Distance education and eLearning practices - In Turkey and Estern countries

From the field Distance education and eLearning practices: In Turkey and Eastern countries Author Ugur Demiray PhD, Anadolu University, Eskisehir udemiray33@gmail.com

This study presents a socio-policital and historical review of the introduction of distance and elearning practices in Turkey and in Eastern Europe and discusses the challenges and opportunities posed by the growing presence of ICT in an increasingly globalized higher education environment. The work makes a significant contribution, in English, to the state of the art of elearning and distance education in Eastern European countries.

Tags Distance education, globalization, eLearning, mLearning, Turkey, Eastern Europe

1. Introduction to distance education Distance education can be defined or called together with many the other concepts such as, “wellness education, open learning, open teaching, non-traditional education, distance learning, distance teaching, correspondence education, independent study, home study, distance teaching at a distance, extension study, external study, external learning, flexible education, flexible learning, life long education, lifelong learning, contract learning, experiential learning, directed private study, drop-in

learning, independent learning, individualized learning, resource-based learning, self-access learning, self-study, supported self-study or continuing education” etc in the literature defined by different authors. In this chapter distance education will named in the name any form of the concept which motioned up such as open learning or distance learning or distance education etc. What-ever it calls that in this chapter all of it will use in the meaning of distance education.

This concept is placed detail in the Keegan’s book is named as Foundations of Distance Education. Here will summarize his chapter dealing with concept and definitions of the distance education as can we do. We will use distance education as being a generic term of the field of education, as he said. Whatever distance education calls, mentioned above and on discussions in the literature. It can be describe as: ‘distance education’ is a generic term that includes the range of teaching/learning strategies referred to as correspondence education or correspondence study at further education level in the United Kingdom; as home study further education and independent study at higher educational in the United States; as external studies in Australia; and as a distance teaching or te-aching at a distance in the United Kingdom by the Open University. In French it is referred to as Teleenseignement; Fernstudium/Fernunterricht in German; education a distanica in Spanish and teleducacao in Portuguese. This description lists the major terms used by distance education institutions in the English-speaking world and gives parallel terms for the major European languages. Distance education subsumes a number of existing terms but not all are synonymous. (Keegan, 1990, p. 28-29) These terms have a long history in the education of children and adult at a distance. They still have their supporters who claim that nearly all distance education is still organized through

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From the field the post and that both the public and prospective students recognize the terms. ‘Correspondence education’ is defined in the UNESCO volume Terminology of Adult Education as: Education conducted by postal services without face-to-face between teacher and learner. Teaching is done by written or tape-recorded materials through written or taped exercises to the teacher, who corrects them and returns them to the learner with criticisms and advice (Quoted from UNESCO, 1979; by Keegan, 1990, p. 29). The main problem with the terms of correspondence education that it can not encompass the didactic potential of this form of education in 1980s and beyond: print, audio, video and computer based possibilities must be reflected by the terminology chosen. Another problem is that critics of the term tend to associate ‘correspondence education and ‘correspondence study’ with the some of the less successful aspects of distance education in the past and to feel that these terms contribute to the still questioned status of study at a distance in many countries.

Even when distance education is print-based the term ‘correspondence education’ is inadequate to describe courses by newspaper or systems with no postal component. A term is, however, need to designate the postal subgroup of the print based forms of distance education in which student contact is not encouraged. It seems suitable to reserve the term ‘correspondence education’ for this purpose.

History of the distance education terminology based the terms which are can be listed as home study, independent study, external study and distance teaching at a distance etc. Home study concept is explained in Keegan’s study as: Communication theory experts tell us that word grows tired and if they do, then ‘correspondence study’ is a tired word. It is significant that as early as 1926 when the directors of the correspondence schools of the United States came together to form an association, the title chosen was the National Home Study Council and not the National Correspondence Study Council. ‘Home Study’, however, has little claim to being an overall term as it is used mainly in the United States and is there confined to further education (technical and vocationally oriented institutions) and not higher education (universities and university-oriented colleges). In addition, the distance student may not, in fact, study at home or may study in part at home and in part at other centers (Keegan, 1990, p. 30).

A related concept is independent study. The students are separated from the teacher place great emphasis on the former’s

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ability to study on own imitative. Independent study is defined as fallows: Independent study, consists of various forms of teaching or learning arrangements in which teachers and learners carry out their essential task and responsibilities apart from one another, communicating in a variety of ways for the purpose of freeing internal learners from inappropriate class pacing or patterns, of providing external learners with opportunities to continue learning in their own environments, and of developing in all learners the capacity to carry on self-directed learning, by Charles Wedemeyer in his study which is titled as independent Study, published in 1971. According to Wedemeyer’s definitions still involves an element of communication between teacher and learner at some point in the process. As such it is related to concept of distance education which stresses the independent self-pacing nature of the student’s learning. It is not enough to say that independent study is learning on one’s own without establish the context within which a student exercises his or her independence. Total independence takes one into areas covered by, for example teaching-yourself books and educational broadcasting in which the element of two-way communications essential in distance teaching is absent (Rumble and Harry, 1982, p. 13).

