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Learning and Teaching 
in a Changing World 

FRED LOCKWOOD 
LEARNING AND TEACHING UNIT, 

MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNNERSITY 
MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM 

INTRODUCTION In his audio-
tap ed agenda, David Hawkridge 
(19951 id~ntified five issues worthy 
of discussIOn: globalisation, electronifi-
cation, commodification, domination, 
and liberation. Each of these relates 
directly to learning and teaching in a 
changing world. 

Globalisation: Hawkridge asked if 
distance education was becoming a 
truly global aclivity, rather than the 
collection of local or national activities 
seen at that time. He asked if there was 
any evidence of a growing number 
of learners in one cOlliltry studying in 
another, of policies to recruit learners to 
study at a distance from other countries. 
While he acknowledged the cooperation 
represented by regional illuversities, like 
the Uluversity of the South Pacific and 
the Uluversity of the West Indies, he 
wo.nder:? as to the prospects for mega 
UlUverslties. He also speculated as to 
the creation of other institutions, like a 
uni versity of Southern Africa or an Arab 
Open Uluversity. 

Electronification: The term "electrOllifi-
cation," coined by Hawkridge in 1995, 
has not been adopted by others. 
However, the developments he foresaw 
in multimedia delivery and online 
learning/ e Leanling have been dramatic. 

Hawkridge asked how soon the whole 
world would be wired and whether such 
electronification would be merely a first 
world dream - in that access to e Learning 
in terms of hardware cos ts and software 
licences, of training staff in the use of 
appropriate media and its delivery, as 
well as the IT skills of learners, would 
need substantial investment. Without 
such investment he suspected that the 
hopes of increased access and equity 
would be compromised. 

Commodification: It was evident in 
1995 that within individual countries 
and regions educational institutions were 
competing for students. Often the cos t of 
courses for nationals was subsidised 
by central govenmlents wluch made 
overseas recruitment problematic or a 
two-tier pricing policy cumbersome. 
Hawkridge wondered as to the growth 
in the sale of knowledge products, not 
just within an individual cOlliltry but 
across national boundaries. Indeed, in 
his taped agenda Hawkridge invited 
listeners to consider where to place a 
£10,000 investment among commercial 
distance learning providers, an industry 
in its infancy. 

Domination: Hawkridge suggested 
that globalisation, electrOllification 
and commodification can readily lead 
to domination. Powerful educational 

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30 



providers, like the mega universities and 
even larger commercial providers, can so 
easily dominate the provision of smaller, 
perhaps less well resourced institutions. 
In such environments customers are 
typically asked to consider the economics 
of investing the resources required to 
develop learning materials for sud1 
relatively small groups of learners when 
the purchase of existing materials would 
be more cost effective. However, he 
wondered if there is a danger of the 
ideologies embodied in the purchased 
materials being transmitted from one 
culture to another or imposed on them. 
Would the recipient cultures be in danger 
of being deskilled in terms of materials 
design and system development? Would 
progressive commitment to a commer-
cial provider irretrievably commit an 
institution and make them dependent? 

Liberation: Hawkridge asked if 
globalisation would assist U1 the meeti11g 
of a worldwide need, one that would 
improve access and equity. He asked if 
electronification would overcome the 
disadvantages of not only place and time 
but also access to a world of resources. 
He wondered if, U1 a predomll1antly 
market economy, commodification 
would drive down prices of learnu1g 
materials and support systems. He asked 
if distance learnu1g would UKrease 
understandi11g of mU10rity cultures and 
not swamp them. 

GLOBALISATION In his book 
Mega Universities and Knowledge Media 
(Daniel, 1996), the former vice chancellor 
of the Open University stated tl1at merely 
to maintau1 the present proportion of 
the world population tl1at benefit from 
a muversity level education "a sizeable 
new muversity would now be needed 
every week" (p . 4) . 

