Introduction to Learners, Teachers, Media, and Technology in ODDE

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the 13 chapters in Section V of The Handbook of Open Distance and Digital Education (ODDE), which focus on learners, teachers, media, and technology. Through these chapters, which explore the characteristics, competencies, skills, and roles that people need in ODDE contexts and the ways that media and technology support them, it becomes clear that all four areas work together systemically in the pursuit of learning. Three themes can be cultivated from the chapters: learners and instructors share common needs in online learning settings; the field has an ethical obligation to consider how technology-mediated and technology-based learning interventions affect learners and instructors; and the ongoing presence of a tension between human tasks and technology tasks in increasingly automated learning environments.