In case of being unable to provide in-classroom activities within the boundaries of traditional learning-teaching methods, the educational activities are sustained through special teaching units and various media that are utilized for interaction and communication between the planners and the students from a certain center. This is called distance education. Even if the concept of distance education was uttered in 1700’s the first actual application was recognized to be realized by Isaac Pitman in the year of 1840 in England. After this first application of distance education it was begun in several other countries as follows: Germany (in 1856), USA (in 1877), Sweden (in 1889), Australia (in 1910), New Zealand (in 1922), Turkey (in 1956), Poland (in 1966), and Spain (in 1972).

In this context, history of distance education can be discussed generally in five clear periods. These periods are can be listed as: • A period of before correspondence education. Some educational activities which are try to aiding for lack of education process before constructing and establishing correspondence education systems.

• Heavily applied correspondence education systems period.

Correspondence education systems widely used printed

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From the field materials by using postal system for delivery such books, newspapers, guide books or other printed medium for realizing their aim.

• Instructional radio and television which is called one-way communicational period by broadcasting. In this period broadcasting radio and television used functionally beside of printed material for being audio and visualizing of course materials.

• Than started two- way communicational audio and interactive period. With two-way audio and video between teachers and students these emerging technologies, educators are able to include more interaction in educating at a distance.

• In delivery of distance education, the fifth period can be described using satellite and future technologies which are integrating via computer and computer combining systems and internet based systems. Telecommunication technologies such as radio, television, video cassette, computer, satellite, and fiber-optics are aiding educators by development in communication and electronic industry.

2. From distance education to eLearning in Turkey – Applications When distance education history is searched in Turkey, it means 1982 the year Anadolu University, called in Turkish as Acikogretim Fakültesi (or in English the Open Education Faculty, abbreved OEF). It is seen that the first application goes back to 1970’s. Teaching by mail and (correspond education) named (in Turkish as YAY-KUR) was applied in 1970s, but these applications had not been successful at desired level. This result takes place among in discussions from point of view as; applications are administered under the body of the Ministry of Education Strategy, without universities’ support and that it depends on government’s politics. Also, in 1970’s an institution, named as Eskisehir Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences (EAECS) was formed. This institution had taken the name as Anadolu University in 1982 after reorganization of the universities in 1981 - according higher to education law, article 2547 and was leaderships for the studies (by organizing researches, symposium and congress) on distance education/learning subjects in its body.

In other words, distance education concept was started to be researched or investigated at national and international level by education technology seminars, conferences. On those years Eskisehir ITIA had a close-circuit TV studios and its technology

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was built up by Hamburg Studios, Germany. Developments of distance education in Turkey can be summarized in a general outline as above paragraphs. But after 1980, developments have been more rapid and more planned, have based on science, more functional and more impressive. During reorganization of the Turkish Higher Education in 1981, all universities had dutied for making distance education, by the article 2547 were of Turkish higher Education Council law and it was decided that Anadolu University Open Education Faculty to start immediately to distance education. So that, Anadolu University the Open Education Faculty established and started distance education 1982-83 Academic Year by enrolling 29,445 students, to the Business Administration and Economics Departments. By general lines, OEF reached to its students by printed materials, TV courses and academic counseling (as face-to-face education) at the beginning years. Later on, OEF has added radio programs, video education centers, newspaper, computer centers, CDROMs and internet to its operation.

The history of the Open Education Faculty (OEF) at Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey is closely tied to the developments of the 1970’s, the reorganization of the Turkish universities and the development of higher education in Turkey (McIsaac, Murphy and Demiray, 1988). Its history is unique in the admission of the first OEF students and the establishment of the first distance education programs in Business Administration and Economics. The beginning of distance education in Turkey can be traced back to several groups of problems; political, social and economic. Not all of these problems were internal. Many were created by external influences.

Politically, Turkey is in a unique position because it is the bridge between Europe and Asia. As a result, Turkey has spent much time in its modernization efforts to become an active member of the 21st century. Many of the country’s problems stem from its position as an Eastern culture and society trying to blend into a Western industrial world. The past 80 years in Turkey have witnessed dramatic changes. The country, since 1920, has changed its alphabet to the Roman one and established the importance of secularism (the complete separation of religion and politics) in the running of the government. In the 1970’s Turkey began to search for new ways to develop its own educational strategy in order to expand the opportunities for its citizens. It was believed, and enacted into law, that education should be the main responsibility of the government. Many feel that the concept of educational equality becomes more meaningful in those years.

