E-Learning Technologies and Its Application in Higher Education:A Descriptive Comparison of Germany,United Kingdom and United States.

There is a general agreement that we have entered the information
economy, that higher education is a critical element in this
knowledge society. This has placed a new demand on its teaching and
research functions, with growing emphasis on lifelong learning and
more flexible forms of higher education delivery. Notwithstanding,
there is also a widespread scepticism as to whether educational
systems will be able to overcome their traditional inertia and
respond to the challenge of the knowledge-based revolution.
Currently the prominence of ICT and other external influencing
factors; economic, social, cultural and the changing role of
governmental policy are driving the inner life of the higher
education sector. In that respect many higher educational
institutions are turning to e-learning technologies for improving
the quality of learning by means of access to resources, services,
long distance collaborations and exchanges. However this transition
has been characterized by a mixed sense of optimism, skeptism and a
lack of “adequate benchmarks”. It is within this background that
this explorative study sought to carry out a descriptive comparison
between Germany, UK and the USA with the objective of identifying
the current trends, establishing tendencies of differences or
similarities and identifying future trends (next 5 years) across
the three countries. This is directed at synthesising “best
practices” which could facilitate international knowledge transfer
and the future development of e-learning. In pursuance of these
aims the study employed the use of both quantitative and
qualitative data sources. In obtaining the quantitative data,
national and international reports that detail out the activities
of e-learning in higher educational institutions across the three
countries were reviewed and relevant data filtered. Further
explanations, clarifications as well as predictions of future
trends were sought through expert interviews (n=30 experts). The
findings indicate that: 1) The three countries did not exhibit much
differences in terms of policy however they exhibited differences
in terms of strategy and tactics in e-learning. 2) The three
countries exhibited differences in terms of the prevalent
e-learning technologies used as well as the application of such
technologies. 3) In terms of didactical approaches and orientation
to either local or international markets the three countries
exhibited differences iv) In terms of impact and limiting factors
the three countries exhibited differences in scale and proportion
though qualitative impact was difficult to estimate. 5) In terms of
future trends or scenarios different projections were made across
the three countries. The implications of the findings are discussed
and recommendations offered for further research.