Learning and teaching in a changing world

Abstract

In early 1995, thirty-seven scholars from around the world pooled their ideas and assembled the book Open and Distance Learning Today (Lockwood, 1995); it was the basis for a pre-conference workshop at the International Council for Distance Education World Conference, Birmingham, 1995 (Sewart, 1995). Eight of the contributors, key figures in the field of Open and Distance Learning, each considered the content of the book and, drawing upon their own insights, assembled an initial agenda (on audio tape) for discussion, one that would develop during the workshop. The first agenda offered, Trends and Directions, was provided by David Hawkridge (1995), in which he speculated on likely developments in the field. He identified five topics as worthy of consideration and termed them globalisation, electronification, commodification, domination, and liberation. Seven years later these topics are revisited and an assessment made as to what changes have occurred and what new trends and directions can be identified.