Towards a spirituality of open distance learning

Abstract

This article suggests attention to the paideia of the soul as an educative corrective for preparing open distance learning students for living in the current technology-dependent world. This world is undergirded by a technology-rich knowledge society that privileges new informational epistemologies. In an attempt to suggest a spirituality of open distance learning that is based on the paideia (full-blown completeness) of the soul, use is made of the integrated interpretations of three relevant viewpoints. It is shown that spirituality in open distance learning is neither religion nor ethics; that it is essentially about the meaning in and of life, meaning-making and meaning-decoding, self-transcendence (especially as meaning-making), connection, engagement and a re-interrogation of all the major existentialist questions. It is a journey towards wholeness and compassion (as knowledge of love) of every student teacher.