Global Perspectives on E-Learning: Rhetoric and Reality presents several cases of international online education and the rhetoric that surrounds this form of teaching and learning. Editor Alison A. Carr-Chellman examines the impact of online distance education throughout the world in an effort to understand more deeply the merits of such initiatives. Written from a critical perspective, the book sheds light on some of the problems faced by international distance educators. It particularly focuses on who benefits, and who does not, by the advance of international e-learning and how we can respond to the needs of the disenfranchised. This book is intended to supplement what has to this point been largely a positive, how-to literature in distance education. It offers a balanced perspective on the problems and possibilities of distance education worldwide.
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.
Table of Contents
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 School Net: 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