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From the field Economically, advances in science and technology have had their impact on Turkish society. Developments and applications of new technologies have put pressure on Turkey to provide upto-date education to keep the work force competitive with that of other countries. The knowledge and skills of workers must be constantly updated with new technological information. In addition to learning new technological applications, human resources must also be improved. The present increasing population growth has put pressure on Turkish society to 14 created new areas for work. Competition demands better qualified workers in order to be successful. Unfortunately, traditional educational institutions are not always able to change to meet these new educational needs using classical teaching environments. Recent developments in mass media and educational technologies have shown that electronic media can be used for educational purposes. Distance education which uses these new technologies for providing further education and training, is particularly useful for: • Increasing the level of qualifications of new entrants to the work force.

• Updating and upgrading the qualifications of the existing work force through continuing education and training.

• Providing training of a kind, which will lead to, increased rates of participation in the labor force among hitherto under represented groups.

• Securing a greater synergy between education or training and the economic life of contemporary society in order to ensure the relevance, balance and capability of applications of skills and knowledge.

Political events also contributed to the growth of distance education in Turkey. After the 1970’s, increasing pressure began on the Turkish government to provide for the growing number of people who wanted higher education opportunities. There was pressure on the government to balance the educational opportunities between the Eastern and Western parts of Turkey, to create greater educational opportunities for the younger generation, and to provide training opportunities for persons who had missed those opportunities in the past. There was also a growing movement to use mass media tools to solve some of the distribution problems involved in providing education and training programs throughout Turkey. Other reasons for establishing distance education programs were the necessity for establishing more open and more flexible educational and training structures.

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These structures were to be designed and adapted in accordance with students’ requirements, taking into account their employment, social and educational circumstances. Because of these factors, distance education was seen as a solution to meet Turkish educational needs. The crucial year in the development of Turkish distance education was 1982. In that year, the new Constitution of the Republic was accepted, and in accordance with the Constitution, a new institution called the Council for Higher Education (CHE) was established to plan, organize, administer and supervise education provided by the institutions of higher education. The CHE immediately reorganized the existing universities and established new ones. There had been 15 universities, 15 academies and seven polytechnics before the establishment of the CHE. Through the CHE reorganization program, these institutions of higher education were increased to 22 universities (Eraut, 1991; Council of Europe, 1989).

Today, the numbers of the universities has grown to more than 150 include state and private universities. In accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1981, Anadolu University (formerly Academy of Eskisehir, Economics and Commercial Sciences) was authorized to provide distance education in Turkey on a national scale. The history of Anadolu University, which has provided distance education at the faculty level since 1982, goes back to Eskisehir Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences established in 1958. The first educational television pilot project of Turkey was undertaken here during the 1970’s under the auspices of the Educational Television department of the EAECS. Although the first distance education program (Division of Higher Education program referred to as Yay-Kur) was undertaken by the Ministry of Education between1975-1978, this initiative was a dramatic failure for various political, administrative, financial and even psychological reasons which might be the subject of a separate study. However, especially at the beginning of its own project, Anadolu University carefully evaluated and greatly benefited from the experience of Yay-Kur and therefore the 197578 experience should not be considered as a total failure (Eraut, 1991: Council of Europe, 1989). In 1982, benefiting from information of the failed Yay-Kur project, the first true distance education program in Turkey was initiated by Anadolu University.

Similar to other distance education programs which encompass delivery of curricula at many levels and in many subject areas, the Turkish Open Education Faculty had its goal, as ten years ago, to broadcast its first programs in the areas of Business Ad-

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From the field ministration and Economics, thereby beginning the process of offering advanced degrees for students at a distance.

The original numbers of students admitted was 29,445 for the 1982-83 Academic Year for the Business Administration and Economics programs. All students were high school graduates and were accepted into the OEF programs after passing a placement through the national university exam. Today the programs have expanded in scope to include not only those subjects but Nursing, Foreign Languages, Math, Sciences, Tourism, Business and Training programs for the private sector, Associate Degrees in Teacher Training and Teacher Training for Degree Completion etc., (McIsaac, 1992; Ozer, 1991; Demiray, 1990; Yangin, 1989).

Today and in the future, it is easy to use many telecommunication technologies for distance education delivery system. Especially in the future, there will be an unlimited technological potential to use for distance educators. These authors suggest that in today and future’s distance education programs, distance educators should not never forget “humanity” in their programs because if they do not pay attention it, their distance education programs will be fail.

Distance education has a relatively long history in Turkey too. The earliest and the first application of distance education in Turkey was initiated by The Institute of Banking and Trade Law in the School of Law at Ankara University in 1956. In this utilization bank workers were taught several course contents with mail.

The first significant step was observed to be taken in Turkish education system two years later (in 1958). This important step is that The Center for the Teaching by Mail was settled in the body of National Education Ministry. After this step The Practice

Higher Education School and Extensive Higher Education Institute were established for distance education purposes.

By reaching the year 1974 The Center for the Teaching By Mail was transformed into The School for the Teaching By Mail. This school deployed programs for the purpose of teacher training.

