Distance education and the heritage of modernity

Abstract

In a short period of time, E-learning (or online distance education) rose from being a marginal resource to being the apple of the eye of public policies and business actions. Today, one cannot ignore the impact that the introduction of E-learning has caused in our current ways of conceiving and practicing education and communication. Its most enthusiastic advocates state that the Information and Communication Technologies are creating a new type of society and human beings. However, one has the impression that the discourse of evident rupture with the past results not only from the exaggerated belief in technological means, but also from the impossibility of responding to the objections that could arise. Therefore, it is urgent to invest in theoretical investigation, which perhaps will allow us to understand and qualify the ruptures that must occur and those that should be avoided. Thus, the purpose of this article is to contribute to the construction of the conceptual tools that promote such understanding.