ABSTRACT
This book started with a discussion of globalization, during which it was pointed out that one of the two main driving forces of this process is the development of information technology. It is not surprising, therefore, that educational systems have been affected by the changes in the substructure of the globe. It is unnecessary to rehearse all of these arguments again here, but we do need to recognize that nearly all forms of education are changing in response to the wider social pressures. Distance education has grown in popularity in recent years, popularized by Britain's Open University, although its history is far older, and even university distance education occurred long before the Open University was ever dreamed about (Rumble and Harry, 1982). Indeed, Peters (2009:226) suggests that ‘[t]he concept of distance education, although still practiced globally, is more than 150 years old and hence pedagogically and technologically outdated’. Peters focuses upon open learning now. At the same time, we should recall that despite its predominant place in the literature, the Open University was not the first distance education university: that honour belongs to the University of south Africa, which became a distance education university in 1923, although its own foundation as the University of the cape of Good Hope, the oldest university in south Africa, goes back to 1873. This chapter first examines the nature of distance education/open learning and thereafter looks at the way in which it has developed and continues to develop, and examines some of its practices in contemporary society. Throughout this chapter it will be seen that among the major theorists of distance education is Otto Peters.