A new muversity is not beu1g opened 
every week, but the opportmuty to 
study and the resources available are 
expandu1g daily-probably equivalent to 
a new Uluversity each week. Search for 
any item of acadenuc u1formation on 
the Web or U1 specialist databases, and 
marvel at the vast number of sites and 
resources available. The International 
Centre for Distance Learnu1g (ICDL) 
(http://icdl.open.ac.uk) has assembled 
and mau1tains a database of over 35,000 
distance learnu1g courses from over 1,000 
institutions U1 100 countries. There are 
courses available from accoUl1tancy to 
zoology, and numerous subjects U1 
between. Subject areas that were once 
thought could only be taught U1 a 
conventional semu1ar, laboratory, 
workshop, or cli1ucal setti11g are now 
available at a distance . It is possible to 
follow a distance learnu1g course U1 
perfumery or acupUlKture, sport and 
exercise science, or midwifery - the 
scope is enormous. 

Other databases such as the Distance 
Learnu1g Course FU1der have a record of 
60,000 eLearnu1g courses offered by 131 
countries (http://www .dlcoursefu1der 
.com). The database reveals that one 
can study for a Master of Busu1ess 
AdmiIustration from the Uluversity of 
Athabasca or Indira Gandlu National 
Open Uluversity, fyom Monash Univer-
Sity or Harvard - or an onli11e business 
course from the 2,700 currently on offer 
(http://www.mba-course-finder.com).In 
tlus context it is estimated there are 
500 million Internet users at the present 
time and the growth shows no sign of 
abati11g (Ryan, et al., 2000). Prestigious 
iI1stitutions like tl1e Massachusetts 
Institute of Tedmology U1 the Umted 
States are makiI1g their tead1i11g 
materials freely available on the Web 
(the Manchester Institute of Technology 

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likewise). But, of cours e, if learners 
want the qualification that ratifies their 
learning they will need to register as 
students and pay the fee! 

It is evident that a global market exists .. ' 
for open, distance, and flexible learning 
courses with consortia being . formed 
to pool their resources and make them 
even more accessible. For example, 
thos e institutions that form Universitas 
21 (http://www.universitas21. com) 
collaborate in a whole range of ways 
from the interchange of students 
and researchers to course materials. 
Similarly, the Global University Alliance 
(http://www.gua.com) illustrates how 
new groupings are being formed to 
pool their expertise and resources and 
make them more widely available. Most 
recently eleven U.K. and U.s. universities 
have aligned themselves to form 
the Worldwide Universities Network to 
develop and market graduate courses for 
online delivery (http:/ /www.wun. com). 
Increasingly these consortia are being 
formed to maintain and extend their 
competitiveness and secure market share. 
They promote and sell a product 
developed in a ",;,estern culture, one that 
may not be appropriate in other cultures. 

The courses assembled by universities 
are not restricted to adults but are 
increasingly being made available to 
able school pupils and to industry. For 
example the Open University recently 
conducted a pilot scheme where its 
courses were available to sixth-form 
students. It was so successful that the 
sch eme is to be ex tended to another 
100 specialist schools in the United 
Kingdom. The scheme will further 
strengthen the competitive edge enjoyed 
by the Open University and will sit 
alongside the growing list of internal and 
ex ternal providers, a point acknowledged 

by Peters: "Even the conventional student 
of the future is likely to be en gaged in 
eLearning from more than one provider 
as the barriers b etween further and 
higher education and schools continue to 
break down" (2001, p. 4). 

A product of globalisation is, of cours(', 
competition, where entrepreneuri,tI 
institutions seek to attract the nationals {11 
one country onto courses developed <lnd 
offered by another. This competition (.1 11 
be fierce and often targe ts particu 1.1 r 
groups of learners rather than offerin)" 
the full range of courses enjoyed hy d 
national of the host institution. F(lr 
example, in the tiny island state of FiJI . 
which hos ts the meun campus of lh. , 
University of the South Pacific, then' .1 n ' 
fifty external providers who l<lIT.' ,[ 
business studies and inforlll a li(lil 
tedmolo gy. Furthermore, almost half (ll 
the business schools in South Afric<l .1 r. , 
external providers and there is n, ' 
shortage of competing institutions withll1 
the Pacific fum. When the OP(,11 
University of Hong Kong was establishl'd 
it had over 100 external providl'r-. 
competing for learners in Hong Kon)" 
(Wong & Todd, 2001). It was only b\ 
careful targeting of courses, red ul in)', 
costs yet improving quality that tl1l' 
university was able to resist this press II r. , 
and subsequently overcom e it. 

