Open learning as a concept has its origins in distance education and ICT and the use of media in education. This paper aims at tracking the evolving concept of “open learning” in an academic journal for teaching and learning in higher education in one national state: Norway. It was established by the Norwegian University Council and distributed to all teachers at the then four universities and four scientific colleges (4500 copies) with four issues pr year. A host of journals for higher education was established during the same time in Europe and elsewhere – around 1977 – as a response to the beginning massification of higher education globally. The focus on using computers and media in education was evident from the beginning. During its first decade about 15 % of all contributions dealt with this topic. The paper will address what type of information they (N=150) conveyed, in what genre they communicated their messages, and what scientific base they had in theories and generalised experience. In general, the evolution of journals in a particular field is described as a development from a bulletin for a community of practice to a hard-core testbed for acceptable knowledge within a scientific community. This paper will analyse one aspect of a broad journal and follow the discourses within this aspect regarding, what technologies are spoken of, what purposes for its use has been described, which methods have been employed, which political trends are taken into consideration regarding openness, democratic access to education etc.. One assumption presented by Tight (2004) is that journals in the area are relatively a-theoretical. In the paper we will in particular track the use of references of international sources and influences, either by contributions from foreign authors, or in references for papers. The paper will highlight theories that are dominant and influential. One question is whether one might discern international or national trends in the evolution of the field, and which contributions might be provided from the national arena to the international.

One interesting track is to see the technological development from the early implementations of media technologies, computers and language labs, laser discs, and other obscure objects of the 1970/80-ies, to the development of information networks and internet, broadband and social media, and how Learning management systems, blogging, Wikis, digital storytelling and tools for collaboration like Adobe Connect up until ZOOM and Teams, Slack and similar tools make their way into the main ground. One assumption is that these technologies are often referred to as promising and filled with potential use in various contexts. Many will fall into a category of singular case studies, driven by engaged practitioners who enthusiastically endorse positive outcomes and minimize problems or shortcomings. The other dimension described is the double intention of a) improving ordinary teaching in higher education and b) the efforts to increase access to higher education for students of all ages, geographical and social origin. The third dimension analyzed will be the discourses about the future of education and the role of media and ICT in higher education in the years to come. The pandemic/Covid-19-experience becomes visible in its most recent years and sets an agenda for new ideas and problems to be addressed. The issues of GDPR, digital disturbances, adaptive learning, and learning analytics are new terms that spark a continuing and critical discourse about open learning and higher education.

A sample of 150 contributions to the journal of a total of 1000 from 45 volumes deal with open learning and ICT/Media in higher education. They are selected from the title and the possible allusions evoked from the title. Since 2003, the formal criteria of peer-reviews, abstracts and keywords were introduced and was also read to identify contributions worth considering. We organised contributions in a spreadsheet and developed criteria according to issue/Volume, author, institutional and geographical origin, formal signifiers of genre (practical reports, experiments, experience and reflective essays, policy statements, empirical or theoretical orientation), length and disciplinary or professional context. We classified topics along different timelines, such as technological (from Overhead-projectors to MOOCs) and theoretical development (from Piaget/Papert to Säljö), political intent (improving teaching in institutions – providing access for the public to higher education), gender, technology enthusiasts vs sceptics, national vs international orientation. After creating a set of tables of content, style/genres, length, etc. we separated a subset of contributions with a more ambitious intent of addressing research questions, with an empirical section as well as a theoretically embedded approach. These were read more closely and mapped according to concepts and intentions. In particular, we looked for the dynamics between previous research, identification of research gaps, and declarations of findings and consequences, relating to international and national contexts of open learning.

The main conclusion is that the knowledge about the use of ICT and media in higher education from 1977 evolves gradually and is mirrored in a rapidly growing number of contributions. The difference between interest for improving general quality of teaching and learning and open access to higher education is more explicit in the first decade. The two discourses merge in the 1990-ies and is seen as two sides of the coin. The contributions are predominantly rather enthusiastic about the potential of ICT in higher education and the advent of new technologies is seen as undoubtful and convincing examples of a brave new world. The number of critical contributions is very low and quite recent, addressing issues of privacy, GDPR, surveillance and digital disturbances. The reliance on theories from the English-speaking academic arena is overwhelming, with a few references to academics from other Nordic countries, and very few from elsewhere in Europe. The Norwegian context for teaching and learning is almost unquestioned as possibly different from other international contexts. Learning theory is dominant as source of theoretical foundation for the empirical efforts, and to a lesser degree didactical consideration. Learning precedes teaching in a profound sense, particularly in more recent years. Thereby the hypotheses of “learnification” of education, as suggested by Biesta (2004) is supported by the findings in this paper. Further, the presumption that the use of ICT and media in teaching contribute to speed up the change of focus from “teaching” to “learning”, as suggested by Haugsbakk & Nordkvelle (2007), is supported by the findings. Still, the contributions in this journal are rarely addressing questions raised in the journal itself, and thereby evade from the opportunity to declare a national discourse about open learning.

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