The impact of E-Learning

Abstract

The impact of the telecom boom on education and training is inevitable. The unprecedented developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are closely linked to several other significant changes in our economy and society. This also results in a higher demand for education and training in response to the challenges of our emerging "knowledge economy" and "knowledge society". A digitally literate citizen will be able to learn and take responsibility for continuous personal learning development and employability (eLearning Summit Task Force 2001). Historically, distance education can be traced back to the 18th century, to the beginning of print-based correspondence study in the United States. In the mid-19th century correspondence education started to develop and spread in Europe (Great Britain, France, and Germany) and the United States. Isaac Pitman, the English inventor of shorthand, is generally recognised as the first person to use correspondence courses. By the late 1960s and early 1970s significant changes in distance learning occurred due to the development of new media technologies and delivery systems. The Open University (OU) in Great Britain became the first autonomous institution to offer college degrees through distance education. 1 The OU now uses all possible forms of technology to deliver learning opportunities to students. As technology developed, the possibility for shifting from traditional one-way communication methods to two-way interactive distance learning programmes became more feasible. ICT supported education quickly became the hot topic in the 1990s due to spreading use of the World Wide Web and its fast developing applications. These new technologies have opened up new opportunities for the non-traditional learner as well as for the traditional training institutions. Nowadays, almost all available ICT developments are being used for distance education, or - with today's more popular term - for E-Learning. © Springer Berlin - Heidelberg 2005.