lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

Some information work is therefore necessary to improve understanding of e-learningand remove misconceptions. At the same time e-learners will need to have access toappropriate advice and assistance in making the best use of the system.Inexperience of teachersAmong teaching personnel there is a widespread lack of understanding about e-learningand how to design and conduct ICT-based courses. Unaware that the new media demandinnovative approaches and new teaching methods, many instructors simply make thelectures or other learning materials available on a server and leave the students to managethe online learning as best they can. Here again, much information and training work isnecessary to create an adequately prepared teaching force.Lack of quality resourcesThere is also a lack of materials suitable for online learning. In the absence of a learningcommunity, face-to-face interaction, live discussion and so on, the learning resourcesshould be specially designed to facilitate e-learning. Furthermore, other mechanismsshould be integrated into the learning system to permit online discussion and createvirtual learning communities. In addition, a lot more work should be done to promotethe sharing of high-quality learning resources. As to the infrastructure resources on thelearners’ side, there is still much to be done in the area of network connection. Not alle-learners have adequate facilities to learn online at home, often lacking appropriatecomputers or wide-band network connections.Difficulties of quality assuranceWhile e-learning is reaching out to increasingly large masses, it is important to payattention to the qualitative as well as the quantitative aspect. While there are effectiveMOE regulations governing the quality of MDE for most of the pilot universities, someinstitutions tend to neglect the quality of teaching and learning. In dealing with thisquestion it has to be recognised that the quality of learning for online students is inmany ways different from the notion of quality that applies in traditional learning. Howto define the quality of e-learning is, therefore, a challenge for e-learning institutions.Equally difficult problems are involved in the practical application of quality assurance,especially at a time of rapidly expanding enrolments in e-learning.BUILDING A HOLISTIC LIFELONG LEARNING SYSTEMThe above-mentioned problems can best be solved within a holistic learning systemembracing all phases of life, all sectors and all levels of education. Such a system wouldinclude a kind of “learning supermarket” where e-courses and other learning resources arestocked and shared, and where learners can choose courses and engage in learning, takepart in tests and obtain credits. The different institutions involved in the system would beencouraged to work together so as to achieve optimum use of resources – for example, bysetting jointly agreed quality standards, providing integrated e-library facilities and creatingeffective assistance and consulting services for learners. E-learning should be presented notas a complete alternative to campus-based formal education, but rather as a good modalityfor adult education and as one constituent in a lifelong learning system. Promoting thisconcept of e-learning would do much to remove the misunderstandings about lifelonglearning that are common among both learners and teachers.71