measure their motivation, we employed several scales of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich etal., 1991). For the purpose of this research, we created a new questionnaire for their evaluation of the learning environment. The results revealed a high correlation between the intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy, and control beliefs. The most important factors of the learning environment that are connected with the formation of intrinsic goal-orientation and the enjoyment of education are the perception of the usefulness of the studied topics, a feeling of autonomy, and teacher support. To an extent, these findings are supported by the findings of those authors who recommend using those methods of teaching that are in compliance with the student-centred understanding of teaching and learning.

<p class="2">E-learning is a rapidly developing form of education. One of the key characteristics of e-learning is flexibility, which enables easier access to knowledge for everyone. Information and communications technology (ICT), which is e-learning’s main component, enables alternative means of accessing the web-based learning materials that comprise the content of e-learning. However, these materials can help provide a good educational experience only if they are designed carefully, which is especially true for people that have difficulties with learning from text or those with other learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia). The main obstacle to learning for such people is usually posed by the form in which web-based learning materials are provided. Using guidelines from relevant literature, this article provides a checklist that assesses the degree to which web-based learning materials take account of the needs of people with disabilities, especially those with dyslexia. The article focuses more on the technical aspects of web-based learning materials, as they are a crucial factor that can influence the accessibility of web-based learning materials.</p>

The article analyzes the key competence of "learning to learn" from the cognitive and metacognitive perspective. "Learning to learn" is one of the competences identified by the European Commission as a key to successfully addressing the challenges of the 21st century. In this paper, we argue that the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of learning are most important to gain an understanding of this key competence and enable individuals to pursue an independent and successful learning at school and beyond. Research into these processes began in the early 1980s, especially in the fields of cognitive and educational psychology, and a lot of correlation was found between cognitive learning strategies and learning achievements. It is argued in the article, that learning to learn is a competence that needs to be developed through formal schooling and beyond. It affects changes in teaching approaches and organization of students' learning as a whole.