December 2005

"Failures of e-learning operations have, at least temporarily, overshadowed the prospects of widened and flexible access to tertiary education, pedagogic innovation and decreased cost, that e-learning once embodied. But universities are gradually bringing e-learning into the mainstream of their educational programmes, and it is often an integral part of a classroom-based course. Will this trend continue? How could governments and institutions help make further progress in e-learning and reap all its potential benefits?"

To try to answer these and other questions, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in partnership with the UK-based Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (OBHE), carried out a survey of e-learning in 19 tertiary education institutions in 13 countries. The qualitative findings of the project were complemented by an OBHE survey of online learning in Commonwealth universities undertaken in 2004. This 8-page Policy Brief looks at the results of these surveys, and likely future trends in e-learning at the university level, worldwide.

E-learning refers to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance and/or support learning in tertiary education. A wide range of systems fall into the e-learning purview - from students using e-mail and accessing course work online while following a course on campus to programmes offered entirely online. This type of ICT-enhanced learning is "increasingly prominent in tertiary education", though uptake is proving slow: only 6.6% of respondents reported institution-wide adoption of content management systems in 2004, and whole programmes at the web-dependent and fully online end of the scale account for well under 5% of total enrolments. That said, almost all institutions studied have some form of central strategy for e-learning or were in the process of developing one (only 9% of 122 Commonwealth institutions responding to the survey lacked an institution-wide online learning strategy or plans to develop one, down from 18% in 2002).

In brief, the OECD survey found that e-learning has yet to revolutionalise teaching in universities. It has more impact on administrative services such as admissions, registration, fee payment and purchasing than on the fundamentals of classroom teaching and learning. The survey found that e-learning typically supplements rather than replaces face-to-face teaching. "But even if ICT has not revolutionised the classroom yet, it is changing the learning experience of students by relaxing time and space constraints as well as providing easier access to information (online journals and e-books; student portals; etc.) - an achievement that should not be downplayed."

The OECD says universities are considering how to unleash the potential of e-learning. Key barriers include infrastructure and funding, along with scepticism about the paedagogic value of e-learning and staff development. The challenge is to use the technology to teach in new and effective ways to get academics and technical staff to work together and to reduce costs by using open standards software, by replacing on-campus teaching, and by encouraging peer and automated learning. Though partnerships potentially raise issues (e.g., should e-learning materials be made available to third parties free or for a fee?), collaboration is "a key characteristic of e-learning that could help institutions to share knowledge, and good practices, and achieve benefits such as advanced technology and educational quality in addition to enhanced market presence and lower costs." State or national governments can also play a significant role in the strategic direction of e-learning; concrete suggestions/strategies for OECD countries are detailed here.