ELECTRONIFICA TION 
Electronification is not a term in comm(l11 
use in open and distance learning, but it-. 
impact since 1995 has been drall1Jt" 
and is set to be even more dramatic. At 
the time of the ICDE workshop Tony 
Bates predicted, "Those countries th a t 
harness the power of multimediJ 
cOll1lllunications for edu ca tion and 
training purposes will be the economic 
powerhouses of the twenty-first century" 
(1995, p. 249). 

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32 



Within my own institution, Manchester 
Metropolitan University, there were no 
online courses in 1995. However, in 
the academic year 2001 to 2002 there 
will be 335 active course areas and 
approximately 8,000 learners online; 
over 100 aCddemic staff will be actively 
involved in dssembling online materials 
for their ledrners . This increase is 
mirrored plspwhere in the United 
Kingdom dnd dfound the world. Indeed, 
it is estinldll'd that ill the United States 
72 percenl of leenagers will be online 
by 2003 (Sldnlon, 2000). 

The cosls of computer equipment, 
peripherals, dnd software are major 
determillanls of the use of IT ill 
teachillg dnd learnillg, especially ill 
developillg countries. However, there are 
developllwnls lhat offer hope to those 
who wish lo use the teclmology but 
CaImot afford it. A typical desktop 
computer wi lh VDU, prillter, aIld 
modem COJ1lwction could cost £1000 ill 
the United Kingdom. However, each day 
hundreds of machilles that are broken, 
damaged, or considered obsolete are 
either consigned to the "breakers yard" 
for recycli1lg or to landfill sites. A typical 
ilutiative provided by Preston College, a 
U.K. Further Education College, is also 
evident elsewhere . The college has 
developed a trailIDlg scheme ill wluch it 
receives such mach:iJ.les free of charge, 
teaclles course participants how to 
repair and refurbish them to a base1:iJ.le 
standard, and then sells them for £200-
one-fifth of the cost of a new mach:iJ.le! 

A rather different ilutiative has 
been made ill India where the Sinlputer 
Trust has developed the Simputer 
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/lu/ english/ sCi/ 
tech/ newsid_1560000/1560771.stm) . Tms 
newly designed handlleld computer, 
wmch has the facility to COlmect to the 

Internet and to other devices such as 
keyboards, prillters, SCalmers, etc., was 
to be launched ill November 2001 and 
available ill four Indian laIlguages at a 
cost of US$200. With a separate Smart 
card it is possible for a group of 
illdividuals to purchase the Sinlputer, 
exchange and draw upon the il1fomlation 
available on the Internet, and yet retaill 
the privacy of their own il1formation. Iil 
contrast the AmericaIl military is 
plamIDlg to launch, ill 2003, its own 
Ol1li11e provision for 111ilitary persOlmel. 
Based on a consortium of twenty-four 
illstitutions, the programme (http:/ / 
www.earmyu.com) will have an 
estinlated 90,000 learners. They will be 
provided with a laptop computer, 
prillter, Internet comlection, aIld books to 
study anywhere ill the world at any time. 
It is expected that the u.s. Navy will 
mount a silnilar prograllllle. 

COMMODIFICATION There is an 
illternational marketplace for teach:iJ.lg 
and train:iJ.lg materials alld the meaIlS of 
delivery; it is one that is growillg daily. 
Like all products the cost is related to 
volume - the more units produced the 
lower the unit cost - thus favourillg large 
orgaIusations and/or those who can 
secure a large population for their 
courses. A major economic argument ill 
favour of distance leanIDlg is that its 
graduates can be produced cheaper thall 
those from conventional illstitutions 
(Rumble, 1997). For example, in the 
Uluted Kingdom the Open University 
claims to produce graduates at less than 
half the price of other U.K. Uluversities 
(a claim that other U.K. Uluversities are 
begiluIDlg to challenge). This is possible 
because of the limited range of 
courses that the Open University offers 
aIld the large student populations 
enrolled ill its courses. However, it 
acknowledges that other illstitutions, 

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such as the Indira Gandhi National Open 
University, produce lugh quality courses 
even more cheaply. 

