Politicians Must Push Local e-learning Industry
Eric Wilson,
The Age,
May 26, 2004
Interesting item from an Australian newspaper arguing that, while that country has done a lot to establish a leadership position in e-learning, the industry needs more support from politicians and administrators. I'm not sure the example makes the case, however. The author argues that an internet startup, myInternet, is not being adopted by state education departments even though it is well-regarded overseas, serving (it claims) 1.5 million users. Perhaps. But as I have argued elsewhere, a federated search is a slow and exclusionary system for content distribution. And it appears (based on what I could see from the site) to offer commercial services exclusively, not the sort of free content exchange typical of the educational community. In a similar light, the author mentions The Le@rning Federation, which aims to "stimulate a marketplace for high quality public and private online curriculum content," a laudable goal but weighted down by pricing, the need to negotiate contracts, and digital rights. The failure of educational departments to embrace these is not necessarily a rejection of e-learning, but rather, only a rejection of a certain model of e-learning. The objectives of most e-learning practitioners - and many politicians - isn't to promote an industry, it is to provide an education for all citizens, by whatever means - a much more laudable, and in the long run lucrative, goal.
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