Brussels, 03/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's digital agenda makes online learning (e-learning) a key component of the digital society. In particular, the use of online tools and programmes provides an opportunity to modernise education and training and allows citizens to engage in continuing professional development or to re-skill. The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) has published a statistical report analysing developments in online training, its opportunities, and how widespread it is. The data presented originate from the Community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals. It emerges from the report that:
the internet is widely and increasingly used for self-directed learning: currently 32% of the total population in the EU have consulted the internet for the purpose of self-directed learning (2010 data), an increase by 9 percentage points compared to 2007;
the internet is commonly used to look for learning opportunities: in the 3 months prior to the survey, 23% of Europeans used the internet to search for information on education and training courses (2010 data), an increase by 4 percentage points compared to 2007;
the use of the internet to attend online courses is relatively less frequent (5% of the total population in 2010) and slowly growing (an increase by 2 percentage points compared to 2007);
in 2010, Finland reported the highest percentage of population engaged in online education and training (14% of the total population), followed by Spain and Lithuania (8%) and by Sweden and the United Kingdom (7%); at the opposite end of the scale, the Czech Republic and Cyprus reported the lowest percentage of population using online education and training (1% of the total population) and low levels were also reported by Bulgaria, Greece, Austria, Poland and Portugal (2 %). (I.L./transl.rt)