Really useful knowledge? Flexible accumulation and open and distance learning

Abstract

This article explores some of the issues surrounding what constitutes ‘really useful knowledge’ in the current period of rapid economic and cultural change. It examines the contribution of open and distance learning (ODL) to the re‐organisation of space‐time taking place as a result of economic and technological change. In the process it is argued that the nature of knowledge is itself being reframed. It is suggested that in theorising the growth ofODL in the provision of opportunities for adults we need to situate our practices within discourses of the post‐industrial and postmodern to understand its significance as we move towards the twenty first century.