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Looking back this was never more true in my autobiography than in the trip I made to NewZealand which is recorded in IM3 (see also appendix1):I have reflected on the comment made by Kit Field (cited in section 4.1.3) frequently and wouldnow say that at that time, travel to ICCE 2002 was entirely justified. Indeed, it would probablyhave always been necessary since the face to face encounters I had on that trip were crucial tothe development of the underlying hypothesis of this study. It was the blend of online and faceto face encounters that were so professionally enriching as well as the formal immersion in thediscourse of 21 st Century learning. As can be seen in reflections on the concept of 'network' laterin this chapter, this was not about 'legitimate peripheral participation' (Lave and Wenger, 2008),it was full self-conscious active and experiential learning (see Conner et. al's (1996) treatment ofKolb's theory in the context of technologised learning or Glaser’s (2002) treatment of adultlearning).A further important point of reflection seems relevant: It is perhaps technology that has driventhe need for professional learning on my part but the resultant gains in knowledge, skills andunderstanding have been achieved through the pedagogic agency of fellow human beings. Ineeded to find out more about education in China in order to prepare the so-called the 'E-China'bid (see IM3). This led me into a range of inquiry strategies. From these emerged theopportunity to go to New Zealand and then my need to find my way round the country promptedmy need to get in touch with other academics – this, in turn, put me in contact with BillAnderson and Mary Smith whose expertise I learnt from (see e.g. Moore and Anderson, 2003) asthey were, and remain, leading experts in distance education 65 .65 Bill and Mary still act as executives of DEANZ, the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (see,www.deanz.org.nz235Simon Hughes Ph.D. Thesis (October 2012)