Global On-line Learning: Hope or Hype?

Recent developments in information technology and distance learning have combined with economic forces to fuel a global market for postsecondary (tertiary) education. The quest for new, better, and more cost-effective means of delivering education and training is intensifying worldwide. Is on-line learning the answer? Visionaries and marketers gloss over major complexities. For much of the world, the promise of modern distance learning can only be realized after massive investments in communications infrastructure. The Internet has great power and potential for good. It must not be permitted to become a new engine of global inequality.