A qualitative and postmodern perspective on open learning in Hong Kong

Abstract

Most educational research in Hong Kong is nested within a top‐down or expert view of the world and there has been little interest in the views of the ordinary citizen. The authors adopted a postmodern perspective and interviewed 110 ordinary citizens in public places (on ferries, in restaurants or parks) about what open learning means to them. Responses were arrayed in four discourses. The authors deconstruct and reflect on the meaning of each discourse. Of the four, only the Idyllic Island discourse involved a positive construction of open learning. The others — the Shameful Inferiority discourse, the Lonely Learner discourse and the Impropriety discourse involved exceedingly perjorative constructions that will pose a considerable challenge for providers of open learning.