Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: : This paper addresses the question: how can e-learning be embedded in traditional universities so that it contributes to the transformation of the university? The paper examines e-learning strategies in higher education, locating the institutional context within the broader framework of national and international policy drivers which link e-learning with the achievement of strategic goals such as widening access to lifelong learning, and upskilling for the knowledge and information society. The focus will be on traditional universities i.e. universities whose main form of teaching is on-campus and face-to-face, rather than on open and distance teaching universities, which face different strategic issues in implementing e-learning. Reports on the adoption of e-learning in traditional universities indicate extensive use of e-learning to improve the quality of learning for on-campus students, but this has not yet translated into a significant increase in opportunities for lifelong learners in the workforce and those unable to attend on-campus. One vision of the future of universities is that ‘Virtualisation and remote working technologies will enable us to study at any university in the world, from home’. However, this paper will point out that realisation of this vision of ubiquitous and lifelong access to higher education requires that a fully articulated e-learning strategy aims to have a ‘transformative ’ rather than just a ‘sustaining ’ effect on teaching functions carried out in traditional universities. In order words, rather than just facilitating universities to improve their teaching, e-learning should transform how universities currently teach. However, to achieve this
Authors: Kay MacKeogh, Seamus Fox
Institution: Dublin City University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1494861158