The introduction of e-learning in European universities: models and strategies

The aim of this paper is to present the models and the strategies of adoption of e-learning in a group of European universities, most of them located in the regions called “the four motors of Europe” (Baden-Württenberg, Catalunya, Lombardy and Rhône-Alpes) and in Switzerland. Our analysis focuses on four dimensions: the rationale behind the introduction of e-learning, the organisation of the activities and, in particular, the existence of a university centre for e-learning, the type of activities, and, finally, the type of public reached by e-learning. The majority of campus universities in our sample introduced e-learning to improve the quality of education of their students and, for the most part, as a support for existing courses. Some of the campus universities went even further insofar as they have introduced some online courses into their curricula. This has led to forms of cooperation where different universities share some of their courses. Finally, a small number of campus universities have included as part of their educational offer full distance degree programs which can be attended also by non residential students. The above cases show that there is no general move from campus universities towards distance education, but rather a more selective behaviour. Thus we conclude that e-learning, although it is undoubtedly spreading in both distance and presence universities, is not yet bringing fundamental changes in the institutions themselves. E-learning is at the moment integrated into the existing organization and educational offer. (DIPF/Orig.)

Contextes de formation formel, non formel ou informel: développement de compétences de direction d’école de langue française au Canada

Pour parfaire les compétences des nouvelles directions d’école, nous constatons l’émergence de programmes de formation proposés par des universités, des districts scolaires, etc. Le but de notre étude est d’identifier les contextes de formation formel, non formel ou informel qui ont le plus aidé les nouvelles directions d’école dans le développement de leurs compétences d’une part, et ceux qui seraient mieux à même de les aider à l’avenir. Dans le cadre de cette recherche qualitative, 101 acteurs-trices de l’éducation ont été interrogé-es. Les résultats montrent que les trois contextes de formation (formel, non formel et informel) semblent avoir contribué au développement des compétences des nouvelles directions, alors que le contexte non formel, et plus particulièrement les ateliers et le soutien du district scolaire, s’avère être celui pouvant le plus aider les nouvelles directions à développer leurs compétences dans le futur. (DIPF/Orig.)

Integration of learning and practice as part of the educational system development in Eritrea. "School Management" - a distance learning program by technical university of Kaiserslautern

The distance learning program "School Management" supports decision makers at the school and ministerial levels in the shaping of formal and informal learning processes at different levels in schools and curricula in Eritrea. This paper examines how the distance learning program is interconnected to educational system development. (DIPF/Orig.)

Teaching boys in neoliberal and postfeminist times: Feminization and the question of re-masculinization in the education system and policy field

This paper focuses on teaching boys, male teachers and the question of gendered pedagogies in neoliberal and postfeminist times of the proliferation of new forms of capitalism, multi-mediated technologies and the influence of globalization. It illustrates how a politics of re-masculinization and its reconstitution needs to be understood as set against changing economic and social conditions in which gender equity comes to be re-focused on boys as the ‚new disadvantaged‘. This re-framing of gender equity, it is argued, has been fuelled by both a media-inspired backlash discourse about ‚failing boys‘ and a neo-positivist emphasis on numbers derived primarily from standardized testing regimes at both global and national levels. A media-focused analysis of the proliferation of discourses about ‚failing boys‘ vis-a-vis the problem of encroaching feminization in the school system is provided to illuminate how certain truths about the influence of male teachers come to define how the terms of ensuring gender equity are delimited and reduced to a question of gendered pedagogies as grounded in sexed bodies. Historical accounts of the feminization of teaching in the North American context are also provided as a basis for building a more informed understanding of the present, particularly as it relates to the contextualization of policy articulation and enactment regarding the problem of teaching boys. In light of such historically informed and critical media analysis, it is argued that what is needed is a more informed, evidenced based policy articulation of the problem of teaching boys and a more gender sensitive reflection on the politics of masculinities in postfeminist times. (DIPF/Orig.)

The murky waters of neoliberal marketization and commodification on the education of adults in the United States

We approach marketization and commodification of adult education from multiple lenses including our personal narratives and neoliberalism juxtaposed against the educational philosophy of the Progressive Period. We argue that adult education occurs in many arenas including the public spaces found in social movements, community-based organizations, and government sponsored programs designed to engage and give voice to all citizens toward building a stronger civil society. We conclude that only when adult education is viewed from the university lens, where it focuses on the individual and not the public good, does it succumb to neoliberal forces. (DIPF/Orig.)