This means rethinking and transforming existing learning environments as well as creating new ones. In all sectors and industries, discussion around new technologies, however, tends to stir up a whole range of emotions from optimism and hope to skepticism and anxiety. The history of technology shows a disappointing repetition of instances of predicted revolutions that failed to materialize. Reflecting on these failures and analyzing opportunities, several important concerns have been raised around the use of technologies in education in both industrialized as well as developing countries. The possibilities for using different combinations of technology to directly facilitate learning processes and to enhance the capacity of existing learning environments, while creating new ones, are infinite.
Technologies make it possible to visualize creating and linking up diverse learning communities.
More immediately, these technologies, and their breaking down of barriers, present us with a window of opportunity to question fundamental assumptions and goals, to re-think existing approaches, to conceptualize and generate new ideas and even sometimes, albeit more rarely, catalyze social and institutional change. These concerns are driving the concept of open learning communities. The ability to adapt to and generate change and participate in society is central to the concept of open learning communities. Practically speaking, open learning communities have existed for a long time. What is new is not only the recognition of these diverse environments as valuable learning spaces but also the desire to strengthen them as learning entities.