Peter S. Cookson
IRRODL Book Review Editor
The three books reviewed in this issue of the journal reflect the cultural diversity of distance education as both a field of study and a field of practice. Olaf Zawacki Richter of the Fernuniversität, Germany, reviewed the book edited by Mohamed Ally of Athabasca University, Canada, that presents theory, research, and practice relating to experiences with mobile learning in North America, Europe, and South Africa. Nataly Tcherepashenets of Empire State College reviewed two books, Online Communication in Language Learning and Teaching, authored by Marie-Noëlle Lamy and Regine Hampel of the British Open University, and Telecollaborative Language Learning, edited by Melinda Dooly of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Both books provide insights, based on theory, research, and practice, about the nexus between communication competence, intercultural collaboration, language teaching, and online distance education. David Brigham of Empire State College reviewed the book, China’s Radio & TV Universities and The British Open University: A Comparative Study, written by Runfang Wei of the Radio & TV University in Nanjin, China. This Chinese distance education scholar sets the stage for her comparative review by describing how the theories of Charles Wedemeyer, Michael Moore, Borje Holmberg, and Otto Peters have shaped the development of the global practice of distance education. She then reviews the different historical and theoretical antecedents that presaged the British Open University and China’s Radio & TV Universities. Collectively, the authors of the books reviewed in this issue of IRRODL demonstrate the rich intercultural and intellectual diversity of our field.