The Practice Higher Education School which was established in 1974 was failed to utilize the educational plans and it was closed after the one year period. In 1975, while The Practice Higher Education School was being closed The Institute of Extentation Education (YAYKUR) was established with the purpose

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of providing education for the high school graduates. The prolonged applications in the field of distance education until that time were ended in 1979. However some studies were carried on for the purpose of using contemporary technology in education. A national literacy campaign was initiated in 1981. The television school programs were broadcasted that had impacted the teaching of literacy. Within the same year the law with the number 2547 was passed and the function of distance education in the level of higher education was given to the universities.

Anadolu University has received this initiative in 1982. Anadolu University has begun to deploy a contemporary distance education model with the opening of Open Education Faculty (OEF). In the 1982-1983 educational year Business Management and Economy programs and also in the years of 1989-1990 Educational Pre-B.A., Western Europe and Tourism education programs were begun. The OEF that only ensured education in Business Management and Economy programs in its first year of establishment now provides education in 26 various programs of pre-B.A., B.A. completion and B.A. degrees.

The Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Business Administration in Anadolu University also applies distance education.

This application has started due to the government executive order no.496 which was published in Turkish Official Gazzette in 1993. The Faculty of Economics is serving its student body with the programs of Economy of Working, Industrial Relations, Economics, Public Administration and Accounting as B.A. today.

This B.A. program is being applied in Western Europe also. The Faculty of Business Administration provides B.A. degree in Business Administration program. The program of Administration and Organization is also ensured in Western Europe.

Fırat University has also started its distance education program in 1990. In the first place dissertations of M.A. students were successfully completed via e-mail applications. Today a distance education program in this university has been applied through Fırat Television and internet. Fırat University’s distance education application which is are realized via television broadcasts

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From the field that provide certificates to the students today are aimed to be more extensive with the contribution of internet, teleconference, desktop video teleconference systems in the future.

dents are provided with the academic supervision and application in some of the provinces. Today OHS nearly has 400.000 students

Distance education in the Middle East Technical University is ensured via internet. In the application of this system that is called Asynchronous Education Relying on Internet the courses that aim to reach in the other universities programs and The Certificate Program of The Information Technologies are provided. This certificate program that lasts for nine months is made of four periods and 8 courses (two courses per period).

Open Primary School (OPS), has been established in accordance with the official approval (with the number 1651) of National Education Ministry’s Department for the Management of Education with Radio-Tele vision in September 15th 1997. This application is recognized inside the body of FRTEB. Open Primary School provided distance education service to the people with the age of 15, primary school graduates, people who left intermediate schools, people who did not attend the last three years of primary schools, people who registered to the intermediate schools in order to finish outside and the people who graduated from foreign schools and officially equated their diplomas. This institution ensures extra services and course materials same way as the Open High School does.

Asynchronously presented courses that rely on web are provided to the other universities according to the Implementing Regulation of Inter-university Communication and Information Technology of Higher Education starting from 2001 Spring Period. These courses are provided in bachelors and graduate level and ensured as Turkish and English.

Sakarya University applies distance education asynchronously with the internet. This university provides 4 courses to its own students, 2 courses to other students as service provider and also it ensures 13 courses for Information Administration and Computer Programming pre-B.A. programs.

Today, Open High School (OHS), Open Education Primary School (OPS) and Professional and Occupational and Technical School are providing distance education to their students. They belong to the National Education Ministry, Directory Education

Technologies. OHS has been established in accordance with the code of National Education Ministry dated June 2nd 1993 with the number 12633. In its first educational year (1992-1993) Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Turkish, Mathematics, Foreign Language and General Culture fields were provided in general high school program which was set as course pass and credit system. In 1995-1996 educational years this school has been turned to multi purpose high school that also provides occupational education. Its courses are deployed with printed course materials and radio-television programs and internet. Also, stu-

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Occupational and Technical Open Education School was established in accordance with the Official Approval no. 420/14053 with the date July 1st 1974. It belongs to National Education Ministry. The implementing regulation of this

institution was published in the Official Journal of Communique dated October 10th 1983 with number 2149. This school provides services inside the body of General Management of Education Technologies Department. It ensures services to the people who need occupation and preparation for life. Its students are the people who graduated from primary school and beyond. It has three different programs that are applied in electrical installation field. These are the educational programs towards 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Electrician’s Efficiency Certificate.

Students have been sent printed materials that were prepared according to distance education techniques disposed of official educational programs. These students have also been guided through telephone or mail about unconceived issues.

There are also distance education applications take place in Turkish private sector under supervision of National Education Ministry. This is the Fono Institution of Open Education which was founded in accordance with the Official Decision of National Education Ministry with the number 420-5-2300.

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From the field This firm disposes foreign language and occupation courses that are based on main course books around a thousand pages. The principal of self learning without fatigue is aimed on course materials. Every course has its own helping guides and appendixes that are utilized parallel to the main course material. There are also supporting materials used like different dictionaries, ranked story books, grammar books and applied speaking books especially in language courses.