In tills international m arke tplace the 
learner is a client who is free to 
purchase whatever course they wish, 
from whatever provider they wish. To 
mee t tills market huge orgaIusations are 
being formed - orgaIusations that will 
represent formidable competition for 
even the larges t mega Uluversities . In 
January 2000, Time Warner and AOL 
amlOUlKed their plaIUled merger to 
becom e the fifth biggest company in 
the world. In the same month, ill the 
United Kingdom, yet another lugh-street 
electrical retailer offered its own 
fre e Internet service, and ownership of 
microcomputers ilKreased even furth er. 
In Japan mobile videophones becam e 
available, and from all online order 
amazon.com could d eliver a book 
halfway aroUlld the world ill a few 
days. In February 2000 the British mobile 
phone COmpaI1Y Vodofone aIUlOUlKed 
a massive takeover of the German 
company MaIUlesmaIUl to become the 
largest mobile telephone operator ill the 
world, with 54 million customers ill 
Britaill, GermaI1Y, and the United States . 
(V odofone is currently experimentlllg 
with the latest G3 phones ill JapaIl 
prior to worldwide distribution.) In 
aJ.1l10UlKillg tlus takeover the chief 
executive commented upon the role of 
mobile phones ill providillg access to the 
Internet aIld worldwide conmlUluca tion, 
puttlllg access ill the hands of the users. 
With resources like these, the potential of 
the knowledge m edia to create learnillg 
envirOllllents coupled with talented 
teachers, the next seven years is likely to 
see many more ilUlovations . 

Consider for a moment a major resource 
ill any course: a book, or more recently 

e-books. International publishers are 
currently developillg their e-booklists at 
an amazillg rate. Tlus illcludes not merely 
illdividual titles but the opportmuty 
to download parts of books, aIld to p ay 

,,> for only the parts a p erson wants. The 
Am erican Association of Publishers 
es timates that the e-book market is likely 
to be a US$2.3 billion illdustry by 2005. 
Powerful consortia are beillg assembled 
to develop/exploit tlus growth. For 
example, Price Waterhouse Coop er, Inter 
Trust TeclUlology, aIld Adobe Systems 
are workillg together to prOvide access to 
e-books via Adobe's Portable Document 
Reader format (PDF). While Adobe 
Acrobat software may b e fre e, the cos t of 
the e-books is Ulllikel y to be so - that is 
assumillg the learners have the ability 
aIld equipment to download, prillt, and 
purchase this material. 

Countries around the world are 
recogmsmg the opportUluties that are 
becoming illcreasillgly available and are 
plamIDlg for a growth not only ill 
lugher education but also ill illdustry, 
commerce, aIld the public services. 
WithiIl the Uluted Kingdom there has 
been a Significant illcrease ill the use of 
self-illstructionallearnlllg materials ill the 
workplace: ilKreasillg from 43 percent ill 
1999 to 63 percent ill 2000 (Department 
for Education and Employment, 2001a) . 
All predictions suggest tills will 
contlllUe to illcrease, with Uluversities 
ilKreasillgly COmpetlllg with national aIld 
illternational commercial providers . 

DOMINA TION There is much talk 
of the knowledge economy, of the 
knowledge media (Eisenstadt & Villcent, 
1998), and of ilwestment ill a country's 
major asset-its people. But who will 
provide the fuel for the knowledge 
economy, who will exploit the knowledge 
m edia, who will provide the materials 

