ABSTRACT
The preceding case studies describe a variety of approaches to distance and open learning, using a range of different technologies in various different contexts. So what can we learn from all the hard work and experience that has gone into them? Each author has reflected on the lessons they have extracted from their own experiences and, if you have read through them yourself, you have probably begun to form some general conclusions of your own about what works and why and what pitfalls to avoid. This final chapter attempts to draw these lessons together in a framework that can help to guide the process of planning and implementing changes in teaching and learning methods. As the title of the chapter implies, we can view the issues from the micro or the macro perspective. I am going to argue that even at the micro level there are inescapable issues concerned with culture, roles and values that significantly affect the outcome of innovations depending on how they are addressed. Of course, if the key players in the situation are unaware of these issues they are unlikely to handle them very well. The whole point of using case studies in this book is to enable you, the reader, to learn from the experiences of those who have had to work their way up the learning curve without the benefit of such guidance.
