online educa berlin. elene- ee (economics of e- learning)
TRANSCRIPT
Online Educa Berlin. eLene- EE (Economics of e-learning)
Index
Welcome (Mikael Sjöberg): 5 minutes
Project overview and connection with main objectives (David Castillo): 5 minutes
WP1: Cost-Benefit Analysis (Niklas Hanes and David Castillo): 30 minutes
WP2: Students Achievement (David Castillo and Toni Femenias): 30 minutes
Coffee break: 20 minutes
WP3: E-learning Indicators (Susanna Sancassani and Andrzej Wodecki): 40 minutes
WP4: E-learning and Digital Divide (Adel Ben Youssef): 40 minutes
Summary and topics for further discussion (Deborah Arnold): 10 minutes
Project overview – Economic Framework
Universities have important challenges: generalise access to education, improve educational attainment levels, respond to social demand of lifelong learning and fit workers needs of specific skills and abilities.
E-learning is a good opportunity for universities to reach these objectives, as a general diffusion of education may lead to significant benefits.
Individual benefits: higher productivity and wages, higher likelihood to participate in the labour market, greater probability to experience less unemployment, effects on health, on intergenerational cognitive development, better analytical skills, better adoption of consumption technology, higher saving rates.
Social benefits: improvement of productivity levels and rates of economic growth and spillover effects to the whole society.
eLene-EE objectives: WP1. Efficiency WP2. Student’s performance WP3. Indicators WP4. Digital divide.
Project overview – Economic Framework
Rapid knowledge creation and easy access to knowledge: the emergence of a knowledge-based economy
ICT can be seen as a suitable technological base for knowledge economy development
The main hypothesis is that ICT are the technical paradigm on which current dynamics of the industrial revolution is based.
ICT can be situated at the material basis of the economic growth for many developed countries since 1995.
Productivity increase is consistent with a positive trend in labour quality explained by the rise in average levels of educational attainment.
It is confirmed the existence of complementarities between technical and organisational change and skilled labour input through the demand for specific skills and abilities.
EDUCA BERLIN –
12th International Conference on Technology Supported Learning & TrainingNovember 29 – December 1, 2006
From Digital divides to Digital Trajectories
(WP 4)
Adel Ben Youssef
ADIS – University of Paris Sud - France
www.benyoussef.net
1. DIGITAL DIVIDE : GENERAL ASPECTS
Concept widely used but poorly defined in the economic literature
A concept linked to the agenda of international institutions : United Nations, EOCD, ITU…
ICTs cause Inequalities (social exclusion)
Main theoretical contributions : (Long-Scott, 1995), (T. Arquette, 2002) (Scadias, 2002), (OCDE, 2004), (Corrocher et Ordanini, 2002), (Pohjola, 2002), (Koski, Rouvinen et Ylä-Anttila, 2002), (Antonelli, 2003), (Steinmuller 2002), (Rallet et Rochelandet, 2003), (Bo Carlsson, 2004).
2. Definition of Digital Divides (EOCD, 2001)
“The gap between individuals, households, business and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of Internet for a wide variety of activities.
The digital divide reflects various differences among and within countries. The ability of individuals and businesses to take advantage of ICTs varies significantly across the OECD area as well between OECD and non member countries. Access to basic telecommunications infrastructures is fundamental to any consideration of the issue, as it precedes and is more widely available than access to and use of the Internet.”
3. Different levels of Digital Divides
Among countries : Global digital divide
Among regions within a country : Spatial digital divide
Among urban and non urban areas
Among group of persons (ethnic DD,...)
Among groups of persons (aged people vs young people...)
4. Why Inequalities (Explanations of Digital Divides)
Income (Ebo, 1998), Occupation (Losh, 2004, McLaren & Zappal 2002 ,א ), Gender and Age (DiMaggio, 2004), Education (Rainie, 2004, Rainie & Packel, 2001), geographic centrality (Chen & Wellman, 2003, Rainie, 2004), Ethnicity and race (Hoffman et al., 2000, Hoffman et al., 1999, Novak et
al., 1997), language (Foulger, 2001), skills (Robinson, 2003), autonomy (Dasgupta et al., 2002), affordability (OECD, 2001), competitive market structure (Dutta & Jain, 2004), communication infrastructure (Horrigan & Rainie, 2004, Horrigan,
2004a, , 2004b, Katz & Rice, 2003, Wareham et al., 2004).
5. Four types of Digital Divides
First Level Digital divide (Access to ICTs) Infrastructures Telecommunications Equipments
Second Level Digital divide (varieties of Uses of Educational ICTs):
Uses, Intensity of uses, and Diversity of uses
Third Level of Digital divide (Performances) : Why some people perform better than other when they use
ICT?
Fourth Level of digital divides (Learning divide) Level of learning, way of learning, the process of learning
6. Educational ICTs
A wide range (continuum) of digital pedagogical tools is nowadays available to teachers and students. They include Computers, E-mail, electronic presentations, Discussion Room, Platforms, Visio-conference, interactive white board, Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts…
These new tools have different impacts on the learning process since they change its scope (new students, people all over the world, worldwide competition,…), its methods (course size, learning events, online exercises, simulations, auto-evaluation,…), and its sequencing (full time face-to-face, full time on-line, blended learning, long-life learning…).