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from which the knowledge and skills 
can be acquired? Govenlllents will 
undoubtedly lead through policy 
initiatives and are doing so. For example, 
in support of learners over nineteen 
years of age the U.K. govenilllent 
provides Individual Learning Accounts 
(ILAs) worth £150 to any learner who 
is prepared to contribute £25 towards 
a course provided by an accredited 
provider. It also allows learners to 
obtain an 80 percent discount of the 
cost to purchase the training required. 
(Unfortunately, due to widespread fraud 
the scheme was suspended.) Despite 
these problems, U.K. mnversities and 
commercial institutions are begiluting to 
meet tIns need. In April 2001 in the 
Ulnted Kingdom, the Open Uruversity 
and the Ulnversity for Industry (Ufi) 
signed a memorandum of understanding. 
Amle Wright, the clnef executive for 
Ufi, subsequently stated: "Between us, 
our complementary missions and good 
working relationships will ensure that the 
U.K. is a world leader in flexible and 
lifelong learning and application of new 
technologies" (Ufi, 2001, p. 1). 

TIns world leadersmp is obviously 
intended to benefit U.K. learners. 
However, it is also likely to be the base 
from wmch these institutions retain a 
competitive advantage (see DaInel, 1996), 
and secure a return from the investment 
by the British government by selling 
tIns expertise overseas . Furthermore, it is 
evident that developments with the U.K. 
eUruversity will involve a partnerslnp of 
educational aIld conmlercial providers . 

Commercial orgarusations are compeling 
to transform your existing material 
into self-instructional material (increasing 
online teacmng materials), but at a cost. 
For example, Knowledge Pool 
(http://www.knowledgepool.com) 

develops materials via a traditional 
course team approach, but also includes 
all accounts manager. The company will 
not only transform your materials into 
online materials but will provide 
online tutors, assemble frequently 
asked questions, and provide online 
assigIlllents. In a Follow the Sun 
network of staff, Knowledge Pool also 
offer 24 hour, 7 days per week, 52 week 
per year support for the systems aIld 
your learners. 

Other conmlercial orgalnsations such 
as Pearson Education (http://www 
.pearsoned.com) and Educational 
Multimedia Corporation (http://www 
.educationalmultimedia.com) offer 
similar services. Pearson Education will 
provide the plug-in cassette that provides 
an instant online course - developed 
elsewhere but wInch, they claim, will 
map onto your course objectives. The 
claims for such commercial orgaInsations 
are great. For example, Educabonal 
Multimedia Corporation's Website states, 
"We ensure an increased return on 
your learning investment by maximising 
knowledge retention through continuous 
interactions" (2003). 

For those wislling to exploit the new 
media, all early decision will involve 
deciding wmch virtual learning 
envirollllent (VLE) to adopt or whether 
there is a need to create your own. WIllie 
guidelines and criteria are available that 
will allow users to assess wInch VLE 
is likely to be most appropriate for 
them (Inglis, Ling, & Joosten, 1999), 
conlllercial compaInes are working hard 
to maintain and even increase their 
market share. You may benefit from the 
competition between providers such 
as Blackboard, Lotus LearningSpace, 
First Class, Web CT, etc. The benefits 
of a staIldard, supported platform 

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35 



with features resulting from massive 
investment in the VLE may need to 
be balanced agaillst the learnillg and 
teachillg restrictions they impose. 
However, the recent report from the 
Commonwealth of Learnillg (Farrell, 
2001) argues that developil1g countries 
may fail to exploit the potential of 
onli1le learnmg due to the lack of a 
reliable communications ililiastructure. 
We will wait to see whether wireless 
communication systems like Bluetooth 
(http://wwwericsson.com/bluetooth/ 
default. asp ) will offer a solution. 

LIBERATION Access to higher 
education and the ability to study U at 
any time, at any place, and at any pace" 
can be liberatillg. It not only can provide 
the knowledge and skills that the 
workplace requires, which may secure a 
better future for those who benefit from 
it, but can provide illSights that can 
change a person's life forever. The sheer 
number of opportunities available to 
learners is staggerillg. In the 1960s higher 
education ill the United Kingdom, as ill 
many countries, was an elitist system; 
about 8 percent of eighteen-year-olds 
entered university. By the 1980s ill the 
United Kingdom this had risen to 
about 15 percent, and today it is about 
30 percent. The U.K. government target is 
to expand provision to such an extent 
that 50 percent of eighteen- to thirty-
year-olds will have benefited from higher 
education by 2010. In many developing 
countries, with a population profile that 
illdudes a Significant proportion of 
people aged under thirty, a silnilar target 
will be difficult to achieve. 

