‘Crafting the future’: pioneer lessons and concerns for today

Abstract

A recent qualitative research study gathered the career reflections of the generation of distance education practitioners who developed more flexible higher education (via distance modes) in the second half of the twentieth century. Part of that study’s results focus on the lessons the practitioners learned about what constitutes effective distance education and the concerns they expressed about the future. These are reported here. The key lessons are grouped around patience, tolerance and listening, respectfulness, responsiveness, the qualities needed for innovation and institutional management, and use of technologies. Appropriate use, technical reliability, and critical mindsets emerged as key lessons for technology applications. Ten questions then help readers engage their own reflective thinking and investigate knowledge transfer possibilities.

Keywords:

• distance education
• lifelong learning
• online courses
• open universities
• personal narratives
• technology uses in education

Acknowledgements

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged for grant 410‐2004‐0083.