Two Decades of E‐Learning Policy Evolution at EU Level: motivations, institutions and instruments

Abstract

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.

An analysis of rhetorical devices in policy narratives on the European Institute of Innovation and Technology: Implications for European higher education

“…The analytical framework devised by Mendez and Mendez (2010) rests on policy framing, policy dynamics and policy instruments as the main driving concepts behind policy formulation. These concepts are defined as follows: policy framing refers to the intraneous and extraneous stressors, stimuli or threats that prompt political entities to take action on policy-making; policy dynamics identifies the actors and their roles in the process of policy development; and policy instruments consist of the principal and supporting legal documents that operationalize measures in the policy domain being addressed (Roumell Erichsen and Salajan, 2014; Salajan and Roumell, 2016).…”

MOOCs in Logistics – Preliminary Data on University Curricula Coverage

“…The authors point to emergence of an increasingly coherent and formal approach to supporting e-learning initiatives from initially cautious and tentative steps to progressively formalized policy documents. The authors suggest that the policy focus of 2010s has shifted away from continued emphasis on ICT, with relegating it to the status of supporting structures [ 17 ]. A possible way to interpret this would be to see e-learning not so much as a stand-alone entity but that the domains of e-learning and traditional learning are fusing both de jure as de facto.…”

Exploring the Evolution of Educational Technology Policy in Ireland: From Catching-Up to Pedagogical Maturity

“…With the benefit of hindsight this phase of policy development and implementation may be described as Ireland 'catching up' and joining the international ICT race which was prominent at the time as reflected in EU policy on e-learning (Salajan & Roumell, 2015).…”

“…Some studies, notably Roumell and Salajan (2016) and Culp, Honey, and Mandinach (2003), have explored the historical development of these policies in the United States. Similarly, Salajan and Roumell (2015) have also explored the development of EU e-learning policy in the past 20 years. However, apart from analysis of national educational technology policies (see, for example, Zhao & Conway, 2001), there appears to be a lack of studies exploring the longitudinal development of national policies to determine how they have changed over time.…”