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Recommendation 1836 (2008)
Realising the full potential of e-learning for education and training
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls
that the development of e-learning tools has had considerable impact
on education and training. However, such tools are currently not
used to their full potential for the benefit of education in Europe.
The high expectations inspired by these tools have not yet been
realised. E-learning tools are electronic means of teaching and
learning in classrooms and outside at a distance – either individually or
in a group – as well as in a blended format of classroom and distance
studies.
2. The Assembly is aware that distance learning and the use of
audiovisual means, including television, have a long history in
Europe and it therefore recognises the ground-breaking achievements
in this field, such as the television-based programme “Telekolleg”,
created in 1967 by the regional ministries of education in Germany
together with regional public service broadcasters; the Open University
in Milton Keynes (Great Britain), which has been offering courses
since 1971; and the FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany), which has been
in operation since 1975.
3. The Assembly recalls its Recommendation 650 (1971) on the creation of a “European Television University”, Recommendation 1110 (1989) on distance teaching, Resolution 1193 (1999) on second-chance schools – or how to combat unemployment
and exclusion by means of education and training, Recommendation 1437 (2000) on non-formal education, Recommendation 1559 (2002) on training of workers in the use of new technologies,
and Recommendation 1586
(2002) on the digital divide and education.
4. Education is increasingly important for the development of
social and human competencies, in everyday life, for employment
as well as for social and cultural cohesion in rapidly changing
living and working environments. In an era of globalisation and
rapid technological change, Europe’s competitiveness and wealth will
depend on its ability to become an advanced, knowledge-based society
through constant improvement in lifelong education and training
of the population in general, and the workforce in particular, including
e-learning. Traditional classroom-based school education should
be supplemented in order to prepare for these challenges. Our societies
are faced with greater student mobility, more flexibile working
schedules, the replacement of linear professional careers by intermittent
sequences of working and learning periods, the need to reconcile
both family and working life as well as the diffusion of new media
and communication services into all areas of life.
5. The Assembly is therefore convinced that the new means of
disseminating and acquiring knowledge and skills through e-learning
have the potential to offer more adequate solutions to these demands
and circumstances. They can also be more inclusive, in particular
for people with disabilities and the socially challenged. In the
context of the integration of migrants, e-learning can be an invaluable
tool for teaching the language and other skills needed in the host
country.
6. The Assembly welcomes the development by the Council of Europe
in 2007 of both an Internet-based learning tool for human rights
education for lawyers, judges and prosecutors, which is part of
its European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals
(HELP), as well as an Internet-based game for children on the safe
use of the Internet. The Assembly stresses the need to protect children
from the potential dangers of information and communication technologies
(ICT) for their health and safety. ICT must not be allowed to undermine
the interpersonal relations and contacts that form the essential
basis for successful learning and the development of social skills.
7. E-learning poses new demands on educational institutions,
teachers and students. Educational institutions should be equipped
with the technical infrastructure and necessary software and should
co-operate with each other in order to create synergies. Teachers
should be aware of, and know how to use, new electronic means of
teaching and communicating with their students. Teacher training
courses on e-learning should become obligatory. Students should
have access to the technical devices and course materials and know
how to use them for their own study and communication requirements.
This requires early training of students in the use of new communication
tools, especially online. This also requires that e-learning technologies
be secured in order to avoid attempts to violate the privacy of
e-learning students.
8. The Assembly therefore invites the European Ministers of Education
participating in the Bologna process and the universities of Europe,
in particular through the European University Association and the
European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, to develop
common approaches to e-learning in the European higher education
area. In this context, national legislation should be updated and
ways should be found to provide adequate funding beyond that of
the state, including public-private partnerships.
9. E-learning also offers new opportunities for vocational training,
continuing education and in-house company training. To be competitive
on a global scale, European employers and employees have to invest continuously
in knowledge and skills. People and companies, especially small-
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), should not be excluded from
education because of high financial costs. Therefore, the Assembly
calls on member parliaments to consider supporting vocational training
and in-house company training, as well as to encourage public-private
partnerships.
10. E-learning can be a powerful means of creating open educational
resources accessible to everybody, thus counteracting a society
divided by unequal skill levels. In this regard, the Assembly calls
on member parliaments to support the so-called “open-source” movement
in software development and initiatives for open educational resources
– freely accessible on the Internet – and to adopt measures to combat
the digital divide in order to close the gap between those who have
access to ICT and the acquisition of ICT skills and those who do
not, thus ensuring digital literacy for all.
11. The Assembly recalls the financial support provided by the
European Union under its programme for the effective integration
of information and communication technologies in education and training
systems in Europe from 2004 to 2006. It welcomes the support for
lifelong learning and student mobility in accordance with the recommendations
of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union
on key competences for lifelong learning and on transnational mobility
within the European Community for education and training purposes
of 18 December 2006. The Assembly underlines its support for the
European Union’s comprehensive Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-13,
which builds on its former e-learning programmes and aims to become a
world quality reference. It encourages the European Commission to
make full use of the possibility foreseen in the Programme for co-operation
with the Council of Europe, which has extensive experience of co-operation in
education and training and in promoting social cohesion.
12. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
12.1. prepare recommendations for
ensuring and facilitating the mutual recognition of study periods pursued,
and qualifications obtained, by e-learning;
12.2. prepare common European quality indicators, regarding
both technical and content aspects, for national information centres
on recognition and mobility at university level (ENIC-NARIC networks) under
the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher
Education in the European Region (ETS No. 165);
12.3. examine the standardisation of the technical infrastructure
and software concerning e-learning including free open-source software
on the Internet, in order to facilitate their use and ensure their
inter-operability;
12.4. assess the sociological, psychological and pedagogical
effects of e-learning systems, in particular on specific groups
of society, such as women, migrants, disabled persons, as well as
people living in rural areas, in order to adjust e-learning strategies
accordingly and combat the digital divide;
12.5. prepare a handbook and provide teacher training for the
use of e-learning tools and new information and communication facilities
for educational purposes;
12.6. set up a website to promote best practice developed in
member states, allowing public authorities and NGOs to update this
information, highlighting best practice targeting groups of society
facing specific needs and constraints (such as women, migrants,
disabled persons) and putting at the free disposal of Internet users
these standards, studies, curricula and activities;
12.7. invite the Standing Conference of European Ministers for
Education to propose relevant national or regional legislation and
to set up national action plans for realising the full potential
of e-learning and identifying examples of best practice in e-learning;
12.8. ensure that e-learning systems are accessible to groups
of society – including women, migrants, disabled persons, as well
as people living in rural areas – facing specific needs and constraints, irrespective
of gender, racial, ethnic or social origin, religion or beliefs;
12.9. invite the member states to improve communication and
mobile technologies and to support free access to Internet and mobile
technology;
12.10. invite the signatory states of the European Cultural Convention
(ETS No. 18) to set up transnational e-learning programmes, in particular
for the purposes of Article 2 of the convention;
12.11. develop an e-learning tool about the work of the Council
of Europe to be made available to primary and secondary schools
as well as institutions for adult education and call on member and observer
states to contribute financially to the translation and distribution
of this e-learning tool;
12.12. provide the resources necessary for holding international
meetings and conferences at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg
by using Internet-based audiovisual teleconference facilities in
order to facilitate participation from outside Strasbourg as well
as by people with disabilities;
12.13. consider using e-learning tools such as the open-source
“Moodle” and new information and communication facilities for future
Council of Europe campaigns in order to increase their reach and accessibility,
and to save financial resources.