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This article presents the approach the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto employed to modernize its methods of instruction by using online technologies. A small team of faculty, students, and content developers was assembled to work with individual faculty members to brainstorm and research ideas for innovative teaching practices in dental studies. The team was not content to simply post digital versions of the ubiquitous PowerPoint lectures in Blackboard, selected in 2006 by the University of Toronto as its sole platform for online course delivery, but rather set out to introduce interactivity with the course material. Consequently, a series of interactive applications was created, such as the virtual microscope in Oral Pathology, the 3D cavity preparations in Restorative Dentistry, and the Master Media Repository. During the summer of 2006, the Faculty of Dentistry made progress toward becoming one of the university's front-runners in online course innovation. The result of this collaboration between faculty members and the team was ten courses with interactive online presence, representing approximately 20 percent of the undergraduate curriculum. Since the summer of 2006, the Faculty of Dentistry has continued to pursue its goal of providing meaningful online instruction in all of its courses.Dr.

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study conducted by the author on the implications of e-learning programmes for the higher education systems of the member states of the European Union. The study takes a look behind the scenes of the eLearning Programme and other elearning actions within other European programmes by tapping into the perceptions of academics at universities in the European Union (in three principal countries -Germany, Portugal and Swedenand six secondary countries -Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom) who have participated in or have knowledge of the logistical and administrative burdens of European e-learning projects. Through a series of in-depth open-ended interviews conducted on location, via the telephone or over the Internet, the study investigates the interactions of academics and researchers with the European-funded programmes in e-learning. Several interviews with members of the European Commission offer an inside look at the dynamics of the programmes and confer a 'humanistic' perspective to the stern letter of the legal documentation. The personal accounts are used to build a 'composite picture' of common themes related to the processes involved in developing and conducting e-learning projects under the eLearning Programme and other European programmes, shedding new light on the levels of initiative that go into the actual preparation of e-learning projects.

This article discusses the emergence of a European E‐Learning Area (EELA) as a consequence of three factors that can be observed in the e‐learning developments over the past decade. The first factor consists of the carving of a policy sector in e‐learning via formal instruments such as the eLearning Programme, the Lifelong Learning Programme and an array of other e‐learning policy stipulations embedded in larger policy instruments at European level (e.g. Framework Programme). The second factor is represented by the mainstreaming of e‐learning activities, both through formal and informal measures across multiple domains. Finally, the proliferation and consolidation of interlinked networks of practice as incubators of e‐learning innovation and sharing of expertise act as the third factor in the shaping of EELA. The conceptualisation of EELA is substantiated through an analysis of the European e‐learning policy documentation and the findings of a questionnaire distributed to the coordinators of projects under the eLearning Programme. In light of the findings, theoretical and practical implications for EELA as a nascent policy domain are explored and offered as a basis for further debate on this theme.

This article examines the ideational construction and definition of the European Digital Education Area (EDEA) as a policy space and mechanism for the mainstreaming of digital technologies in Europe's education and training systems. It revisits the foundational pillars on which it is premised, proposed in a previous iteration of the concept: formal legislation, mainstreaming of digital education actions and interlinked networks of practice. Employing a mixed methods approach, involving discourse analysis of key policy documents enacted over the past two decades, an online survey of ICT project coordinators under the Lifelong Learning Programme, and interviews with policy officers at the European Commission, the study reinforces the structure and utility of the EDEA for ICT diffusion in education. It argues for its formal acknowledgment as a political priority and key policy area enforceable through instruments similar to those existing under the Bologna Process for a coherent, concerted and strategic approach to digital education at EU level.

This article records and documents the historical development of e‐learning policies at EU level by conducting a discourse and content analysis of four key e‐learning policy documents drafted and implemented by the European Commission over the past 20 years: Learning in the Information Society: Action Plan for a European Education Initiative (1996), the eLearning Action Plan (2001), the eLearning Programme (2003) and the Lifelong Learning Programme (2006). The themes teased out from the analysis reveal a gradual consolidation of e‐learning policy at EU level, indicating the emergence of an increasingly coherent and formal approach to supporting e‐learning initiatives for the benefit of actors at Member State level. The forging of a ‘European dimension’ in e‐learning projects represents the hallmark of these EU policies, but it remains to be seen whether the EU institutions will continue to devote similar attention to and place particular focus on e‐learning as a distinct policy priority in the years to come.