Alternative rationalisations and ambivalent futures a critical history of online education

Abstract

What is the significance of the Internet for higher education? This question - the central concern of a vast, diverse and growing body of research and development spanning three decades - remains, despite the intense activity surrounding it, something of an enigma. Educators, enthusiastic about the promise of new technologies, have focused on testing and exploring the pedagogical utility of new tools and systems. Administrators, responding to an austere operating climate, have envisaged virtual classrooms as a means of expanding the reach and enhancing the revenue streams of their institutions.