National Reports on Opportunities created by new ICT Developments
Key Resource, June 2003
Since 2000, many national and intergovernmental organisations have published reports analysing educational opportunities created by developments in information and communications technologies. The following is a list of major reports, organised by country. All reports are free to download from the listed URLs.
Australia
Universities Online: A survey of online education and services in Australia (45 pages)
Margot Bell, Denise Bush, Peter Nicholson, David O'Brien, Thien Tran
Australia Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), March 2002
Based on survey data, Universities Online is a detailed picture of online education and services in Australian universities. The country's 43 universities were surveyed between August and December 2001. The report covers the rates of usage of online courses, units, and online services, including statistics on the utilisation of learning platform software such as WebCT and Blackboard.
The Business of Borderless Education - 2001 Update (57 pages)
Yoni Ryan and Laurence Stedman
Australia Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), January 2002
Subsequent to the bear market in the internet and telecommunications industries, as well as the collapse of many e-learning ventures, this report updates and revises the earlier 'Business of Borderless Education' written in March 2000. The authors examine the effects of the dotcom crash on the education sector, and analyse the status of online providers after the economic downturn.
The Business of Borderless Education (328 pages)
Stuart Cunningham et al
Australia Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA), March 2000
This influential report examines the emergence of corporate, for-profit and virtual universities in the United States, and discusses their likely effects on Australian higher education. The authors focus specifically upon staffing, student profiles, curriculum, technology issues, accreditation and quality issues. The report was followed up in January 2002 with 'The Business of Borderless Education - 2001 Update' (listed above) and was the companion report for a similar study in the United Kingdom, 'The Business of Borderless Higher Education: UK Perspectives' (see below).
Canada
The e-learning e-volution in colleges and universities: A Pan-Canadian Challenge (125 pages)
The Advisory Committee for Online Learning, February 2001
The Advisory Committee for Online Learning, a group jointly established by Industry Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC), released this report as an independent analysis of how Canada might optimise online learning in higher education. The committee focuses on topics including institutional management options; structural options and strategic development plans; administrative and infrastructural challenges; and resources required to meet priorities.
European Union
All of the EU's e-learning documents are available from their eLearning website.
eLearning: Designing Tomorrow's Education, an Interim Report (34 pages)
Commission of the European Communities, February 2002
The most recent EU report on e-learning is an interim review of developments in the eLearning Action Plan across the EU. The report focuses primarily upon the political and structural issues around developing e-learning capabilities, including quality certifications, priority subject areas, and European networks to be developed for education. The report reviews the various submissions and projects that are developing under the eLearning Action Plan.
The eLearning Action Plan: Designing Tomorrow's Education (19 pages)
Commission of the European Communities, March 2001
Written as a follow-up to the May 2000 EU eLearning initiative, this brief report discusses the implementation of projects under the initiative. The report outlines the resources, programmes and instruments available from the European Community that can be applied to e-learning, including exchange programmes, socio-economic research projects, technology incubators and development funds. The report also proposes methods of action at the member state level that can encourage and reinforce the eLearning plan, and lists initiatives that are currently underway.
Designing Tomorrow's Education: Promoting Innovation With New Technologies (38 pages)
Commission of the European Communities, January 2000
This report, one of the EU's first on ICT in education explores how to make educational practice dovetail with developing technologies. The report examines what conditions are conducive to the development of ICT, and then makes recommendations on how EU member states can establish these conditions. The appendices give overviews on initiatives in member states, and also provide statistics on ICT usage.
New Zealand
New Zealand's Offshore Public Tertiary Education Programmes (14 pages)
New Zealand Ministry of Education International & Policy Development Unit, July 2002
Produced by the Ministry of Education's International & Policy Development Unit, this report gives an overview of offshore programmes provided by New Zealand tertiary education providers and was conducted to assist the ministry in future planning and policy analysis. The report found that 63 offshore programmes were delivered by New Zealand's 36 tertiary education institutions in 2001, a dramatic rise from only 6 in 1997. The results of the study are also compared with offshore provision from Australia, UK and Canada.
Highways and Pathways: Exploring New Zealand's E-Learning Opportunities (72 pages)
Shona Butterfield et al
E-Learning Advisory Group, March 2002
Written by a national advisory group on e-learning, this report gives recommendations on how the New Zealand government should develop an e-learning strategy in tertiary education. The authors encourage the government to push for collaboration between government agencies, providers and other stakeholders; examine cost structures and business models, develop a research group, online portal, and funding agency to analyse and encourage the development of e-learning, and also establish a Maori group to develop programmes using e-learning.
