E-Learning
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These
last years witnessed the explosion of the new technologies
of information and communication, in practically all
the domains. As regards to education, these technologies
provide to the students and teachers, the means to circumvent
numerous constraints, particularly concerning time,
space or methods, and to be able to give users new tools,
better adapted to our time.
And it is in that state of mind that " E-Learning "
appeared so essential; as a matter of fact, it allows
to adapt the traditional missions of education to the
new current methods in all the information societies.
The
" E-Learning ", which can be defined as " the industry
" stemed from the " transformation by Internet of the
education and training professions ", constitutes at
the moment a great challenges just as much as for companies,
school and universities, or governments. Thanks to this
system, the student has henceforth the choice of his
courses and schedules and realizes an important economy
in relocation. Besides, the student can, by means of
this new form of distance education, follow a programme
"at your choice" and have a pluridisciplinary training.
Finally,
the " e-Learning " allows to bypass the problem of time,
because it can be spread out over a long period. On
the other hand, this new form of education would allow
to circumvent the problem of the lack of teachers.
In this perspective, the 15 member states of the European
Union decided to harmonize their policies in the field
of educational technologies and to be able to capitalize
on the different communication tools, in order to develop
intercultural exchanges policy among students, researchers
and teachers. It is in this way, that the " e-Europe
" program was launched.
This program, set up under the initiative of the Heads
of State and Government of the European Union during
the European council of Lisbon in March, 2000, has for
essential purpose the realization " of a global action
plan (…) By applying a proper method of coordination
based on the evaluation of national initiative performances
", and ", while favouring a " fast Internet access for
the researchers and the students " it aims at " admiting
the European youth into the digital era ".
The challenge of such a program is considerable, because
it will allow all the Europeans to develop a knowledge
and a learning, which would go beyond their frontiers
and will give the occasion to introduce new concepts
of cooperation in the field of education or culture.
At the same time as the "e-Europe" program, the European
Union set up the" e-Learning " initiative, which resumes
for the main part the principal points of the first
program with besides actions in the field of coherence
of the various educational policies, particularly concerning
the new technologies integration in their bosoms.
Indeed, such an initiative can be conceivable, thanks
to a cohesion in all the fields of education, training
and research, at the European level. On the other hand,
thanks to the " e-Learning " initiative, one will assist
to an increased development of partnerships among the
various participants in education, training and research,
as well as between the public and private sector.
However, the failure of the Nice Summit, in December,
2000, slowed down the undertaken efforts, especially
concerning the global strategy towards educational and
cultural communities.
Although it, it seem that the " e-Learning " still has
good
times in front of it, because it continues to arouse
the craze of the public and the big multinationals.
For that purpose, Vivendi Universal Publishing launched
in February, 2001 its big international educational
portal: 'education.com', whose contents were elaborated
from big publishing houses such as Nathan, Larousse,
Bordas.
This portal which was simultaneously launched in France,
Great Britain and in the United States, is intended
to three different targets: children from 0 to 12years,
their parents and the teachers, and would like to become
the reference one in the matter of education. But "
e-Learning " also represents a crucial stake for the
training in companies, because they can henceforth acquire
transverse contents with training societies, while by-passing
a big number of obstacles such as technical problems
or the number of persons to form. Indeed, according
to a study realized by Arthur Andersen in 2000 , " e-Learning
" represents 60 % of the training budget forming in
American companies. On the other hand, this system allows
to realize savings in comparison with classic trainings
(savings on the costs of travelling, accomodation…).
