I'm reading 'Exploring Open and Distance Learning' (1992) Derek Rountree and it's a blast from the past!
When I started my first teaching job at Preston College in 1994 it was as a 'facilitator' for English. Essentially, I set up an open-learning workshop for students so that they could use self-study workbooks as part of their normal scheduled classes.
Rountree's first chapter discusses the definitions of open and distance learning and the philosophy behind them. He talks about open learning as giving learners choice about what they learn and how they learn it and explores a range of traditional and distance learning programmes. Distance learning often seems to be driven by a philosophy of openness and a drive for widening participation, but the pedagogic structure can be similar to a traditional 'closed' programme, and not very open at all. I might look at the validation documents for the original course for some of our distance learning programmes to see what the developers say about the reasons for setting up DL programmes.
Chapter 2 covers learners and includes a range of andragogy concepts about motivations, learning styles, objective-driven courses and ways to develop learner autonomy. The e-Design template I've been working on (http://bestpracticemodels.wiki.staffs.ac.uk/ ) includes specific guidance to DL designers about developing learner's self-organised learning skills.
Chapter 3 focusses on learner support and discusses the wide range of support that learners may need for successful learning and suggests a range of people and roles that can offer this support. An important consideration is about the type of support - is it 'content' or 'process' support? To what extent does the support build skills and confidence in independent learning? Has the support been planned and designed as part of the learning?
Chapter 4 seems a rather dated review of the types of media available and the types of learning that each can be used for. However, this is a useful reminder of the need to consider how audio/video /computers /teleconferencing etc are achieving the learning outcomes.
Chapter 5 is a review of the structure and design of an open learning package whether it is a 'tutorial-in-print' or a reflective guide to learning. Many of the suggestions are very relevant to e-learning.
Overall, this book is a reminder of the principles of open learning and how distance learning can be designed that is educationally 'open'
