An overview of the issues

The issues that emerged from the study fall into these general categories, all closely interlinked: access; costs and use of resources; quality and equality of learning; and new opportunities for learning. As well, both the discussions and literature contributed to the development of ideas for tools and strategies for examining and tracking questions related to new learning technologies.

The issues are outlined briefly here, and covered in more detail in separate sections of this paper:

Access

The question of access is explored on a number of levels:

• the national and regional infrastructures that support the use of communications technologies
  
  
• the institutional or organizational systems that can support the provision of learning using new technologies:
  
  
• the local or community based facilities that enable residents to participate in activities using the new technologies;
  
  
• the individual learner's circumstances that determine the extent to which she has access to learning using the new technologies.

The section on access provides an overview of recent developments and proposed strategies for enhancing the communications infrastructure in Canada. It also considers some examples of institutional arrangements and community situations that highlight access issues at these levels, and outlines some factors that affect the individual learners' ability to take advantage of what is offered via new technologies. The section on access also poses questions about what resources are available to whom, and considers how decisions affecting access are made.

Cost and use of resources

The question of costs and use of resources is also explored on a number of levels, parallel to those used for considering access;

• the national and regional levels at which infrastructure investments are made;
  
  
• the institutional or organizational levels at which decisions are made about technologies, programs to be offered, and which categories of learners to serve:
  
  
• the local or community level where decisions are made about facilities, such as computer access in libraries or a videoconference receive site, and about programs to support the use of technologies for learning;
  
  
• the individual learner, who must decide whether to invest in technologies that may allow her greater access to learning, and the cost issues that arise at the personal and family level.

This section also considers choices about the use of resources. For example, it examines how people's time is allocated or reallocated when learning technologies are used and raises questions about where resources come from, both in terms of external funding sources and in terms of other programs that may face reduced funding or staffing because of investment in learning technologies.

Equality and Quality of Learning

This section explores the question. "how does using new learning technologies affect the quality and on equality of learning?" from the perspective of those most closely involved in women's learning. This discussion addresses the following questions:

• To what extent do technologies enable learning to take place more effectively. accessibly and appropriately, and to what extent do they do this better than the other available alternatives, including other technologies and face to face learning?
  
  
• To what extent do new learning technologies lend themselves to the range of learning approaches that support egalitarian learning, such as feminist pedagogies, participatory learning, and adult education practice?
  
  
• How well do new learning technologies promote equality of learning, or do they favor some forms of conceptualizing knowledge at the expense of others?
  
  
• To what extent do new learning technologies support a full range of types of learning, including cognitive and affective learning and skills development, and how well do they meet the needs of learners' individual learning styles?

This section does not undertake specific assessments of particular technologies and their potential applications, because this type of analysis, to be meaningful, must consider the particular context, content and learning strategies. Instead, this section suggests ways of considering issues of appropriateness of technologies for learning tasks and of adapting the broader questions to specific situations.