The first section refers to the context of distant students, the problems of adult learning, and students’ autonomy and motivation. Subsequent sections deal with pedagogical environments and learning models and the major problems concerning the teacher’s role in ODL.

In ODL the learner is face-to-face with learning materials and not with the teacher in a real classroom. An ideal ODL student is a person who is emotionally independent of an instructor and can approach matters directly without having another adult intervening continuously in an explaining, lecturing or other role. Because of this, the learner must be an autonomous individual and distance education is best suited to adult target groups.

A mature adult is more intrinsically motivated than a child, but there are several reasons that can explain why there are many adults who lack motivation. Very often, there is a lack of persistence, trust and tenacity, which can cause serious difficulties in the learning process and a reduction in individual autonomy. For a teacher this is an important aspect and the teacher must be attentive to prevent failure due to a lack of motivation. When the learner is not an autonomous individual we may help them by using structured materials.

For success in distance education, the self-confidence of the learner is crucial. This is always important to lead the learner towards a progressive autonomous process of learning and for continuous self-motivation. For that to happen, the learner must acquire habits and skills of self-evaluation.

The characteristics of the learners, namely: their personality, level of autonomy, previous experiences and previous level of education, determine the need for more or less dialogue, more or less interaction in ODL programmes. So, the identification of learners’ previous experiences can be extremely important when designing and developing an ODL course.

Teaching is always based on an idea about learning. Instructivism is rooted in behaviourist theories and assumes that learning is shaped by environmental conditions and that teaching is concerned with arranging the best external conditions that will lead to improvements in learners’ reactions. So, for the teacher, planning how to make changes happen is the most crucial thing.Constructivism is a broad approach that includes theories coming from a cognitive tradition and from a social psychological interactionist perspective. From a constructivist point of view, learning is a change in meaning constructed from the learner’s experience, i.e. it is a process where individuals construct new ideas based on prior knowledge.

Different goals for education and instruction require different environments. Knowledge-centred environments are educational settings designed to help students to increase their knowledge. This means that these environments focus on the kind of information and activities that help students to develop an understanding of subjects and topics in a specific area.

Learner-centred environments refer to those that focus on the prior knowledge, beliefs, skills and attitudes that learners bring to the educational setting. Therefore, these environments emphasise cultural appropriateness and cultural relevance, paying attention to the cultures or subcultures of the learners, their mode of being and their cultural idiosyncrasies. Also, learner-centred environments respect the language practices of the learners as a basis for future understanding and change.

A community-centred environment arises when aspects of community develop, such as a sense of being interdependent enhanced by social interactions and norms that value the search for understanding. Underlying community-centred environments is a set of practices including emotional peer support and the encouragement of value discussions amongst students, problem solving and projects in small groups or with the whole class. This type of environment is similar to a real community of practice, where there are common goals and where everyone attempts to collaborate to achieve those goals.

Methods and techniques used in distance learning can be addressed according two main perspectives or pedagogical models: the independent learning model and the collaborative learning model.

Independent learning relies on self-directed learning controlled by the learner. It is based on the expectation that the students are able to guide themselves autonomously and define their own targets with support from the readings and tasks recommended by the teacher. For this, it is desirable that the readings and tasks have targets and clearly defined objectives and that the subject is organised in relatively autonomous sections so that the study process is easier for the student.

Collaborative learning is based on learning through personal or social interaction amongst learners. It is designed to help students to share goals, exploit learning materials and achieve deeper levels of understanding and knowledge built by the social construction of meanings and knowledge. Students work collaboratively or cooperatively in teams. Several different activities can be included in this category: group discussions around a certain topic where it is expected that the students will benefit from an exchange of perspectives and critical assumptions, cooperative problem solving and collaborative project work.

The teacher’s role is different according to the type of environment. In a knowledge-centred environment, the teacher acts as an instructor and a coach in a certain subject; he or she has to motivate students to perform planned tasks and activities. For this, it is highly important to clarify the learning programme in advance, make the targets explicit and, if possible, provide an indication about how to achieve the goals.