3. Globalization and eLearning The philosophy of eLearning focuses on the individual learner although it recognizes that most learning is social. In the past training has organized itself much for the convenience and needs of instructors, institutions, and bureaucracies. Now eLearning is the convergence learning and networks, the Internet. New university systems are being developed to new global needs (Utsumi-Varis-Knight-Method-Pelton 2001). The experience and critical function of the traditional universities is central in the efforts to create new eLearning environments.

The European eLearning summit emphasized the importance of assuring quality and certification in eLearning. Co-operation in the production and selection of best practices is needed between the private sector and teachers, instructors, ministries and pedagogical experts. Forums for peer reviews could create a useful, informal way of evaluating eContent. Existing eLearning portals could also be enlisted to function as quality filters (European eLearning Summit, May 2001, Workshop Papers).

There are an increasing number of universities networks of this kind all over the world, and the use of computers in the learning process, access to the Internet by students as a vehicle for self-directed learning, educational broadcasting and video-conferencing are all being stepped by (Dias 1998, p.370).

Dias also reminds that higher education has to aim at quality and that internal and external evaluation methods should be more generally applied, thereby enabling it to be accountable to society. Higher education institutions are expected to train citizens capable of thinking clearly and critically, analyzing problems, making choices and shouldering their responsibilities. The ethical role of universities is becoming more and more important.

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Higher education cannot, however, be visualized any longer in purely national or regional terms. Dias writes that future graduates have to be in a position to take up the complex challenges of globalization and rise to the opportunities of the international labor market. The equitable transfer of knowledge and the mobility of students, teachers and researchers, and with also the mobility of learning environments with the eLearning applications are crucial to the future of peace in the world.

By eLearning, also e-Learning, we understand best practices for learning in the new economy, implying but not requiring benefits of networking and computers such as anywhere/anytime delivery, learning objects, and personalization. It often includes instructor led training.

History shows that revolutionary changes do not take off without widespread adoption of common standards. For electricity, this was the standardization of voltage and plugs; for railways, the standard gauge of the tracks; and for the Internet, the common standards of TCP/IP, HTTP, and HTML. Common standards for metadata, learning objects, and learning architecture are mandatory for similar success of the knowledge economy. The work to create such standards for learning objects and related standards has been going on around the world for the past few years (http://www.learnativity.com/standards/htm, retrieved on, 10 July 2009).

Learning technology standards are critical because they will help us to answer the following issue clusters: • How will we mix and match content from multiple sources?

• How do we develop interchangeable content that can be reused, assembled, and disassembled quickly and easily?

• How do we ensure that we are not trapped by a vendor´s proprietary learning technology?

• How do we ensure that our learning technology investments are wise and risk adverse?

Whether it is the creation of content libraries, or learning management systems, accredited standards will reduce the risk of making large investments in learning technologies because systems will be able to work together like never before. Accredited standards assure that the investment in time and intellectual capital can move from one system to the next.

This study contains massive and impressive evidence of the progress of global e-learning. The emerging of life-long learning and new professional and vocational competencies as well as

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From the field the globalization of society and the rise of a knowledge-based economy have raised expectations upon higher education institutions and related services to the society. Governments and corporations look to universities and colleges for innovative uses of new information technologies in teaching and administration, while also expecting that educational institutions will make their students sufficiently technology-literate to participate in a global economy. The vision of the new global learning emphasizes more than before the role of market forces in shaping the institution, the need to respond to users´ needs, and the need to deliver knowledge continuously through distance learning and lifelong learning. However, the vast majority of universities are as well as the public and private organizations they work with are unprepared to reorganize themselves to address these new demands.

A true revolution in e-learning requires high-speed access to the World Wide Web, and the flexibility to offer a variety of media.

The new services are profoundly changing the professional research and educational work when it is possible to retrieve and save articles and other materials, search all kinds of information from images and animation to texts, and receive e-mail alerts and have access to sources not conceivable before Globalization is consolidated by the extraordinary invasion of higher education by new technologies, especially the Internet.

The development of communication and information technologies makes it possible for distance teaching institutions to strengthen their position in the educational landscape. They also pave the way for lifelong education for all and at the same time are spreading the traditional universities, more and more of which use distance teaching methods in their activities, thereby making the distinction between the two types of institutions virtually meaningless.

There are an increasing number of university networks of this kind all over the world, and the use of computers in the learning process, access to the Internet by students as a vehicle for self-directed learning, educational broadcasting and video-conferencing are all being stepped by.

The basic question for universities has always been what kind of people we want to have as our leaders-capable of taking responsibility of the future, environment and development-. Open educational resources are educational materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and under some licenses to re-mix, improve and redistribute. Open educational resources include:

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• Learning content: Full courses, course materials, content modules, learning objects, collections, and journals.

• Tools: Software to support the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content including searching and organization of content, content and learning management systems, content development tools, and on-line learning communities.

• Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design-principles, and localization of content.

