This paper discusses the consequences of open learning for professional development of Australian teachers, highlighting the negative consequences of having an instrumental view of open learning predicated on forms of electronic information technology which to all intents and purposes appear central to the learning process. The paper points out that tensions and contradictions are evident in distance educators' discussions of "educational,""instructional," and "learning" technologies. These incongruities include technology's reputed capacity to simulate face-to-face learning for distance students, technology's reputed capacity to enable the distance teacher to control the learning situation, and the proposition that distance students should be forced to use available technology to ensure equitable access to learning opportunities. Open learning technologies exist in uneasy tension with education/culture, as they have the potential to be used as strategies of control and marginalization. If professional development programs using open learning technologies are to empower participating teachers, they will need to strike a balance between these opposing forces or else lose all meaning and purpose in the process. (Contains 19 references.) (JDD)