No 6, June 2021

This editorial presents different views to approach the history of distance learning. If the history of technologies is the most frequently explored, this paper also presents the history of pedagogies and the various contexts surrounding devices and their evolution, specialized institutions in the field and the terminologies used to name different actions. Subsequently, it presents the papers of the current issue that adopted some of these views on the topic.

There is a long history of the use of technology in distance education. It is necessary to look beyond the technological tools to examine the systems of media that enable meaning to be communicated and understood through the use of technology. The article looks at the development of oral, written, video and computer technologies and media from the perspective of their influence on distance education. It concludes with some lessons from this historical perspective regarding media and technology in distance education today.

Live streaming has been a trend in higher education for several years and was a preferred solution for the distance delivery of university courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although presented as an innovation, live streaming is far from being a novelty. This article proposes to approach the pedagogical use of video to transmit and disseminate knowledge from the perspective of the history of distance learning and educational technologies and that of pedagogical innovation. The example of implementing a live lecture broadcasting system at the University of Geneva will be analyzed in light of the potential changes brought about by introducing a novelty in the routine of practices.

The "digital campuses" call for projects in the early 2000s in France show a political will to boost the development of distance learning in higher education. After a brief historical review of the highlights of this period, the authors return to the unique fate of the first French-speaking digital campus in Educational Sciences, FORSE (Formations et ressources en Sciences de l’éducation / Education Science Training and Ressources), which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2021. This retroactive vision allows us first to retain the idea of a shift from the notion of "landscape" which implies a vertical approach to change in education and training, to that of the digital "ecosystem", in which solid and constant interrelationships dominate between all the members of a project and politics. From this analytical framework, the authors explore various aspects of the integration of distance learning until their assimilation into regular university practices: the relationship between human and objects; asymmetric relationships and shared interests between actors in complementary positions that promote fruitful collaboration; finally, the development of educational technology activities used in experimentation and action research. Thus, the importance of the reality of an activity and its contextual dimensions are essential components to consider to stabilize relations between human practices and technical objects.

This article offers a retrospective on key moments in the history of distance education in Eastern Quebec leading to the beginning of the project Formation à distance interordres (FADIO) and its recent evolution in the context of COVID-19. This overview aims to retrace, through the first iterations of distance education (DA) in the region, the foundation or the shift towards DA of educational institutions. The characteristics of the FAD in Eastern Quebec, the regional needs to which it meets and the key to its success will be examined through the recurring phenomenon of collaboration between institutions.

The paper picks out a series of important moments in the 2000-year history of distance education. It identifies ten principles relevant to the present situation when, following the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning will play a more significant role in higher education.

This introduction to the "Testimonies and interviews" offers a cross-analysis of the five interviews that constitute the section and presents well-known distance learning institutions. It highlights how these institutions, despite their differences, present similarities that underline essential elements in the history and current status of distance education. Three of these elements are discussed here: the response to educational and socio-economic needs, the importance of developments in learning design and the questioning of the future of specialized institutions in the light of the multiplication of actors and the widespread use of distance in times of a pandemic.

In this interview, Michel Umbriaco, who participated in the founding of Université TÉLUQ, presents the context that gave birth to the university and some of the elements that marked its evolution. He explains that created in the early 1970s to make education more accessible; this university has gone through a succession of great successes and crises that have even called its existence into question. After reviewing the half-century of experience of the Université TÉLUQ, he discusses its future and the conditions for its continued existence in the context of higher education in Quebec and Canada.

In his interview, Professor Martin Weller explains the origins of the Open University, the UK’s pioneer distance education university, and describes the different contexts in which the Open University has had to navigate through in the last 50 years. The interview focuses on showing how the Open University’s mission (to be ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’) has been at the heart of the institution’s developments, and how the concept of openness has evolved throughout the changes and the challenges of the recent years.

In her interview, Nancy Parker outlines the origins of Athabasca University and its purpose. She describes the internal and external pressures the university has had to face over the years to become a fully online institution. Athabasca University's unique features are portrayed throughout the interview, to include serving rural and adult learners, emphasizing learning rather than teaching, using ongoing pedagogical research in instructional design to develop online content, committing to equality in education for adult learners through an open and rolling admission process, a high level of web-enabled self-service tools and call centres, and empowering students to create learning communities beyond physical and virtual boundaries.

Albert Sangrà is full professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and director of the UNESCO Chair in Education and Technology for Social Change. As a founding member of this university, he briefly recalls its birth in the mid-1990s and emphasizes its particularity of offering fully online learning in the Catalan language that incorporated Spanish shortly afterward. He then outlines the principles on which e-learning is currently based at the UOC and, finally, shares his views on the future of this mode of training in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this interview, Daniel Peraya, a renowned researcher in the field of educational technologies, talks about the history of TECFA (Technologies de formation et apprentissage), a research and teaching unit at the University of Geneva that has played an essential role in many hybrid and distance learning projects in Switzerland, Europe and the South. He explains how this unit was created and has evolved in terms of research and teaching, and thus sheds light on how the numerous collaborations with Swiss, European and international partners and funders have enabled TECFA to initiate new programs and promote the development of distance learning, becoming a reference center in the field.