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It’s very difficult to comment on the information provided by watching the slideshow alone. I know I’ve missed about 70% of the information provided by the speech which accompanied it. It would be much better if a recorded voiceover of seminars could accompany slideshows. I would have liked a definition of what an “Open” univerisity is. While the author makes many suggestions for changes in the way education is disseminated (pedagogically, technically and administratively), similar models abound and are also touted as the cure for society’s ills. This presentation, and the many similar to it, tend to ignore the ultimate basis of these problems. Governmetns all over the world claim to be short of money. God knows where it goes because it sure isn’t on education. Teachers in many countries are poorly paid. How can they be expected (and why should they be expected) to put in more hours to act as social workers or remedial training experts? This does not address the issue of people who become teachers who have no business doing so. Most countries seem to enjoy a festering distrust and disrespect for authority. Having seen the way governments so often behave, how can we blame them? However, the education system is lumped in with government. Parents blame the teachers and the “system” for their children’s failures, but how many of these parents support and value education and teachers? There are people in the education system trying to help students learn to improve their lives, but no matter how much money we throw at education or technology, the bottom line is, learning is always the responsibility of the learner. Increasingly, society measures success by dollars. How much education does one person need to be successful – probably just enough to do a money count from any type of activity which brings it in. There’s no need to PhDs in the drug trade. Education therefore has little real value in society. How many sports figures can you name who make millions a year? How many actors, entertainers can you name who make millions a year? How many crime bosses can you name? How many millionaire scientists, teachers or poets can you name? How many can you name at all? How much are scientists, poets or teachers paid compared to entertainers, sports figures and crime bosses? While properly used and funded “teachnology” can be a wonderful tool in learning, it will not make a bad teacher into a good one and I doubt it will make a non-learner into a learner. We must give most people a reason to learn. We must find a way to put value back into education.