The Impact of Ict on Tertiary Education : Advances and Promises

The impact of ICT on tertiary education : advances and promises

Kurt Larsen and Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Directorate for Education / Centre for Educational Research and Innovation*

DRAFT

OECD/NSF/U. Michigan Conference
“Advancing Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy”
10-11 January 2005
Washington DC

ABSTRACT: The promises of e-learning for transforming tertiary education and thereby advancing the knowledge economy have rested on three arguments: E-learning could expand and widen access to tertiary education and training; improve the quality of education; and reduce its cost. The paper evaluates these three promises with the sparse existing data and evidence and concludes that the reality has not been up to the promises so far in terms of pedagogic innovation, while it has already probably significantly improved the overall learning (and teaching) experience. Reflecting on the ways that would help develop e-learning further, it then identifies a few challenges and highlights open educational resource initiatives as an example of way forward. The first section of the paper recalls some of the promises of e-learning; the second compares these promises and the real achievements to date and suggests that e-learning could be at an early stage of its innovation cycle; the third section highlights the challenges for a further and more radically innovative development of e-learning.

Knowledge, innovation and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have had strong repercussions on many economic sectors, e.g. the informatics and communication, finance, and transportation sectors (Foray, 2004; Boyer, 2002). What about education? The knowledge-based economy sets a new scene for education and new challenges and promises for the education sector. Firstly, education is a prerequisite of the knowledge-based economy: the production and use of new

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