ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS & BUSINESS (AUEB) GRADUATE PROGRAM in DECISION SCIENCES Specialisation in ELECTRONIC COMMERCE (EXECUTIVE III)

e-learning

A Policy brief

e-Policy Minimester (GEM)

ATHENS

e-Policy

E-learning policy brief

Background
One decade ago we noticed the first attempts to take advantage of the new technologies, with educational multimedia CD-ROM, teleconference systems and CBT material on some advanced business web sites. Those first initiatives even though not always successful, opened the horizon for a new education industry, what today we call e-learning. Three years ago John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, declared that the greatest growth in Internet will belong to e-learning, while recently Intel Corp. stated that next big business of e-business will be e-learning. In our new digital age and economy, product life cycle along with knowledge/skills life cycle become shorter than ever, something that calls for continuous education and awareness. In the era of globalization, that breaks the national borders and favors new technological revolutions, lifetime education becomes imperative. Just-in-time production implies just-in-time education, otherwise according to PriceWaterhouse Coopers research, this becomes number one obstacle for further development of a company. The European Commission places a lot of emphasis in e-learning, therefore in its eEurope 2002 program, e-learning becomes one of the most important directives:

By 2005, Europe should have modern online public services, e-government, e-learning services, e-health services

E-learning models, benefits and infrastructure

Currently e-learning is an emerging market with a high degree of complexity and fragmentation. This market involves three domains: Content, technology and services. Content is normally developed by Universities and educational organizations, while technology involves the hardware and software platforms where the content is offered and finally services refer to educational portals or Learning Service Providers (LSP), that combine content and technology to offer the e-learning service to the interested parties. A basic model is shown in the picture below: In Greece, e-learning was started three years ago, quite aggressively, however the uncomfortable reality is that educational leaders are not currently driving the policy agenda. The whole attempt was initiated by information industry companies, in the same way they develop new software or e-commerce applications, even though e-learning is first of all an educational process. During 2000 Greece had the smaller Internet penetration (11,7%) amongst EU countries, even though the perceived importance of Internet use was one of the highest (58.5%)1. The dynamics are obvious, compared with the 3% penetration in 1999, but it needs a strong support to further increase. Greece is last in EU countries in funding R&D (0.5%) compared to 2% average in EU. 2 Today the e-government and e-society enterprise program is addressing e-learning as one of the first priorities: Training and Upgrade of the human resources skills (Action 3.4). The most valuable benefit of e-learning is its potential ability to deliver high-quality services to all learners regardless of location, family or cultural background, or disability. Assuring universal opportunity is a critical policy foundation. Especially when the technical limitations regarding access, infrastructure and bandwidth are solved, e-learning will become an everyday reality for everyone.

1 2

Eurobarometer (Nov. 2000) Eurostat Page: 2 A. Karakassis

Decision Science (Executive III)

e-Policy

E-learning policy brief

Electronic distribution of educational material, according to Training Magazine3, leads to a cost reduction in the range of 50% to 70%. In parallel, e-learning allows for the personalization of the education process approaching each persons diversity in terms of learning capacity, style and educational needs. This way we achieve a 25% to 60% improvement on education material digestion, and a much better learning curve.

Government and Policy directions

Moving toward a transformed learning system that takes full advantage of e-learning entails a large number of policy challenges. These challenges should be seen as policy opportunities, because they provide openings to demonstrate leadership in areas where the ultimate pay-off is sure to be great. The main of them are: Providing access to robust but easy to afford infrastructure: e-Learning should be considered a public good4. Government should make any effort to provide the necessary infrastructure for this. A collaborative R&D with Universities and public sector should be one of the main strategies, with the other two being standards and legislation. In parallel a number of supportive actions should be taken. Promote and fund the enrollment and attendance of e-learning programs like Open University etc Establish countrywide communications infrastructure with wide bandwidth and fast Internet. Negotiate volume discounts with telephone and other communications companies. Establish programs and work with private sector to ensure that everybody can have convenient and affordable access to the equipment, software, fast Internet connections and other resources necessary to take full advantage of e-learning opportunities. Revising learning standards: The current education system should turn into an Internet Based Training (IBT) model, the student academic standards should include information literacy and higher-order thinking skills to prepare the next generation to live in cyber -civilization, where economy is based on knowledge and information services. Schools all over Greece or even abroad can be connected through Internet to develop case studies on virtual teams and best practices or experienced teachers can teach virtually to other schools. Introduce Internet-based assessment systems: Internet-based assessment will help the rapid adoption of e-learning by every teacher in every classroom. This will also be an important vehicle for getting schools equipped and online. Internet-based testing has many characteristics of a disruptive technology and it is likely to become the killer app of the education world. This can also save costs since although the cost of developing a new Greek educational assessment system is significant, once it is up and running it will almost certainly save a big amount of money in staff time, printing, storing and shipping costs. Streamlining current policies: The existing educational policies should become more flexible and open-minded for efficient administration of e-learning. For example the new transformed policy should measure and certify learning results that emphasize on individual skills and knowledge rather than courses taken or credit hours earned. The home is becoming a learning place, where through Internet powerful learning opportunities are available to children, where worth to mention a growing number of parents are working. Shall we think for family reconstruction side effect, too? Establishing an Educational portal: Encourage and fund the development of cross-university e-learning programs between Greek or foreign universities, with the ultimate goal to establish an Educational portal, which will guarantee a high level of offered programs in all educational levels. Supply technologies to assist persons with special need: Establish policies and acquire funding to ensure that all persons with special needs (disability, language, setting) effectively gain the benefits of online courses and instructional resources in ways equivalent to other people.

3 4

http://www.trainingmag.com/training/index.jsp Jocelyn Paine (Architecture of the pioneered British e-learning program Virtual Economy) Page: 3 A. Karakassis

Decision Science (Executive III)

e-Policy

E-learning policy brief

Conclusion
World economy has now reached a point where work involves learning. Businesses are not competitive unless their workers are knowledge workers who continuously improve their knowledge, skills and productivity. That implies lifetime education, which in sequence means e-learning. Enabled by a technology-rich environment, an Information Age e-learning system should include: A focus on learning, not schools Learning organizations defined by mission, not by geography and facilities Student-focused, customized learning, not mass-produced, one-size-fits-all instruction Self-directed and holistic learning, not regimented recitation Learning on a 24/7 basis and throughout the year, not artificial schedules and calendars Empowerment of families and educators, not bureaucracies

Digital skills are increasingly a must for the employability and adaptability of all workers 5 Job is most important reason for learning basic ICT skills 6 E-learning uses ICT as an engine for up-skilling and adaptability with the ultimate goal to increase human competencies, something that is the first priority for businesses in our new digital economy:

"Maximizing long-term human productivity does not mean merely getting people to do things 'better, faster, cheaper,' as the expression goes. Rather, it means engineering excellent human competency." HR Director: The Arthur Andersen Guide to Human Capital 2000
Today we can re-phrase the old saying Think therefore I exist to its new e-learning version:

Learn, therefore I am able to compete

5 6

Source Eurobarometer , Oct. 2001 Source Eurobarometer , Nov. 2000 Page: 4 A. Karakassis

Decision Science (Executive III)