Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide an argument material in order to open up a discussion concerning educational and political strategies within the field of distance education. I would like to argue for the flexible learning within the social constructivistic perspective. Within this context the crucial question is: How should we generate various educational alternatives within the distance educational system? It has been argued that there is a need for alternatives within the system, i.e., a [social] constructivistic approach where we include cultural and other demographical aspects. In this regard we have to deal with the participant's standpoint and in the same time we need to be familiar with the public debate regarding the usage of modem technology. It is therefore crucial to reach all groups in the community and thus a flexibility in the system is required. In the field of computer supported collaborative learning the best typifications are where the exploration of the new possibilities is represented by the emerging technologies. In such work, there is a desire to build learning environments to support a range of distributed cognitive work, i.e., communities of learners, conceptual learning conversations, and knowledge building communities. Instructional designers are in the initial stages of exploring the commonalities and discontinuities between the varieties of CSCL activities.