ABSTRACT

At a time of increasing globalisation, the concept of open and distance learning is being constantly redefined. New technologies have opened up new ways of understanding and participating in Learning. Distributed Learning offers a collection of perspectives from a social and cultural practice-based viewpoint, with contributions from leading international authors in the field. Key issues in this comprehensive text are:
*the challenges of ICT to traditional teaching and learning practices
*the value and relevance of 'activity theory' and 'communities of practice' in educational institutions and the workplace
*perspectives on the relationship between globalisation and distributed learning, and the breakdown of distinctions between global and local contexts
*issues of identity and community in designing courses for the virtual student
*language and literacies in distributed learning contexts
This book provides useful introductory reading, building a sound theoretical framework for practitioners interested in how distributed learning is shaping post-compulsory education.

chapter |15 pages

Editors' Introduction

chapter 1|22 pages

Information, Knowledge and Learning *

Some issues facing epistemology and education in a digital age

chapter 2|18 pages

Informed opportunism

Teaching for learning in uncertain contexts of distributed education

chapter 4|19 pages

Looking beyond the interface

Activity theory and distributed learning

chapter 5|15 pages

Workplaces, communities and pedagogy

An activity theory view

chapter 6|13 pages

Distribution and interconnectedness

The globalisation of education

chapter 8|21 pages

From independent learning to collaborative learning

New communities of practice in open, distance and distributed learning

chapter 9|18 pages

Learning as cultural practice

chapter 10|12 pages

The university campus as a ‘resourceful constraint'

Process and practice in the construction of the virtual university

chapter 12|14 pages

Flexible literacies

Distributed learning and changing educational spaces