E-learning could help cut university costs

E-learning could be one option to battle the increasing financial burden of university, universities and businesses have said.

Students in the UK have debts of £3.2 billion, some three times the average from ten years ago, according to data from ntl:Telewest Business. Such debt could make the government's target to put half of young people through university by 2010 even more difficult.

Using IT to offer academic materials online could help ease the problem, said Professor Steve Molyneux, a leading consulting technologist. "With the cost of going to university steadily increasing, many students are now opting to live at home and have part-time jobs to support themselves through their courses," he said. "As universities develop richer media content to increase students' attention spans and support e-learning, progressing from simple text handouts online to streamed lectures and on-line simulations, connectivity to resilient, high-speed and affordable networks is paramount."

Such a learning model could increase the number of mature students and ecourage retired people and those who have difficulty travelling.

Christopher Small, Director of Public Sector, ntl:Telewest Business, said: "Higher education should be open to all, irrespective of location, finances or personal circumstances. With nearly half of UK homes now connected to broadband, the ability to study through e-learning is now far more straightforward and compelling. Combined with technologies such as videoconferencing and instant messaging, broadband ensures that the two way interaction between students and lecturers - central to education - is retained, irrespective of location."

The tactic has already being used by Swansea University. That school's director of library and information services Chris West said: "E-learning is part of the success story at Swansea."

The university is one of three to be selected as part of a JISC e-learning pilot, but has been focusing on delivering education using technology for six years. "It's been crucial in research for the last decade, and is reaching that level of impact of IT on learning," he said. This is because of three things: better, reliable networks; mass market penetration of broadband; and students becoming digital natives who expect to be able to use IT at school.

The university uses a virtual learning environment from Blackboard to deliver 1,300 modules as well as video conferencing, and is beginning to use Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis and podcasts to deliver lecture content.

But he said there's no replacing an in-person lecture. "I don't see it totally replacing traditional learning, it'll always be a hybrid," he said. "Students want world-class people teaching them face-to-face, and e-learning supplements that."

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