Educational services

The development of the Internet as a whole has encouraged rapid growth in the use of ICT in education generally. In compulsory and higher education the use of the internet in all subjects for research is a now a standard way of working.

In recent years technology built upon the Internet has been developed to enable anyone with Internet access to learn online. The company Learndirect is an example of this. I believe that this is a great development because it gives students extra choice in choosing how to learn. By using specially designed courses a student can study at the time, place and speed that suits them best. This is of great benefit for those who are physically unable to attend an educational establishment because of disability or distance. However, I suggest that there is a downside to this way of learning. Students can miss out on developing their social skills and  ability to work in a team, since these can only be achieved using conventional methods of education.

More and more organisations are implementing e-learning into their corporate training programmes. COROUS, which was established by the Open University in 2000, offers a consultancy service that provides strategies for businesses who want to use e-learning techniques in training courses. Their client list shows that they provide some of the UK's biggest corporate names with learning services.

The BBC web site is an amazing online service that also provides an incredible amount of free online learning resources. They have written and produced a guide for staff working in UK online centres and the community ICT sector. It provides an introduction to some of the learning resources available on the web site, ranging from health to history. This guide can be viewed here .

Due to even more recent technological developments, VLE’s (Virtual Learning Environments) or similar systems have come into existence. These systems are usually used and sometimes even developed by universities themselves to improve the learning experiences of all students.

Click next to find out more about VLE’s...