Chapter 2: Why Don’t we Simply Call it “Environmental Design for the Provision and Use of Distributed Learning Resources?”

Trends and issues exist in the mind of the beholder. To discern trends and issues requires having an overall vision that serves as a conceptual frame in which issues are embedded and against which trends become distinguishable. I therefore start off explaining where I come from.

I have worked around the globe for many decades, trying to contribute, however modestly, to improving the human condition, particularly where it is needed most: in Africa. I consider consciousness to be among the most human of human characteristics and thus care for its development. Consciousness is key to being able to improve one’s condition. It allows us to look at our world and at ourselves as actors in the world—actors who have agency, who can ask themselves questions, think about alternative ways of intervening, imagining alternative futures.