Global Perspectives on E-Learning

Alison A. Carr-Chellman is an Associate Professor of Education, currently serving as the Professor in charge of the Instructional Systems program in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems. She earned her doctorate at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she studied Instructional Systems Technology with an emphasis in Educational Systems Design. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she received an undergraduate degree and a masters in Education. She taught elementary school and worked in business and industry prior to taking on her current position. Her research interests include critiques of distance education and e-learning, systems theory and thinking, educational systems design, critical systems, and user-design. She resides outside of State College with her three children ages two, two, and one, her husband and in-laws on a family farm.

Introduction - Alison A. Carr-Chellman Online Education in Asia: An Analysis of China, Taiwan, and India - Alison A. Carr-Chellman China's Online Education: Rhetoric and Realities - Ke Zhang The Gap Between E-Learning Availability and E-Learning Industry Development in Taiwan - Jiang Jia qi The Distance in Education and Online Technologies in India - Priya Sharma Online Education in Europe: An Analysis of Ireland, UK, Turkey and International Study Circles - Alison A. Carr-Chellman Online Learning and Differential Participation in a Democratic Society: Ireland as a Case Study - Sarah Fitzpatrick & Paul Conway E-Learning Democracy and Social Exclusion-Issues of Access and Retention in the UK - Ormond Simpson International Study Circles - Ben Salt A Critical Look at Distance Education in Turkey - Husra Gursoy Online Education in North America: An Analysis of the U.S. and Canadian Contributions - Alison A. Carr-Chellman Canada's SchoolNet: Wiring Up Schools? - Leslie R. Shade & Diane Y. Dechief The New Frontier: Web-Based Education in US Culture - Alison A. Carr-Chellman Online Education Down Under: An Analysis of Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia - Alison A. Carr-Chellman New Zealand: Is Online Education a Highway to the Future? - Bill Anderson Towards Borderless Virtual Learning in Higher Education - Colin Latchem Online Education in Africa: An Analysis of Namibia and Sub-Saharan Africa - Alison A. Carr-Chellman Development and Democracy in Namibia: The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) - R. Kavena Shalyef & Hilda Nakakuwa Can You Lead From Behind? Critical Reflections on the Rhetoric of E-Learning, Open Distance Learning and ICTs for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) - Wayne Mackintosh Stalled: E-Learning as Thwarted Innovation - Robert Zemsky & William F. Massy Conclusion - Alison A. Carr-Chellman

Global Perspectives on E-Learning offers an authoritative compendium of online teaching and learning in a cross-section of nations around the World. This is a state-of-the-art review of promising online programs by authors who have participated in the movement. Rarely do we find such current and authoritative information about educational technology developments in more than a dozen countries in six continents. -- Don Ely We need more critical and reflective texts on distance education and its evolution within a global framework. The authors provide the reader a social and political context for thinking about global education. -- Roberto Muffoletto Global Perspectives on E-Learning is a fascinating expedition on the road to democratizing online/distance learning through the dichotomy of rhetoric and social realities in countries around the world. -- Paul Gathercoal I think this is an excellent text. It provides the reader with a broad international perspective of distance education, something that is in short supply. -- Chris Zirkle "A must-read for policy framers and curriculum shapers." -- The Hindu Business Line * The Hindu Business Line * "The book is well written and well organized. It adds significantly to the literature that addresses global perspectives on e-learning, and is of particular interest to those seeking additional information about international programs. Cases represent different examples from five continents. Therefore the book is particularly useful for instructional designers, and policy makers who work for the disseminating online distance learning." -- Murat Ataizi * Eskisehir, Turkey * "This is indeed a disturbing, informative, and readable book. I commend it warmly to those who may wish to find out about developments in e-learning around the world; to those who have consciences which will be disturbed by much of what is highlighted and summarized here; to those willing to re-examine their optimism about the potential and implications of e-learning; and to those similarly willing to reconsider their pessimism. Buy it, read it, re-read it, question-and keep seeking answers." -- BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY * BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY * "This volume brings together a number of reports on the global phenomenon of online distance education (referred to as e-learning) in several countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and Africa. Editor Carr-Chellman and the respective chapter authors adopt a critical perspective of 'international capitalist e-learning.'. . . . This book is for policy makers, practitioners, and the general public interested in gaining a more balanced perspective on how closely the rhetoric matched the reality of online distance learning." -- P.S. Cookson * CHOICE * "Global Perspectives on E-Learning: Rhetoric and Reality will be useful to students and research of distance learning, as well as those interested in global education, policy, and the cultural and political context of learning. The book is successful in presenting a critical, if perhaps unpopular, analysis of the current international applications of e-learning, but it is certainly not a negation of the usefulness of e-learning itself." -- William Bescia and Kelly Schwartz * ETR&D *