7. Four types of Educational Digital Divides
First Level Digital divide (Access to EICTs) What are the main determinant of access to e-learning as a lifelong
education mechanism? What are the basic technologies and are all persons able to accede to
these technologies?
Second Level Digital divide (varieties of Uses of Educational ICTs): How people use the educative ICT? Diversity of uses, efficient use, models of use, best practices, Intensity of uses
Third Level of Digital divide (Performances) : Why some people perform better than other when they use EICT? (job
market and achievement)?
Learning process digital divides Are some people (regions, groups of persons) developping new models
of learning more efficient than others.
8. First level of Educational Digital Divide
What are the main technologies and how students accede to these technologies (Internet, Computers, Mobile phone, Platforms...)
First level of Digital divides are explained mainly by differences in : revenues, technological profiles (competences in ICT), Education levels…
Public policies are very important at this stage (equipment, access to the technology…)
This question is not a novelty (First level of digital divide in general)
Example : Average number of students per computer, 2000 and 2003
United-states 6 3
Norway 7 6
United kingdom 8 4
Sweden 12 6
Italy 16 8
Spain 24 12
Deutschland 24 12
Finland 10 6
Japan 14 5
Portugal 74 14
Greece 58 12
9. Second level of Educational Digital Divide
Uses : How people use the educative ICTs? Is there any national patterns?
Main uses of ICT in education (short list): communication (between students, between students and teachers…), cooperation (between students), interactions...
information…
Explaining the differences in uses among persons in e-learning setting and among countries
Explaining the Intensity of uses of ICT (Leguel, Pénard and Suire, 2002, 2004 and 2005), Leguel (2004 and 2006)
10. Third level Educational Digital Divide
Performances : How people perform after using the educative ICTs? Is there any national patterns? (Labour Market and Education outcomes)
Three main outcomes: Achievement Returns on the job market Externalities
Explaining the differences in performances among persons in e-learning setting and among countries. Micro-performances and Macro-performances
11. Outcomes of Educational ICT
ICT based education
Labour Market(Supply/Demand)
Education outcomes
Education (quality, achievement, costs, spillovers, time allocation...)
1
2
3
e-skills (shortage, gaps and mismatch)
INPUTS OUTPUTS
12. Micro-economic approachAchievement and Computers : A puzzle
Three conclusions provided by econometric estimations
No impact Dinardo and Pischke, (1997)
Positive impact (but weak) Fuchs and Woessman (2006)
Negative impact Kirkpatrick and Cuban (1998)
13. Returns on the job market
Solid Arguments but few empirical evidence :
ICT-skills Collaborative Skills Information handling skills Autonomous
(Knowledge Worker) for the Knowledge based Economy
14. Macroeconomic Perspective
Accumulation of Knowledge and Human Capital
Flexible learning (better time allocation)
Innovation
Growth of a New Economic Sector
16 : First Approach of digital Divides (Benchmarking)
The DIDIX (Digital Divide Index) by ITU (International Telecommunication Union)
NRI - Network readiness index (Dutta & Jain, 2004),
DAI (Digital access index)
Gini Coefficient (Riccardini & Fazio, 2002).
The SIBIS (Statistical Indicators Benchmarking the Information
Society) project of the European Commission (SIBIS, 2003).
16. Second Approach : From Digital divide to Digital trajectories
New approach for the diffusion of Educational ICTs and more generally ICT
- Technologies are enabling different types of access to contents
- Uses varying from a context to another
- Different models of efficient usages
- Different ways to reach the same outcome
- No need for benchmarking
17. Basic dimensions of Digital Trajectories
Initial Equipment and access to educational ICT
E-Learning supply
E-Learning Demand
Public policies, governance and Institutions
18. First Debate : Policies for Bridging the Divides
Three channels for bridging the divides (mainly first level of educational digital divide)
- Market Dynamics: price, competition
- Technological Evolutions
- Public Policies
19. Public Policies in order to Bridge the divides
Where and how to invest?
(Infrastructure? Content development? Encouraging uses? What kind of usages?)
Rapid evolution of technologies
Fixed costs are high, Needs for scale economies
Diffusion lag or Divide?
20. Second Debate (Web 2.0) - New Divides or New Perspectives for Digital Divides
Web 2.0 (Social Software) (Wiki, Blogs, Tagging...)
Participative Web
No need for complex technologies (Word and Internet connexion)
What are the main impacts?
21. Qualitative changes
The process of Learning is changing
Social constructivism as a new model of learning
Model 1 : from "Lessons" (resources) to the web resources
Model 2 : From Web resources to the construction of the "lessons"
The Learning is more focused on the process
22. Quantitative changes
Availability of the Resources on the Web
Cooperative production is about "uses" of Learning objects
The resources need to be adapted to the local context
Example of bridging the divide: resources for Teacher Training (eLene-TT project : www.elene-tt.net)
Summary
Four types of digital divides
Benchmarking is not the only way to approach digital divides – a better way is to look at the differences
From digital divides to digital trajectories(New approach)
"Usages" and the needs for adapt the resources to the local contexts are the key dimensions for the digital dividend
Public Policies : refocusing more on uses and less about equipment
Thanks for listening
More information on : www.eLene-tt.net www.benyoussef.net www.adis-lab.net