Matters of modernity, late modernity and self-identity in distance education

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Open and distance education represents contemporary forms of education which are responding to the shift to late-modernity, especially in the forms of technology and media employed, but also in terms of the attenuated relationships between teachers and students. It is argued that distance education can be seen as a creature of modernity which has provided important foundations for the ways open education is constructed. Drawing on the work of Anthony Giddens, the author uncovers some of the relationships between distance education, late-modernity and the self. Issues are raised concerning the personal risks and benefits involved in emerging forms of open and distance education.