A nationally co-ordinated approach to technology in education allows learners and researchers to adopt new technologies faster, according to an international JISC study.
Led by JISC in the UK and SURF in the Netherlands, co-ordinated national initiatives and central funding structure in the two countries have meant that the benefits of Web 2.0 are felt right across their higher education and research communities.
JISC and SURF have led the way by supporting national infrastructure developments, allowing innovative practice to spread quickly, rather than just relying on the innovation of individual universities and colleges.
The conclusions come as part of an observational study, ‘Global Activity in Higher Education’, which provides a snapshot of e-learning and e-infrastructure activities that support the higher education and research communities in ten countries.
Various reviews also identify the UK as among the leaders in areas such as e-infrastructure, digitisation and data repositories along with countries such as Germany and the United States. The introduction of the UK Access Management Federation in 2008 also means that the UK has a nationally-coordinated identity and access management system in place across the education and research sectors.
Charles Hutchings, JISC Market Research Manager, says “While the aim of the study was to highlight examples of innovative activities across the world and not to benchmark the UK against other countries, JISC is delighted to see that the review has pointed towards the UK being at the forefront of e-learning and e-infrastructure development internationally.”
The study looked at activities and developments in e-learning and e-infrastructure in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United States and the UK. The researchers examined the geographic, economic and cultural factors which shape the way these programmes are developing across the world.
Download the global study at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/globalactivityinhe
Explore JISC’s work in higher and further education at http://www.jisc.ac.uk
Find out more about the SURF Foundation at http://www.surffoundation.nl/en
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