IF THERE BE CHANGE NO CHANGE I SEE": THE EFFECT OF E- LEARNING ON TODAY'S HIGHER EDUCATION (original) (raw)

e-Learning and the Reconfiguration of Higher Education - Disruptive, Innovative and Inevitable

2015

This first part of this paper gives a concise overview of how e-learning ‘works’. The second part suggests the inevitability of more and more teaching and learning taking place in the e-learning context. It touches on some of the communication challenges academics face in moving from the lecture format to the online format and describes some of the challenges that lecturers, tutors and managers face in implementing e-learning successfully.

Confronting challenges to e-learning in Higher Education Institutions

International Journal of Education and Development Using Ict, 2009

Technological innovations have not only brought benefits to business, but to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) where an unprecedented demand for tertiary education has seen students enrolling for courses, some doing so through distance education. This has made the internet a very significant and indispensable learning and business tool for information dissemination for both education purposes and business transactions. The Internet is a technological development that has the potential to change not only the way society retains and accesses knowledge but also to transform and restructure traditional models of higher education, particularly the delivery and interaction in and with course materials and associated resources. Utilising the Internet to deliver e-learning initiatives has created expectations both in the business market and in higher education institutions (Singh, O'Donoghue and Worton, 2005:3). Universities have been faced with the daunting task of having to readjust and re-organise themselves in preparation for the incorporation of e-learning within their institutions. Institutional leaders have also been faced with the challenge of having to align their institutional objectives to meet the needs and demands of the e-learning dispensation. Indeed, e-learning has enabled universities to expand on their current geographical reach, to capitalise on new prospective students and to establish themselves as global educational providers. This article explores the issues surrounding the implementation of e-learning into higher education, including the structure and delivery of higher education, the implications to both students and lecturers and the global impact on society.

The myths about e-learning in higher education

British Journal of Educational Technology, 2010

Proponents have marketed e-learning by focusing on its adoption as the right thing to do while disregarding, among other things, the concerns of the potential users, the adverse effects on users and the existing research on the use of e-learning or related innovations. In this paper, the e-learning-adoption proponents are referred to as the technopositivists. It is argued that most of the technopositivists in the higher education context are driven by a personal agenda, with the aim of propagating a technopositivist ideology to stakeholders. The technopositivist ideology is defined as a 'compulsive enthusiasm' about e-learning in higher education that is being created, propagated and channelled repeatedly by the people who are set to gain without giving the educators the time and opportunity to explore the dangers and rewards of e-learning on teaching and learning. Ten myths on e-learning that the technopositivists have used are presented with the aim of initiating effective and constructive dialogue, rather than merely criticising the efforts being made.

Paradoxes and Dilemmas in Managing E-Learning in Higher Education. Research & Occasional Paper Series. CSHE.7.03

Center for Studies in Higher Education, 2003

The new information and communication technologies (ICT) affect currently most spheres of life, including all educational levels. Their effects are most likely to grow in the future. However, many predictions in the last few years as to the sweeping impact of the ICT on restructuring the teaching/learning practices at universities and their high profit prospects have not been materialized; and several large ventures of e-learning undertaken by the corporate world, new for-profit organizations and some leading universities failed to yield the expected results. This paper examines eight inherent paradoxes and dilemmas in the implementation process of the ICT in various higher education settings worldwide. The paradoxes and dilemmas relate to: the differential infrastructure and readiness of different-type higher education institutions to utilize the ICTs' potential; the extent to which the "old" distance education technologies and the new ICT replace teaching/learning pr...

Development of E-learning in higher education and future directions

Teachers and students in higher education are coming to realize that to become competent practitioners there is need to take advantage of up-to-date digital technologies and learning practices. Learning process requires measurement and evaluation of students behaviour. In the case of e-learning, evidence is sought for improvements resulting from the use of online tools and processes desired to achieve a given set of learning outcomes. In this 21st century, knowledge is fast becoming a powerful engine in life. The visions, innovations, and inventions are the building blocks of developing knowledgeable and sustainable society. E-learning has facilitated the use of a plethora of internet and web-based applications as the method of communication with a distributed audience. Therefore, institutions of higher learning are constantly venturing into new and innovative methods and are radically changing the educational practice making it competitive. This paper examines how emerging technologies and e-learning are being used in education to create a major shift in the educational service paradigm that promises major advantages over the traditional distance learning and face-to-face systems. The authors present developments in distance education and e-learning whilst clarifying the similarities and differences between them. We identify factors affecting development of e-learning systems and examine the implementation of some systems in pervasive distributed computing environments. For everyone everywhere, the present developments in e-learning spells more access for learners, cautionary expansion for universities, and accelerated learning and influences for the future. The future directions is such that the higher educational system of the future and especially in Europe must aim to meet human development needs with elearning playing some major parts through promotion of access and widening participation in knowledge and skills acquisition. In order to support learning in evolving dynamic environments, several factors must be taken into consideration. These range from policies, strategies, the current education environments and business needs as well as the specific discipline being studied. Since the advent of e-learning and its eventual implementation in higher education, the world of learning for both the advanced nations and emerging economies have witnessed an upsurge in the number and types of students who are now engaged in pursuit of studies at institutions of higher learning. This paper reports on issues relating to expectations of the university of the future and the future of universities.

Taking the E-Train in University Education

E-Training Practices for Professional Organizations, 2005

This paper looks at the increased use of e-learning in university education. Acknowledging the origins of the tenn in business and industry settings, it outlines features of e-learning in university contexts. It suggests some directions for research on the use of e-learning in university education, particularly argning for research endeavour focused on issues specific to what is novel in e-learning, but bnilding on findings from educational research in earlier more limited technological enviromnents.

E-learning and University, what perspective

The essay presents the incorporation process in the reconstruction of distance education in Italy. The paper tries to highlight the transition from modern to postmodern society, focusing both on this extraordinary change in the landscape of cultural and communication processes, and outcomes for the education system and educational and pedagogical models that govern this relationship. The research aims to understand, on the one hand, the potential of these techno-social environments for educational systems, and on the other, raises new questions for a sociological reflection more attentive to new social dynamics produced by these technologies. We seek to trace the effects triggered by the advent of ICT on persons and learning systems. We starts from the idea that, despite widespread criticism, immobility of education system and the absence of an overview about the use of these new devices in teaching practices, we register a significant tendency towards change. On the basis of these considerations, the research attempts to: • highlight any differences in perspectives/models in use among the e-learning systems and teaching practices; • draw a reflection of risks/opportunities, strengths and weaknesses associated with the use of such instruments/techno-social environment in educational processes.

E-Learning in Higher Education: Representing Change as a Way of Supporting the Participants

tlc.zmml.uni-bremen.de

NGANMINI Other members who contributed to workpackage n°3 of the eLene-EE project http://wiki.elene-ee.metid.polimi.it/Home Résumé : Cette communication propose un tableau de bord prospectif élaboré par des équipes d'universitaires français, italiens et polonais impliqués dans le projet européen eLene. Cet outil permettra de suivre le développement des activités d'enseignement numérique dans les universités. Transposé dans le contexte français, nous étudierons ses effets sur la politique contractuelle des universités, volet enseignement numérique, et envisagerons ses apports sur les questions portées par la LOLF.