To meet this target, U.K. universities will 
have to recruit learners without the 
traditional qualifications and from other 
than upper socioeconomic groups. 
Furthermore, fillancial support for U.K. 

learners is such that only the poorest 
receive grantS-judged by many to be 
illadequate for the purpose-while 
others receive loans they will need to 
repay. The challenge is dear: universities 

,> will have to recruit from previous]v 
. disadvantaged and under-represente~l 

groups, and reconsider the fillancid I 
support of learners, if these targets <Hl' 
to be filled and if an illCreased proportioll 
of the population is to be given till' 
opportunity to experience and succeed ill 
higher education. 

The U.K. government's drive to wid('1l 
participation has resulted ill sewr,d 
ilntiatives to raise awareness of till' 
benefits of Ingher education, illC]"('d"I' 
recruitment and retention, and ens 1I n . 
student progression. The Higlwr 
Education Fundillg Council for Eng],lIld 
(2001) illvited all illstitutions of higlwr 
education to submit their Wideni 11i' 
Participation Strategies and Action PI,lI;' 
The three-year fundillg period will bl' 
marked by the specification of speeifll 
targets, milestones, and procedures tIl 
mOlntor performance. In addition, Llll' 
drive to encourage doser li11ks betw('('11 
schools, Colleges of Further Educali(lll 
and Higher Education, is beillg fund('d 
also by the U.K. government via Ll1l' 
Excellence Challenge, a £150 mill i (Ill 
scheme ilntiated ill April 2001 to bri dr," 
the current divide and ease progression . 

However, two factors may milildtl' 
agail1St these aspirations: the skills lhl' 
learners need to succeed ill higlll'r 
education and the fundillg of it. 

Functional literacy and numeracy, and 
illCreasillg1y IT literacy, are key 
skills; they are major determillants of 
progression and success ill further and 
hlgher education, and subsequently to 
success ill work and day-to-day life . 

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Developed countries like the United 
Kingdom do have extremely high levels 
of literacy, numeracy, and IT skills- but 
they are not universaL Indeed recent 
findings from the Basic Skills Agency 
(Department for Education and 
Employment, 2001b) revealed that in the 
United Kingdom seven million adults 
are functionally illiterate and enumerate. 
Of these four million are aged between 
twenty-six and fifty-five years - the 
very group that one would expect to be 
the most productive members of any 
commurrity. These adults are a significant 
part of the population who risk exclusion. 
To meet this need the U.I<:. govenmlent is 
investing £1.5 billion over three years 
to redress this defiCiency . The strategy, 
based on an orientation interview, will be 
to provide a combination of face-to-face 
teadring, drop-in centres, and self-
instructional material for use in the 
home. The recently established provider 
Learndirect is providing a range of 
self-instructional and onliIlE' courses for 
these learners. It estimates that since its 
inception it has provided teaching and 
training materials for over one million 
learners . In concert the National Institute 
of Adult Continuing Education (England 
and Wales) launched a campaign in 2001 
to provide 5,000 bite-sized courses. It 
was intended that the courses would be 
free, typically one to three hours of 
study time, and targeted at adults. They 
succeeded in assembling almost 20,000 
such courses in less than two months 
(http://www .learndirect.co.uk/bitesize)! 

Lack of literacy, numeracy, and IT 
skills is likely to inhibit the learners 
(McMahon, et aLI 1999). Others have 
demonstrated (Kirkwood, 1995) that 
access to low-tech media, television, 
radio, audiocassette playback-in a home 
setting where there are family demands 
on this equipment-can hinder study. 

This problem is compounded where 
learners may not have ready access 
to computing equipment. Indeed, in a 
study involving 800 university students 
(McMahon, et al., 1999) it was reported 
that ready access to a computer 
accounted for 50 percent of the variance 
of student attitudes to online learning. 
Students who do not have ready access 
to computers are frustrated and the 
result is negative attitudes to online 
learning (Crotty, 2000). 