There are majors’ challenges for development of working-life skills that are not bound to any continent or historical tradition but globally equip students with skills that enable them to build up their own future and life in global and multicultural environment. Some educational institutes are already expanding out of the geographical borders to global actors on the field when utilizing e-learning and possibilities of ICT. Learning community and tutors may be distributed in various countries and cultures.

The trend is also towards examinations and qualifications of skills that are internationally recognized. With the steep rise of multiculturalism, there is an increasing need for people to be able to deal effectively and competently with the diversity of race, culture and ethnicity. In general terms, one’s ability to deal effectively and appropriately with diversity is referred to as intercultural competence (ICC).

Intercultural competence is a relatively new concept and there has been no consensus about it so far. The concept of intercultural competence is also referred to with different terms; some refer to it as multicultural competence while others call it crosscultural competence. Traditionally speaking intercultural competence or competence in general is often divided into three main components: • Knowledge: also known as cognitive factors • Motivation: also known as attitude • Skills: also known as competence in social relations and communication behavior Intercultural competence scholars consider Knowledge, Attitude and Skills to be the key components of ICC and each of these components alone is not sufficient to achieve intercultural competence. Overall, the process of intercultural learning is intense for numerous reasons and its content can be difficult to grasp. Firstly, it requires learners to reflect upon matters with which they have had little firsthand experience. Secondly, unlike

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From the field more conventional approaches to education, which tend to emphasize depersonalized forms of cognitive learning and knowledge acquisition, it includes highly personalized behavioral and affective learning, self-reflection, and direct experience with cultural differences. Thirdly, “learning-how-to-learn”, a processoriented pedagogy, replaces learning facts, a product-oriented pedagogy, as a major goal. Fourthly, intercultural education involves epistemological explorations regarding alternative ways of knowing and validating what we know, i.e. the meaning of truth and reality (Paige, 1993).

Additionally, becoming inter-culturally competent demands a wide range of culture-general knowledge from peoples’ behavioral repertoires and people are also required to apply that knowledge to the culture that they interact with. People also have to be emotionally and skillfully responsive with various ranges of choices in order to act competently depending on the limitations of any given situation. They also have to have extensive intercultural interaction experiences and have the knowhow of adjusting to different patterns of thinking and behaving.

There is a long tradition of international cooperation in the field of higher education. It is evident that the common global challenges are leading to a intensified regional and international cooperation also in the field of skills. Good example of this is the growing emphasis on skills and competencies in the common policy of the European Union. Another example is the intensified global cooperation within the framework of skills competitions. International skills competitions offer an excellent tool for the analysis of the common future needs of industry and societies all over the world, for the determination of the key skills needed in different trades, for cooperation between skills and working life and for improving the quality of for skills by transferring good practices and new innovations and by giving a possibility to international benchmarking. The number of member countries of the WorldSkills International, the organization responsible for the skills competitions of young professionals, has gradually increased, being at the moment 48. The members represent countries from all continents and from industrial to newly industrialized and less developed countries. e-Learning has developed greatly as the method of first choice for distance education and we are seeing a convergence between distance and conventional face-to-face education -due to moves by conventional education providers. Conventional universities and schools throughout the world are pro-actively adopting distance learning technologies not only to reach the

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unreached providing wider openness and access but notably as augmentation for their current on-campus students. The use of computers in education can be classified into four types; -computer-assisted instruction (CAI), computer-managed instruction (CMI), computer-based multimedia (CBM), and computer-mediated communication (CMC). The fourth CMC involves computer-to-computer transactions including email, is sometimes referred to as online learning, and is commonly referred to as ‘e-learning’ (Kawachi, 2005; Kawachi 2008a).

Under e-learning, educational interactivity can be among the institution(s), tutor(s), and student(s), for both academic purposes as storage, delivery and retrieval of content, and non-academic purposes as administration and counseling support. Library resources support services are the most common CMI use of computers. Asynchronous emailing appears to be the most common CMC use. In highly developed centers of excellence such as in Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea, synchronous text-chat is common, and this occasionally becomes multimedia with the addition of digital graphics and even video transmissions along with plain text. In rural developing countries, computers have widely entered into classrooms in the past few years, though as recently as two years ago, for example in India, schools were despondent with their computers in the room and no educational interactivity taking place.

One reason why more educationally effective use cannot be made of these computers in the classrooms is the lack of regional infrastructure- such as no internet provision and inadequate or unreliable connectivity (regarding telephonic transmission rate or very low bandwidth) -preventing the use of multimedia and e-learning. These difficulties in connectivity and infrastructure- seen in many of the countries reviewed in this book - could be circumvented by the use of CD-hybrids. e-Learning is generally taken to mean learning that has utilized electronic means of information and knowledge management in a wide sense, and social constructivist learning through computer-mediated communications in a virtual space in a narrow sense. E-learning is a relatively new term, and derives from the development of alliances and consortia consisting of corporate businesses and education providers emerging at around 1995 (Jegede, 2001, p.75). This development has occurred through the internet and has brought internationalization through sharing of knowledge. It has also brought globalization and different cultures into juxtaposition, and into superimposition. Now con-

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From the field ventional face-to-face institutions are opting to utilize e-learning and open learning values in the classroom.

