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11The convergence of distance and conventional educationSome implications for policy Alan TaitThis chapter begins with the acknowledgement that conventional educational institutions in the UK have begun substantially to use open and distance learning (ODL); that is to say the array of educational approaches and technologies which permit learning to take place to a substantial degree away from the teacher’s physical presence have been adopted in many post-secondary environments. It is in this sense that convergence is for the most part taking place. In more detail:
• the scaling up of learning opportunities to achieve mass higher education looks to ODL methods at least in part to deliver these policy objectives;
• the broader context of lifelong learning looks to ODL and the new technologies to provide the necessary flexibility to permit, or indeed expect, learning to support work more intensively;
• ODL methods are also thought to be capable of delivering financial economies, both absolutely and of scale, in the context of the generalized downturn in governmental spending and the related increased pressure on profitability in private enterprise;
• the increased range of technologies, in particular those supported and delivered by computer-mediated communications, are fast accelerating the convergence process;
• the increasing international commodification of education sees ODL as particularly suited to reinforcing the concept of education as a range of saleable products and services.

The secret garden of open and distance learning has become public, and many institutions in the UK are moving from single conventional-mode activity to dual-mode activity, that is to say offering a range of modes of study from the full-/part-time and conventional/distance spectrum. The process was made explicit in the UK in 1990 at a National Extension College conference with the title ‘Open Learning: Moving into the Mainstream’ (National Extension College 1990). At least since then the Open University’s hold on the market of part-time adult undergraduate students has been challenged by the substantial interest on the part of higher education in

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Publication Information: Book Title: The Convergence of Distance and Conventional Education: Patterns of Flexibility for the Individual Learner. Contributors: Alan Tait - author, Roger Mills - author. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1999. Page Number: 141.
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