United Kingdom
The Business of Borderless Education: UK perspectives (3 volumes, total 488 pages)
Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP, now known as Universities UK), and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), March 2000
This three-volume report, conducted in concert with an Australian study of the same title (see above), explores the implications of borderless development for higher education. The report discusses legal and regulatory matters, quality assurance, accreditation, governance and institutional management, costs, infrastructure issues, teaching and learning, and staffing. The report also recommends the formation of an observatory to track developments in borderless education, which led to the development of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education in 2001.
USA
The Power of the Internet for Learning: Moving from promise to practice (168 pages)
Bob Kerrey et al
Web-Based Education Commission, December 2000
Written by a bipartisan, federally-appointed commission, this report is based upon extensive consultation with educators, technology experts, and other stakeholders on use of the internet in all levels of education. The report both reviews current use and also gives direction for the future, focusing on issues around technology, training, funding, regulatory practice, and privacy. Illustrative examples from across the United States are used to demonstrate innovative uses of technology in education.
e-Learning: Putting a world-class education at the fingertips of all children (64 pages)
US Department of Education, December 2000
This 2000 report reviews progress achieved since United States' first report on educational technology, "Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge", published in 1996. The report finds that technology has been successfully introduced into many classrooms, and sets new goals for future planning. Topics discussed include technological infrastructure, teacher training, research, and teaching and learning. While the report focuses mainly upon elementary schools, it helps to clearly define the country's broader goals around educational technology.
Report to Congress on the Distance Education Demonstration Program
US Department of Education, April 2005
In the United States, where higher education is largely a state and private endeavour, the federal government's main focus on higher education is in regards to funding. This is the first report on the results of a federally-appointed evaluation of distance education providers, which were restricted under the American Higher Education Act. Participants included a mix of public, private and for-profit institutions, including New York University, Western Governors University and Capella University. The study found that institutions were restricted by regulations on the amount of distance education an institution may provide, as well as the complexity of student aid programmes. The report raises a number of questions and suggestions as to how federal regulations could be altered to accommodate distance education programmes.
American Council on Education (ACE) and EDUCAUSE
Distributed Education: Challenges, Choices, and a New Environment (5 volumes, 182 pages total)
ACE and Educause, 2001-2002
This series, compiled from papers commissioned by ACE and EDUCAUSE, explores policy issues around distance education, distributed education, and e-learning. The first volume, written by senior staff at ACE and EDUCAUSE, describes the range of developments in borderless education, and the subsequent volumes focus on specific topics around accreditation (volume 2), institutional leadership (volume 3), student learning (volume 4), and strategic partnerships (volume 5). The reports typically provide an overview and discussion of major issues, then give practical recommendations for implementation.
American Council on Education (ACE) and European University Association (EUA)
The Brave New (and Smaller) World of Higher Education: A Transatlantic View
(32 pages)
Madeleine Green, Peter Eckel and Andris Barblan, August 2002
This essay emerged from the Transatlantic Dialogue conference held in July 2001 at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, jointly hosted by ACE and the EUA. The essay examines the broad ideas of globalisation, technology, and competition, and then discusses the corresponding responses in higher education, which include partnerships, alliances, internationalisation, and policy frameworks such as the Bologna Declaration.
The World Bank
Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education (232 pages)
Richard Hopper, ed.
World Bank, October 2002
This World Bank report, one of the organisation's few forays into tertiary education, suggests strategies for developing countries to improve their colleges and universities in order to compete better in the so-called 'knowledge economy'. The report outlines recent developments in technology, education and society that present opportunities and threats to developing countries, and suggests how governments can develop a coherent policy framework for tertiary education. Case studies are presented as successful examples for other parts of the world.
UNESCO
Technologies for Education: Potentials, Parameters and Prospects (202 pages)
Wadi D. Haddad and Alexandra Drexler, eds.
UNESCO and the Academy for Educational Development, August 2002
Written by private educational consultants Knowledge Enterprise on behalf of UNESCO and the Academy for Educational Development, this report aims to cover a great deal of ground, by discussing the rationales, technical applications, and case studies on technology in education. By compiling chapters from individuals with good first-hand knowledge of regional contexts, the report offers solid case studies of education utilising the internet, as well as other technologies like radio and television from developing and developed countries around the world.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
E-Learning: The Partnership Challenge (110 pages)
Anne Lear, Chris Duke and Kurt Larsen
Centre for Educational Research and Education, OECD, June 2001
Arguing that the high costs of developing e-learning necessitates public-private cooperation, this report focuses in particular on the topic of partnerships in e-learning. The report is based in part on OECD events that drew together representatives from the software and hardware industry, publishers, educational institutions, and policy makers, and examines both the K-12 and higher education sectors in OECD countries. It analyses trends and developments in e-learning, provides advice to business and education on development partnerships, and examines the long-term impact of policy decisions.