Distance learning content providers and course designers need to develop new modes of delivery. Educators need new models of teaching to create meaningful distance learning scenarios. The delivery of the material is the key to creating quality content, one based on an emancipatory pedagogy. Who is in control of content remains the most basic problem of education. Gibson claims that education is a for-profit endeavor. Run like businesses, institutions of higher learning want the most cost-effective way of creating distance education programs. The best graphic artists or content providers do not design distance education courses. The cheapest team possible designs them. Moreover, the opinions and voices expressed in distance learning courses are not from as diverse a population as would be expected given the presumably diverse student body. Course content is developed by people in positions of power, possibly squeezing out minority voices. Gibson asks how distance...

Issues related to race, class, gender, and power are the most salient ones in the study of distance education, notes Gibson.
If institutions of higher learning invest money into flashy distance learning technology they are unlikely to accomplish meaningful educational goals. Technology must be truly accessible, truly affordable. The disparity between those who do and do not own computers has come to dictate who can and will receive education at a distance. The technology gap reflects racial and of course, income gaps. Finally, Gibson asks what the ultimate goals of distance education might be. The scope and potential of distance learning remains one of the most pressing issues in education. Distance learning has the potential to transform the whole educational system.