Higher Ed. and the Info Soc.

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Higher Ed. and the Info Soc.

• Informal Event at the WSIS Prep. Comm. II
• Geneva, 27 February 2003
• Brendan FD Barrett
• Academic Programme Officer
• United Nations University

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About the UNU
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UNU is a Network University
UNU/GTP and FTP
UNU/INWEH
UNU/WIDER
INCORE
UNU/INTECH
UNU/CRIS
UNU Food/Nutrition
UNU/IAS
UNU/Centre
UNU/IIST
UNU/ILA
UNU/BIOLAC
UNU/INRA
Established in 1973 before the arrival of the
Internet.
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UNU Thematic Orientation
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Capacity Development Statistics for the UNU in
2001

• 197 fellowships and internships
• 102 training courses
• 3,400 participants in the training courses
• US3.8 million expenditure on Capacity
  Development

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UNU Capacity Development Across the Globe
Norway
Iceland
United Kingdom
Canada
Finland
Northern Ireland
Netherlands
Switzerland
Belgium
Mongolia
Nepal
Syria
Iraq
China
Japan
Israel
Gulf States
Palestine
India
Korea
Belize, Guatemala, Honduras
Jordan
Thailand
Uganda
Venezuela
Nigeria
Ghana
Indonesia

Brazil
Malawi
Australia
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Key Short-duration training programmes (up to 2
months) Long-duration training programmes (3
months to one year) Degree-oriented programmes
(incl. PhD internships) Integrated capacity
development
 
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How to Increase Effectiveness?

• Use of ICTs through the Global Virtual University
  and other projects.
• Use of major international forums such as the
  WSSD and the WSIS to raise awareness and launch
  new initiatives.
• Partnership and coalition building (e.g. Global
  Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership)
  around the Ubuntu Declaration focusing on
  North-South networking and joint curriculum
  development.

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Online Education Trends
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What is VU/E-learning?

• Instruction delivered electronically, in part or
  wholly via a Web browser through the Internet
  or an intranet, or through multimedia platforms
  such CD-ROM or DVD.
• Takes advantage of the Web's global connectivity
  plus the visual environment and interactive
  nature.

Ideally VU is.. A campus-less university
that uses Internet technology for its delivery
mode.
In reality VU tends to be An extension of
the traditional university using computers and
networks for reasons of economics, performance or
convenience.
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From Concept to Practice

• Online learning has taken over 40 years to mature
  since the first conception of the Internet at MIT
  in the 1960s.
• Universities were initially slow to act but now
  leaders are appearing.
• Online learning reflects the new reality facing
  universities and research institutions the need
  for a global commercially oriented technological
  edge.

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A New Educational Model?

• An interesting challenge for all of us is the new
  OpenCourseWare Initiative at MIT launched on 4
  April 2001 and accessible from September 2002
  (http//ocw.mit.edu/index.html).
• Is there a tantalizing prospect of all online
  courses everywhere being freely accessible to all?

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Virtual Universities around the world
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New Consortiums
Universitas 21 17 member universities in 10
countries
Athabasca University (Canada) Deakin University
(Australia) Open University (United Kingdom) Open
University of Hong Kong
LSE, Stanford, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon and
Chicago Business School
Global Development Learning Network World Bank
supported partnership of public, private, and
non-governmental organizations is a fully
interactive, multichannel network with a mandate
to serve the developing world.
African Virtual University for sub-Saharan Africa
UK e-University private broker of UK university
courses.
Global University Alliance Consortium of
universities In USA, Europe and Australia
Alliance for Life Long Learning Oxford, Stanford
and Yale
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But not global?
?
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4 Types of VU/E-Learning
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Evolution of VU/E-learning
From content consumers in institutions to
collaborative content creators
Institutional Networks
Peer to Peer Networks
Printed Materials
Printed Materials
Web-based Material
Web-based Material
Advice By Email
AI Performance Measures
Advice by Email
Online Discussion Group
Introducing more diverse forms of media
Telephone
Online Discussion Group
Online Discussion Group
Multimedia
Multimedia
Net Conferencing
Satellite
SIR Satellite
SIR/Satellite
Video- streaming
Video-link
1992
1996
2002
1990
(based on ITESM in Mexico)
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Costs Implications

• Estimated that a fully online university for
  2,000 students costs in the order of US15
  million (personnel, computers, location).
• Individual course costs between US50,000 to
  US500,000 for advanced systems.
• At Berkeley, extension courses ranged from
  US10-20,000 after an initial infrastructure
  investment of US500,000.