An increasing proportion of learners take 
part-time employment during their study 
to offset the cost of sludy. This obviously 
puts them under increasing pressure to 
make time for study. In a recent report 
from the Open University Centre 
of Higher Education Research and 
Information and the University of Central 
England Centre for Research into Quality 
("Students Strive to Stave Off Debt/' 
2001), it was revealed that 60 percent of 
U.K. students work during the academic 
year in an attempt to reduce the cost of 
their study. They worked approximately 
eleven hours per week in term time, 
with 80 percent working in vacations. 
Furthermore, those students from poorer 
backgrounds, identified as in the bottom 
two social classes, formed a majority of 
those undertaking work. Other studies at 
Northumbria University ("Student Jobs 
May Be Cause of Failure/' 2001) 
indicated that less affluent students 
were more likely to work in term time, 
were from lower socioeconomic groups, 
obtained lower grades, and were twice 
as likely to fail their course. 

CONCLUSION Since the agenda 
presented by Hawkridge, there have 
been sigrrificant changes iT' the 
education environment. These include 
funds expended, participation, and 
impact of the new media. The U.s. 

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37 



brokerage house Merrill Lynch 
es timated that the global expenditure 
on education and training increased 
significantly to US$2 trillion in 2000, with 
50 p ercent spent in Europe, 33 p ercent in 
the United States, and 15 percent in 
developing countries. Furthermore, the 
global number of learners is set to 
more than double in the nex t gen eration 
from an estimated 70 million today to 
160 million by 2025 . Among these it 
is es timated there are four million 
distance learners. Open, distance, and 
flexible learning is not only a global 
activity, offerin g a huge increase in the 
opportunities available to learners, but 
one that is increasin g. 

Electronification has proceeded at a pace. 
The robustness of Web-based systems 
now means that learners can study 
from any place on the globe, combining 
media that are most appropriate to 
their needs . The development of wireless 
conmmnication (such as the Bluetooth 
system) may offer opportunities and 
flexibility previously associated with 
science fiction. However, as global-
isation and electronification increase so 
d oes commodification. The cornucopia 
assembled by the universities and 
commercial providers of the world 
appear to be available to those who can 
afford it. There remains the fear that 
powerful institutions, and their consortia, 
may become even more powerful. 
Furthermore, there is a danger that those 
ideologies embodied in teaching and 
training materials provided by external 
institutions may come to dominate 
vuhlerable cultures. 

However, there are developments that 
suggest the future is indeed bright. For 
example, in the United Kingdom, 
Learndirect (http://www.learndirect 
.co.uk) collated almost 20,000 fre e 

courses, in bite-sized chunks, to over one 
million learners and demonstrates that 
distance learning can contribute to the 
liberation of learners - in giving them 
access to a world otherwise dosed to 

,,> them. The Learning and Skills Develop-
ment Agency ("Youth Will Get Learning 
Call on the Mobile," 2001) launched its 
three-year M-Learning Project, based on 
a mobile phone and design ed to deliver 
key skills, links to education and training, 
and careers advice to six teen- to twenty-
four- year-olds. It aims to redress poor 
literacy and numeracy amongst this 
non-participating group of learners . 

In the llltervening p eriod Slllce 1995, it 
was argued: 

The ques tion is becomlllg, not 
whether flexible learnlllg can 
enhance the cost effectiveness of 
traditional teadmlg (important 
though that queslion is), but 
whether a university will survive 
and prosper III the next century 
without rapidly llltegratlllg the 
various dimensions of flexible 
leanmlg llltO its process, culture 
and values. (Moran, 1997, p. 181) 

Perhaps it should be added that if access 
and equity were to remain key items on 
our agenda, the provision of open and 
distance learning material to provide 
skills of numeracy, litera cy, and IT would 
be the major m eans of adnevlllg tIns . 

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Fred Lockwood is Director of the Learning 
and Teaching Unit, Manchester Meh'opolitan 
University, Manchester, United Kingdom. 

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39