Abstract:

In this paper the argument is made that the foregrounding of spatial metaphors through globalisation has made it possible to understand open and distance learning as a re-mapping of education. ODL particularly when delivered through ICTs is proving to be significant in the breaking down, and the breaking out, of educational spaces of enclosure, both literal and metaphorical. Yet contrary to what many have argued this re-mapping is not inherently and necessarily liberating. Whilst ODL can facilitate the development of learners as active subjects and whilst ODL may be a factor in the blurring of tightly drawn disciplinary boundaries this does not mean that more power is necessarily put in the hands of learners. The map is redrawn not torn up. ODL is no less a process of being disciplined and in some respects is more so than learning in classrooms.