The State of Distance Education and E-Learning Around the Globe Free

It is with great pleasure that we, Ray J. Amirault and Yusra Laila Visser, assume our new posts as Codepartment Editors of the International Section of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education ( QRDE). We have both had a long relationship with QRDE and its publisher, Information Age Publishing, and we have taken on this opportunity simultaneously with great humility and anticipation: humility that we would be asked to assume this role, and anticipation for all the things that we would like to do with—and in—the International Section of QRDE in the coming years. We have already developed several plans and initiatives for this section of the journal, and it is our sincere desire that our contributions, both as editors and as authors, will benefit the QRDE readership as well as the broader educational communications and technology community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. We have placed a brief biography for each of us at the end of this introduction, and we hope that QRDE readers such as yourself might not only take the time to read over these introductions, but also feel free to contact us via e-mail to discuss with us the section and its contents. We especially welcome your insights on the kinds of articles and contributions you would like to see represented within the International Section of QRDE in the future, as well as opportunities to raise our awareness of research and scholarly work that may be a good “fit” for the section. Such reader input will be integral to allowing us to usher in the most successful period for the International Section of this journal.

We would like to commence with the announcement of a new series that will become an ongoing portion of the International Section of QRDE: “The State of Distance Education and E-learning Around the Globe.” This series will be comprised of articles authored by experienced researchers with close ties to the state of distance education in various countries and different regions of the world, and will report on the current state of distance education and learning in these areas. We, as editors, will make every attempt to ensure that the series represents a diverse range of geographic regions, infrastructure and technology profiles, cultures of education, and education systems. And although no country is exempt from the series, for the time being we have chosen to focus primarily on countries outside of North America so that we can cumulatively deliver articles on areas that have historically been underrepresented in the U.S. academic literature on distance education and e-learning. The rapidly expanding opportunities for crossnational collaboration and exchange in the scholarly realm makes this, in our estimation, an especially interesting and exciting time for a such a series on distance education and elearning around the globe.

Although each author writing for this series will be taking a unique look at the country or region with which they have been tasked to analyze, all articles in the series will follow a basic four-part structure:

1. A general introduction and background to the country/region. This first section will orient you, the reader, to the country or region about which will be discussed, to provide a “baseline” of information for contextualizing the article. For example, population, language, age of country, basic demographics, recent history,geographic location, GDP, political and economic relationship to other countries, political leadership, technology penetration rates, national education statistics etc. might all be included to establish this “introduction” to the country.

2. A basic description of the current state of “traditional” educational system(s) in the country. This section is focused on building a basic understanding of the current educational system in place within the county (and, where relevant, its historical roots). This will include items such as number of teachers working in the educational system, the number of enrolled students, educational access, graduation rates, international rankings, the relationship between government and education systems, how the education system is organized, and the extent to which (if any), distance education plays a role in national educational systems.

3. Case studies, examples, or other descriptions where distance education efforts are currently being used in the county. The “centerpiece” of the article, this section will provide a variety of examples and/or case studies of to illustrate how distance education is being used in the country. Discussion of the prevalence of distance technology, the demographics of the individuals using distance learning, the infrastructure that is (or is not) present to support e-learning, governmental priories concerning e-learning, specific cases of distance learning in formal academic settings, business settings, and other informal/non-formal contexts. Authors will be encouraged in this section to include additional information relevant to distance education and e-learning in the country. The choice of setting(s) for case studies and illustrations in this section is solely at the author’s discretion, therefore allowing each article to be a truly unique contribution, providing insight on various sectors, experiences, challenges and contributions from country to country, and thereby standing as a distinct contribution to the overall series.

4. Recommendations or suggestions on how distance education might be better/optimally used in the country. In this closing section, series authors are encouraged to extrapolate on research- and practice-based observations on what is necessary to maximize distance education’s ability to meet the unique needs of the country. This section may address questions such as: Can a case for the adoption of distance education, if not being currently used, be made? What might be needed to support the success of distance education within the country? What specific groups of individuals in the country might most benefit from an expansion of distance education? Beyond these questions, this portion of the article will also present and develop other salient thoughts on distance education deemed important as they relate to the country (as well as potential implications for other countries), and suggest what research might be most helpful in assisting the distance education community of the county extend the use of distance education within the country to the extent that this is justified based on the country’s needs and realities.

We are very excited about this new series, as it provides the opportunity for individuals with deep knowledge of a variety of countries around the world to serve as virtual “ambassadors” for their countries to the QRDE readership while examining and presenting what roles distance education currently plays in that country. The opportunity, too, to provide specific case studies from business, academic, and government settings should provide QRDE’s readership not only with new insights into each of the countries, but also examples of how distance education can be used in similar (or even not-so-similar) contexts. The case studies and illustrations, as well as analyses and syntheses, that the authors develop can therefore generate lessons that can be learned and implemented anywhere distance education is employed.

So, with this brief introduction, we welcome you to this new series, introduce ourselves as codepartment editors for the International Section of QRDE, and look forward to contributing to the essential ongoing dialogue in the discipline. We hope you will find the journey as rewarding as we!