Strategic enterprises Down Under: engaging drivers of change in Australian universities' open and distance learning provision

Abstract

Like all fields and forms of education, open and distance learning is complex, contextualized, and contingent (Harreveld and Danaher, in press; Nouwens, Erdinc and Danaher, 2004) – and is attended by a particular and peculiar ambivalence (see also Stronach and MacLure, 1997). On the one hand, open and distance learning is often accompanied by commentaries about access, equity, and social justice, whereby the empowering and libratory potential of learning in one’s own place/ space and at one’s own pace/ timescale is highlighted and lauded. On the other hand, open and distance learning is as subject as any other form of educational provision to the influence of forces associated with late capitalism and globalization, at least some of which are linked with the potential destruction of family, workplace, and community relationships and social capital (Rowan, Bartlett and Evans, 1997).