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Commerce and Standards
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Commercialization of E-learning

• Corporate Consortiums Private sector heavily
  involved with the development of authoring
  software and courseware (e.g. Lotus Educational
  Consortium IBM Global Campus, Microsoft I-Campus
  Project).
• Corporate led Movement Companies like WebCT,
  Blackboard.com, eCollege, Eduprise, Nexted.com
  and Smartforce are leading players in providing
  commercial and academic e-learning solutions.
• Market Dominance Blackboard and WebCT dominate
  the academic market. The WebCT licences begin at
  around US7,000 per year.
• Commercial Universities e.g. Arthur D. Little,
  University of Phoenix, Barnes and Noble

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6 Types of Vendors
1. Off-the-shelf content companies
DigitalThink, SmartForce and NETg
Build online courses that teach both IT and
business skills.
2. Learning management systems (LMS)
Docent, Saba, Isopia, Learnframe and Pathlore
Software that tracks and manages learning.
3. Authoring tools and learning content
management systems (LCMS)
Allow users to build their own online courses.
Macromedia suite and Click2Learns ToolBook2
Clark Aldrich, Online Learning, November 2001
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6 Types of Vendors
4. Virtual Classrooms
Centra, InterWise, PlaceWare and WebEx
Infrastructure for live, synchronous courses and
authoring tools that allow capture and
integration of audio, slides and video.
5. Integrators
Large consulting firms
Expertise to solve business problems, measure
return on investment and manage third-party
software.
Too numerous to name
Will be courses designed to meet customer needs.
6. Custom Content Vendors
Clark Aldrich, Online Learning, November 2001
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Need for Standards

• Mix and match content from multiple sources.
• Develop interchangeable content that can be
  easily reused.
• Ensure that buyers are not trapped by proprietary
  technology.
• Ensure that investments are risk adverse.
• Increase learning effectiveness by enabling
  greater personalization.
• Improve ROI.
• Increase quality and quantity of learning
  content.

The Masie Centre, March 8 2002 Making Sense of
Learning Specs
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Global Standards
Europe
United States
Cooperation
CEN Information Society Standardization
System ARIADNE Alliance for Remote
Instructional Authoring and Distribution
Networks of Europe PROMETEUS Promoting
Multimedia Access to Education and Training in
the European Society
Department of Defense ADL - SCORM Aviation
Industry AICC IEEE Learning Technology Standards
Committee IMS Global Learning Consortium
ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36
Asia
AEN Asia E-learning Network ALIC Advanced
Learning Infrastructure Consortium IMS Asia
Singapore IMS Australia
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Evolution of Standards
ALL
AICC IMS ARIADNE
IEEE ISO CEN/ISSS
ADL ALIC
RD Concept
User Needs
Defacto Standards
Standards Bodies
Users, Labs, Test beds, Markets
Spec Consortia
Technical Trends
Accredited Standards
Implementation Reference Models Pilot
Programmes New Products
Technical Specifications Best Practice
The Masie Centre, March 8 2002 Making Sense of
Learning Specs
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Concluding Remarks
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Key Messages

• ICT based higher ed. is a very dynamic sector but
  with limited accessibility for developing
  countries.
• Heavy commercial presence but anticipate a
  convergence of vendors in the future.
• ICT based higher ed. is rapidly changing. Lots
  of innovation. Hard to keep pace.

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More Key Messages

• Costs The greater the sophistication of content
  and technology, the higher the anticipated costs.
• Technology is Diverse Hard to choose the right
  system. Need a cautious strategy to avoid
  technology lock-in also bearing in mind
  technical capacities of users from developing
  countries.
• Keep a close eye on the standards.

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Thank you