ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the effects of changes in practice that have been fuelled by the application of information and communication technology (ICT) both to campus and distance forms of higher education. These practices and their accompanying ideologies are presented from a practitioner perspective, in some cases drawing on educational research and theory to support particular views. The focus is on the contrast between the practices of distance education in the 1970s and 1980s and the current computer-mediated communication and web-based teaching designed to foster collaborative learning. The emphasis on collaborative learning is a key difference between how we attempt to enable learning at a distance now compared with practices of 20 years ago.
