During the pandemic crises, online learning has moved from the margin to the centre of education, thus making a change in the educational paradigm. The degrees of technology acceptance, therefore, pose a major challenge to administrators, educators, and students, including lifelong learners from all fields of work. This paper aims to investigate how technology acceptance facilitates lifelong learners’ continuing learning intention. By constructing a structural equation model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory and verifying the mediating role of learning satisfaction and the moderating role of affective support empirically, this study addresses the online learning characteristics in terms of self-efficacy, satisfaction, and willingness to learn in the context of lifelong learners. Data were collected from the questionnaires embedded in the courses at a distance teaching university. A total of 513 questionnaires have been retrieved and 488 valid questionnaires have been processed and analysed via SPSS 26.0 and Amos 24.0. The findings indicate that positive relationships and positive correlations between learning satisfaction and continuing learning intention juxtapose, and satisfaction is positively correlated with continuing intention. Moreover, affective support moderates the three components significantly. The results of this research help expand the applicability of the TAM theory with more practical significance, conveying positive messages to the administrators, educators and lifelong learners in continuance of online learning, and thus maintaining retention, particularly in the post-pandemic new normal for the sustainability of higher education.

Regional disparities in quality education remain a sensitive issue in developing and developed countries and also in basic and higher education. The issue for the moment is especially crucial for open educational institutions regarding the stability of the open education ecosystem and the capacity for sustainable development. Our research focuses on the aspect of the quality of teaching and learning and its enhancement. In the study, we systematically explored the regional disparities of teaching and learning quality in local study centres with samples of 72 from Jiangsu Open University (JOU), China. With statistical toolkits and a typological research paradigm, we have identified the ranking of the local study centres according to holistic performance. By the clustering methods, we categorised the local study centres as belonging to four types: potentially contradictory, urgently to be reformed, less cost-effective, and normatively autonomous in terms of their basic attributes, learners’ support services, and teaching commitment. The research findings proved that the region where the study centres are located did have impacts on the quality of teaching and learning, and the scalability of student enrolment. The authors conclude and suggest that mitigation of the regional disparities in quality education will facilitate the optimisation of the local study centres in the regional education ecosystem and maintain sustainable development.