E.LEARNING IN 21ST CENTURY
The need to re-engineer Higher Education
in the light of changing trends, needs and circumstances is first highlighted. The educational requirements of the Knowledge Economy are delineated. Our Prime Minister has given to us a Vision for India to emerge as a Knowledge Superpower in the new millennium, and the Planning Commission has elaborated on the distinctive characteristics of a Knowledge Society.posed by the new technological force. The Internet is decisively and irreversibly changing the world – of education, work, leisure, entertainment – of life as a whole. The benefits of e-learning are explored. The challenges to the virtual/open universities s of change are discussed. Two recent models for collaboration in distance education and learning are discussed in some detail. Finally, IT, ET, TEL and the future of Education are explored.
Universities generate content every day through their courses and seminars; then they throw it away < >. While there is a certain charm with this approach, it is not cost-effective. It is rather frustrating that the lectures delivered by famous and great teachers are not available to successive generations of students. Re-using the content generated would be so effective, qualitatively and in an economic sense. A case in point is the recording of live music performances for re-use by a wider audience, spatially and temporally dispersed.
Universities are involved in three functions as content-providers : production, programming and distribution. They generate content, package it in courses, and present it to students. Tsichritzis < >contrasts this with the evolution of TV, wherein the three functions, which were once grouped together, are now separated and treated independently. Content is bought from production companies competitively, packaging is done by the networks, and finally, distribution is done by local operators.
The Future
There are new emerging challenges for higher education
Increasing numbers of students aspire for higher education
Rapidly changing job content and employment profiles require lifelong learning opportunities ; while professors do not mind lecturing to large classes (with audio-visual supplements), marking exams for these large numbers is abhorred as a chore;
The work schedules of employed learners require courses to be delivered to them at their work-places at times convenient for them ;
The wide spectrum of preparation and competence profiles of learners demand customization of learning packages and individual and self-paced instruction.
There are two revolutions which offer new opportunities to enable the new challenges to be met ; these are the ET and IT revolutions. The ET revolution addresses both the issues of technology in education, and of technology of education. As far as the IT revolution is concerned, the Internet allows virtual classrooms ; digital libraries provide knowledge repositories ; the Web offers up-to-date material for seminar discussions ; computer simulation offers an alternative to labs. Thus, Technology is not simply an add-on service as computers or audio-visuals were before; it impinges on the very soul of the University :-- knowledge transfer and knowledge creation.
The Challenges
The universities are facing a crisis today – in two areas : financial and structural. Most universities world-wide are dependent on public funds, which are drying up because of tight government budgets and other concerns. The economic value of academic research is also under scrutiny. With the end of the cold war, military research is waning ; the globalisation processes have thrust research efforts also into the competitive arena ; and the corporate sector not only demands quality, but also timeliness.