Continuing innovation

Since 2000, eLearning has moved from being an experimental innovation to a central – and rapidly evolving – part of the toolset for distance education. The technology is now available to support a genuine interaction between students all over the world and teachers in London. Through its Centre for Distance Education (CDE), the External System has been one of the leaders in this field within the University of London as a whole, identifying ways that new technologies can be exploited for the benefits of students.

Just as the printed study guide and student handbook have become standard components of current programmes – which range from economics to management to information security – eLearning is set to be embedded as a normal component of all newly developed programmes. Projects currently under research and development include the following:

Virtual classrooms and learning environments (VLEs)

Providing practical guidelines and an innovative framework for teaching online.

Mobile Learning (mLearning)

A two-year project in southern Africa to explore how mobile phones and other devices can be used to support degree-level learning. Mobiles are rapidly becoming more widely available in Africa than Internet access. Latest models offer multimedia, photographic and video options. Technological advances offer enormous potential for supporting distance learners in new ways.

Social software

Exploiting new online technologies, such as weblogs and wikis that enable new approaches to interaction and knowledgesharing, unconstrained by place or time.

Online bibliographic space

Designed for use by the distance learning community to extend the online library services available to students.

3D online environments

The use of live 3D online environments such as those used in ’virtual worlds’ like The Sims Online, Active Worlds and Second Life to support teaching and learning.

Making distances disappear

"The course is non-competitive and supportive. Different professions bring with them different viewpoints, all equally acknowledged"

Led by University College London (UCL), the International Primary Health Care programme is the world’s first fully online postgraduate degree in primary care. In 2005, the UCL course team won the prestigious e-Tutor of the Year Award, run by the UK Higher Education Funding Council.

Dr Tina McInnes, a primary care clinical effectiveness facilitator based in Scotland, says the online environment ‘makes it possible to fit studying in with running a home, seeing to children’s homework, grocery shopping...oh, and work of course. The course is non-competitive and supportive. Different professions bring with them different viewpoints, all equally acknowledged’.

Supported by a flexible Online Learning Environment which includes animations, vibrant graphics and discussion boards, the MSc in Clinical Trials has attracted students from across the world. Inaugurated in 2006, the course is led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the leading postgraduate medical institution in Europe in the subjects of public health and tropical medicine.

Hoping to complete the course in 2008, osteopath Paul Vaucher from Switzerland reflects that ‘the major advantage of an online course is about freely scheduling one’s working time. The second advantage is about making distances disappear. We are working on courses together in London but sitting in Canada, India, Pakistan, Australia...’