The Future of Online Teaching and Learning and an Invitation to Debate

This chapter opens by re-visiting the social and economic context of UK higher education, a context dominated by globalisation, new liberalism and competition, but also shaped by the opportunities associated with digital learning. It revisits theories of pedagogy and issues arising from the chapters focusing particularly on: online forums in teaching, developing a learning community through digital technology and analysing how such technology shapes the identity of teachers. Finally, it argues that despite constraints, challenges and work intensification, technologies are an important resource within Higher Education, increasing access and broadening reach whilst also contributing to the formal and informal education of citizens and positively contributing to the creation of critical publics - publics with the capacity to challenge established social norms and centres of power.