10.07.2015 Views

Untitled - socium.ge

Untitled - socium.ge

Untitled - socium.ge

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

276 Tony Batesinstitutions to over-inflate their claims to be an e-learning institution, so termsneed to be defined and used consistently.HOW BIG IS E-LEARNING?Since the first appearance of the World Wide Web in education around 1995,we have seen the emer<strong>ge</strong>nce of fully online universities in both the public andprivate sectors, university for-profit, spin-off companies, public and privatepartnerships, national and international consortia, extensive penetration of e-learning into the corporate training market, and the development of virtualschools. In addition, there has been a lar<strong>ge</strong> penetration of e-learning into traditionalcampus-based teaching.Given the issues around definitions of e-learning, it is not surprising thatthere are few reliable sources of data about the extent of e-learning in postsecondaryeducation (a comprehensive survey by the OECD, UNESCO, or asimilar body would be extremely timely). I will try to give a rough indication.I have drawn data from multiple sources, but in particular from Cunninghamet al. (2000), Dirr (2001), Allen and Seaman (2002), and many articles fromthe Chronicle of Higher Education. And, above all, I have used the searchengine Google and the web to go to institutional and corporate websites toensure that data for 2002–2003 were accurate. This rough-and-ready surveyproduced the following results. Figures refer to course enrolments, not individualstudents.e-Learning on Conventional CampusesIn terms of e-learning on university and colle<strong>ge</strong> campuses, figures from themajor learning resource mana<strong>ge</strong>ment system (LRMS) companies give someguidance. The two major LRMS companies for higher education are WebCTand Blackboard Inc. WebCT and Blackboard cover about 80 per cent of themarket, with the rest made up of a number of different proprietary LRMSs andopen-source systems. In 2002–2003, WebCT had approximately 2.5 millionstudent licenses and Blackboard about 1.5 million. WebCT estimates thatapproximately 80 percent of the applications of WebCT are to support oncampuscourses. If we make the same assumption for other LRMS providers,we <strong>ge</strong>t an estimate of approximately four million on-campus e-learners inhigher education in 2002–2003. The vast majority of these, though, will besupplementing their face-to-face classes with e-learning. These students arespread throughout the world (WebCT has licenses in over 80 different countries),but the majority will be in North America.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!