ABSTRACT
The policy maker is faced with two levels of question about the use of technology in open and distance learning. The higher level questions belong mainly in the domain of national policy. They include issues about the regulation of telecommunications, about educational access to communications media and about national policies in relation to the digital divide. At the second level are questions about the most appropriate ways of using technologies within education, about choices between them for a specific educational purpose, about staff development in relation to them, and about their costs. Some issues bridge the two levels; a planner’s choice between, say, using satellite communication or digital radio will be affected by national policy but will also need to be shaped by micro-or meso-educational needs.
