Brussels, 25/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The rapid appearance and rise of digital distance learning tools - like free teaching resources and online courses open to all - offer considerable prospects as regards access to learning but also pose enormous challenges in terms of quality, recognition of qualifications, copyright and language knowledge, said education ministers at a public debate at the Council on 25 November. The delegations spoke about the problems for a harmonious roll-out of online teaching methods - not enough IT infrastructure in some of the more geographically isolated regions, the lack of knowledge among teachers and heads of school about these new education techniques, the lack of any regulatory framework enabling quality assurance of these online courses, and the need - especially in small countries - to know foreign languages in order to have access to online courses. “Things are still not very clear. The work must continue” with the Greek Presidency and successive presidencies, said Lithuania's Education and Science Minister Dainius Pavalkis. The European Commission will follow up on the discussions. In the view of European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou, it is important for universities to adapt to the new online teaching methods and to be able to combine these with traditional learning methods.
Uschi Schreiber, a specialist from Ernst & Young in global government and the public sector, was invited to take part in the debate and advised member states to become informed about the practices implemented by the US and Australia as regards the regulation of online learning, as these countries are already well advanced on the issue. In her opinion, when it comes to setting up a regulatory framework the watchword should be simplicity. Schreiber also highlighted the complementarity between online courses and courses given at universities - with added value being brought by one type of course to the other. “Progress must be made quickly - but together. We can't simply regulate, we must also encourage, and learn the lessons at the European level as regards coordination and good practices”, said Vassiliou. In terms of the recognition of training followed online, “there's a lot of work to do” (our translation throughout). The existing framework needs to be re-examined as regards validation of learning outcomes by broadening out to online learning, Vassiliou said. She also said that she very much supports the multilingualism favoured by online learning - as several ministers highlighted during the debate. (IL/transl.fl)