We need to talk about how we talk about what we talk about: Revisiting ODL

Abstract

The terms ‘open’ and ‘distance’ are no longer helpful for advancing approaches to education traditionally served by open institutions. A proposal to reframe the terms ‘open’ and ‘distance’ is made: ‘open’, it is suggested, needs to be linked more explicitly to education that is increasingly available, inclusive, scalable, and sustainable. ‘Distance’, on the other hand, needs to be replaced with the term ‘designed,’ which places attention on to the range of educational approaches now used to facilitate learning in ways that remove geographical barriers. The paper is based on part on the experience of a dedicated ODL institution in New Zealand, which found itself marginalized while a nation-wide renewal of the vocational education sector was taking place. Rather than being seen as a central part of the solution, ODL was instead assumed to be possible across regional provision. The ‘distance’ component was even represented as ‘online,’ which is becoming common across new entrants into what was traditionally understood as ODL. Five reasons for the decline of traditional understandings of ODL are offered.