2000 Paper written for a publication that has something to do with the Euroliterature project. This has led to considerable debate, both for and against. Some argue that it is not worth spending huge amounts of money on infrastructure, software, training and technological pedagogy. It is concluded that more qualitative approaches are necessary and that the object of research should be not just the various media involved in ODL, but specific social sets of goals, tasks and strategies.
Online courses reach wider audiences and give people the chance to study at home at any time.
More important, their openness is leading to what is called internationalised education , addressing not culturally and linguistically homogenous populations but people with different social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. This may not be the case. Their schedules do not allow them to attend classes on-campus. They look for other ways of taking up courses that will qualify them for better jobs. Distance education programmes thus provide a new interactive means of overcoming time and distance to reach these learners.