Open learning and the misuse of language: a response to Greville Rumble

Abstract

Roger Lewis, Director of Services at the Open College, replies to the article by Greville Rumble ‘Open learning and the misuse of language’ which appeared in Vol.4 No.2 (June, 1989). While accepting Rumble's argument that there is confusion in the use of the term open learning, Lewis rejects the claim that open learning systems, particularly in the corporate sector, have misrepresented their own characteristics in hijacking the fashionable term ‘open’, In addition to access, Lewis emphasises a range of other variables which must be taken into account.