4. eLearning practices in eastern side of the world Many countries including most reviewed; generally hold onto an apprentice model and experiential learning through a cooperative process. Even with e-learning technology, the apprentice model is still employed. Internationalization through e-learning has brought the two processes of collaborative learning and cooperative learning into the same forum. In many of these countries, the social economics has meant a student who is busy e-learning is more isolated from his or her surrounding culture, than a student for example in London where the surroundings may be all high technology, conducive, motivating, encouraging and accepting of a person engaging e-learning. In rural developing countries, it is easy to imagine that the student is not only physically alone but psychologically and emotionally as well -without social infrastructure supporting e-learning.

Thus, computers and multimedia are not simply instruments for the student but provide a total environment for learning. The reader is referred to Kawachi (2005) for comparative review of e-learning in Bangladesh, (mainland) China, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. That review also discusses in detail the need for e-learning scaffolds and different pacing provided through e-learning. These topics and gender, old age learning, group size and others are not dealt with in detail by many of the country reviews in this book, so readers will find that there are areas or trends that need further exploration.

E-Learning offers many opportunities for individuals and institutions all over the world. Individuals can access to education they need almost anytime and anywhere they are ready to. Institutions are able to provide more cost-effective training to their employees.

E-learning context is very important. It is common to find educators who perceive e-learning as internet-only education that encourages a static and content-focused series of text pages on screen. Others envisage the shallow and random online messages that are typical of a social real-time chat session, and wonder how that type of communication could add any value to academic discourse. Some may have experienced e-learning

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done poorly, and extrapolate their experience into a negative impression of all e-learning.

While e-learning started in the early 1970s with mainframe computing, it really didn’t take off until the advent of CD-ROMs and the World Wide Web. Multimedia CD-ROMs in the early 1990s allowed us to develop programs that had color, action, and interactivity. These were a major advance over text on monochrome screens that characterized educational computing in the 1980s.

The invention of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s introduced the ability Access resources from anywhere in the world through Universal Resource Locators (URLs). But the Web was a step backwards in terms of animation and interactivity because of the slowness of computers, modems and the network at the time it was introduced. It is only now that the capabilities of networked computers are catching up to the level necessary to produce the quality of e-learning that was possible using CDROMs. (Woodill, 2007, p. 9) The new learning landscape is a multichannel learning environment that can be seen as a “complex adaptive system”. For the most part, this environment is “self organizing” and because of that it is difficult to exactly predict how it is all going to turn out in the next five years. But, there is no question that a major shift is taking place -a turn from instructor centric curricula towards learner centric searching for relevant resources of learning as need.

The shift is from instructor controlled classroom learning and instructor controlled e-learning to a mix of approaches that includes instructor control when appropriate (for specific certifications, for example) along with many different channels of resources and requirements from which learners can choose and explore.

Emerging e-learning will not be simply mixed with “face-toface” learning to form blended learning. Rather, all learning will be multichannel learning. The “e” in e-learning will gradually disappear, as electronic support for learning by any means becomes invisible and taken-for-granted (Norman, 1999, quoted from Woodill, p. 16).

E-learning continues to evolve with new delivery methods –to PDA or mobile phone (called mLearning) and via blogs, wikis, podcasts, and easier-to-use tools.

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From the field There is also a trend seen in the transition from training to learning that leverages the power of the Internet to go beyond eLearning through knowledge management, competency management, and performance support and to HR processes like performance management, talent management, succession planning, and hiring. Web 2.0 (and e-learning 2.0) technologies are driven by collaboration. It’s the next phase of eLearning (Clarey, 2007, p.29).

My latest book study examined the emergence and growth of e-learning with 70 authors from 39 different countries and from more tan 40 universities and 14 institutions with company for all 42 chapters. Many of the institutions in the countries which are mentioned in the first volume consists of the country cases of Armenia, Algeria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Jordan, Hungary, Iraq, Iran I-II, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon and Lithuania I-II, and in the second volume cases of Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco Norway, Oman, Palestine, Poland, Romania I-II, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan are to be reviewed making an extensive use of eLearning with their general education system and especially in their distance education applications and methods and media, so this study not only consider e-learning and mobile or m-learning in isolation but in blended or mixed-mode learning, both in classroom environments and in distance education. It will examine and discuss at: • How and why ICT is working its way into learning in the various countries, its potential, and how its integration and broader use may be promoted.

• The constraints on e-learning development.

• The benefits and cost benefits of e-learning.

• Internet penetration and usage rates • Government initiatives to promote ICT literacy and the use of e-learning in education and training.

• The extent and nature of e-learning and blended learning provision.

