Article taking a critical and historical look at recent trends in distance education. It concludes that the dream of automating the educational process has failed so often in the past that there is little reason to take it seriously now, that politicians need to be realistic about the future costs of higher education, that the campus experience will remain in demand for the foreseeable future, that the overselling of technology should not be allowed to discredit the whole field of online education, and that educators need to look at specific designs with legitimate pedagogical objectives in mind. A keyword searchable archive of past issues is available. A refereed, interactive, online journal which aims to disseminate scholarly knowledge regarding theory, research, and best practice in open and distance learning. Provides access to full text PDF articles, and an archive of past issues.
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The paper covers functional and technical factors and customer feedback. Covers issues, research, innovation and practice connected with the use of communications technologies for academic learning.