The Future of E-Learning in International Education: Issues, Challenges and Lessons from the past Two Decades

From developments in mass transportation through to the use of the World Wide Web for distance education, technology continues to play a significant role in shaping international education by extending the possibility for teaching and learning and the exchange of people and ideas across geographic and cultural borders. The rate of technological development and diffusion has been so intense during the past 30 years that it is difficult to forecast the future impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on international education.

In the so-called ‘age of the Black Berry’, there are numerous innovative uses of current technologies, such as mobile cellphones, Personal Digital Assistants, Text-Messaging, blogging, podcasting and other modes of communicating to extend teaching and learning. However, there is no systematic or extensive use of these recent technologies specifically to further international education so it is difficult to suggest that any one of these will assume greater significance during the next few decades. It is simply too soon to tell and the temptation to place too much significance on current trends in the technical development of ICTs must be resisted at this point.

Notwithstanding the point just made, there are some lessons from the recent use of ICTs in education that provide considerable insight into the major challenges to the progress of international education over the next 20–30 years. In international education, the impact of globalization is most visibly manifest in the flows of students and knowledge across territories. Political and economic interdependence facilitated by globalized media have on the one hand enabled greater intercultural awareness and mobility of students; on the other hand, the uneven and market-driven development of ICTs in education during the past two decades highlights how these media can also facilitate cultural homogeneity and compromise the quality of teaching and learning in international education.

This chapter reflects on some of the key issues that are likely to arise from the use of [Page 200]ICTs in international education in the future. Rather than focus on the impact of technological innovation, this chapter explores how, based on recent developments, the use of ICTs in international education will continue to be shaped by economic globalization. The central question for this chapter is: what can international educators learn from the use of ICTs in both national and international education from the past two decades? Case studies and examples from the period are used to illustrate some key lessons that will continue to have relevance for the future use of technology to facilitate international education, with particular emphasis on the cultural implications of ICT-use for teaching and learning. The final part of the discussion explores some broader issues arising from the digital divide and the importance of developing technological literacies in both teachers and students.

ICTs, Globalization and E-Learning

During the past 15 years, use of the Internet for ‘electronically mediated learning’ – or e-learning – has developed dramatically. Characterized by the use of electronic media, such as the Internet, CD-ROM, e-mail, interactive television, satellite, video and other delivery methods, there is no agreed definition of ‘e-learning’. The term is widely used to describe any learning undertaken through electronic delivery. The following discussion will focus on the development and use of the Internet.

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