• The cultural and pedagogical implications of e-learning.

• The policy-making and organizational dimensions of elearning (Demiray, 2010).

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Conclusion Today’s learning and education technology is developing with overwhelmingly what we guess for tomorrow. In those days eLearning technology application changed its structure by combining via new discussion technologies such as mLearning, tLearning and uLearning.

Developed chart below, show us the latest trends of technology which, education institutions should have to adopt their education or material producing strategies according to newest technologies indicated in chart.

Consequently, Yang & Yuen indicate that learning has been dramatically influenced by information and communication technology. There is no doubt that information and communication technology keeps bringing excitement in to learning and communication. Multimedia on the internet, telecommunications, wireless applications, mobile devices, social network software, Web 2.0 etc are radically redefining the way people obtain information and the way to learn (Yang & Yuen 2010, xxiv) Policymakers, international organizations, higher education institutions and researchers in the field of education agree that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential to stimulate international collaboration, to create flexible learning paths and to open the borders of the university.

Throughout the last decade, numerous initiatives have been set up to experiment with the establishment of ICT-enhanced activities, under various frameworks and to varying degrees of success. The higher education area is a very complex world with a diverse list of providers; these include traditional universities, distance education providers, public and private institutions, associations and consortia. (Schreurs, 2010, p. 7, Preface) Western and East Asian nations are increasingly embracing elearning in education and training, both within their classrooms and in distance education. E-transformation has been much slower in the education systems of the Eastern Europe, Nordic, Turkic, Middle East, Arab and North African countries. It is therefore considered timely to conduct an inquiry into the ways and extent of e-learning in these countries, the factors driving and constraining such developments, and how progress might be further encouraged. Searching the literature, it is possible to find reports, accounts, research findings and conference presentations on e-learning in these countries but many of these are in languages other than English.

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From the field

Source: Yamamoto, G. T., Ozan, O & Demiray, U. (2010).

Sir John Daniel says in his the foreword (p. lii) of the book that concluding essay of the book, where the Finnish author Tapio Varis comments on the global scene, he notes that ‘the vast majority of universities, as well as the public and private organizations they work with are unprepared to reorganize themselves to address these new demands’. That structure certainly does not apply to his country. For the middle group of countries, in which I include Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, the example of Serbia will serve to illustrate of the state of play. If Finland is the star pupil for eLearning, Serbia must qualify as the member of the class making the most rapid progress. Indeed, Serbia’s situation points up the obvious correlation between eLearn-

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ing development and economic growth. After a difficult period of turbulence following the break-up of former Yugoslavia and the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Serbia is now the fastest growing economy in its region and has the most rapid growth in Internet use (25% annually since 2000) in Europe.

Like Finland, Serbia sees the development of eLearning in the perspectives of lifelong learning and the empowerment all citizens, although neither perspective seems as deeply embedded in national policies as in Finland. Serbia has, however, articulated policies for integrating of ICT into research and development as well as into open and distance learning. On the other hand, it has not been as proactive as Finland in creating new virtual networked initiatives, leaving it to institutions to expand eLearning within government policy. eLearning Papers • ISSN: 1887-1542 • www.elearningpapers.eu n.º 24 • April 2011

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From the field Unfortunately, satisfying the associated procedural requirements can be quite cumbersome, with the result that prestigious academic units such as the Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade appear to be more successful at navigating the course than newer start-ups.

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However, a sound policy framework is in place, the government is serious about the role of eLearning in making Serbia a knowledge society, and the rapid pace of Internet penetration should do the rest. It is hard to be as optimistic about the last group of countries reviewed in the book in which I have placed Algeria, Belarus, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan. I take Tajikistan as an extreme example of countries where the use of ICTs in general and of eLearning in particular, remains more in the domain of aspiration than reality at the present time. Although the government of Tajikistan has made various declarations of intention about ICTs in education, most of the measures to implement them have been ad hoc, ‘chaotic and unsustainable’. Tajikistan suffers from a direct lack of capacity in all areas. It was the poorest of the republics of the former Soviet Union and had the least developed telecommunications infrastructure. Since the five-year civil war that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union ended in 1998, economic growth has been rapid, but from a very low base. Individual telephone ownership is only 38 per 1,000 and not more than 1% of the populations are Internet users.

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The authors of the Tajikistan review suggest that eLearning will only develop with the help of international donors, but even for that to happen the country will need major reforms. There is very little capacity in government, even if there were the will, to plan and implement these reforms and endemic corruption discourages local initiatives. The need for Distance education is understood, but so far this consists mostly of cross-border programmes from Russia that contribute nothing to local institutional capacity building. The vignettes that I have given of the state of eLearning in my three exemplar countries illustrate two points. First, the state of development of education varies greatly even between neighboring countries. Second, looking at education systems through the development of eLearning, as this book does, is a powerful way of assessing their readiness for change and development - in short their fitness for purpose in the 21st century.

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