Seminar 8 was hosted by Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania and it was attended by 30 Participants from Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. The seminar was conducted ‘on camera’ and went out live over the internet as a simulcast. A record of the presentations and discussions has been archived. The documents presented at the seminar were also archived. Access to recordings of the seminar and to the documents remained available on the internet until December 31 2004. The broad purpose of the seminar was:

• To explore the relationship between distance learning strategies and opportunities for inclusion in tomorrow’s knowledge society

• To exchange and integrate existing conceptual frameworks for ODL case studies throughout Europe and lessons learned for the future

• To analyse market demands, needs, quality and resources for distance learning methods

Participants were welcomed to the university by the Vice-rector for Research and Development, Prof. Liudvikas Pranevicius, at a reception which was followed by a Network management meeting. The seminar itself was conducted over one and a half days in a most impressive multi-media equipped distance education studio.

The Polish Virtual University: experiences in e-learning, Adam Chmielewski, Polish Virtual University, Krakow, Poland

Tendencies: Distance Education and Tertiary Education, Damian Day, RED Centre, Roehampton University, UK

Defining E-Learning in Respect of Its Practical Implementation in the Czech Republic, Mgr. Jan Kohoutek, CHES, Prague, Czech Republic

Models of Distance Learning and their Quality Assurance - Distance education and the use of technology for tomorrow’s knowledge society, Richard Lewis, Co-Director, Centre for Higher Education Research and Information, The Open University, UK

Towards the Virtual University - the VMU Case. Dr. A. Mickus, Centre of Distance Eduction, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

Development of Adult Students as Self-Directed Learners in Distance Learning Courses — Experience from Latvia, Ilze Norvele, Institute of Psychology and Pedagogy, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

Distance Learning and inclusion for tomorrow’s Knowledge Society: E-online- and Distance Learning for People with Disabilities - Austrian Case Studies, Mag^a Andrea Petz and Mag^a Barbara Hengstberger, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria,

ICT aspects in the modernization of study process in HE, Dr. D. Rutkauskiene, Regional Distance Education Study Centre, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania

Application of electronic technologies to improve accessibility of HE in Latvia, Dr. Ilmars Slaidins Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications, Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia

a. Is technology a delivery tool (ie, teacher driven), or is it an enabling environment (ie learner driven)?

b. Accessibility - at what level do you set the technological threshold for access (ie, from home or from a centre; dial-up or DSL; all operating systems, or just the most popular; all versions of an operating system, or just the most recent? what software requirements... etc etc)

c. Access - how do you support the learning needs of those who cannot access the learning whether because of disability, financial, domestic or other reasons?

a. Is DE merely an additional delivery channel for otherwise existing learning?

b. Is DE a way of reaching NEW learners or learning constituencies?

c. Is DE a way of exploring new fields of learning, new subjects, new visions of knowledge?

d. Is DE a way of cutting costs (either for HEIs or for individual learners)?

a. Locally - ie, does the HEI stay within its traditional geographical boundaries (even though in a virtual environment): if so, why the limits?

b Borderless - ie, does the HEI seek to co-operate and/or compete far beyond its geographic catchment: if so, how and with what intended outcome?

During the HERN project meeting, issues concerning the implementation, usage and development of Distance Education in all types of Higher Education establishments were discussed. The representatives from Universities, other Higher Education institutions, and Distance Education experts, also other Distance and Higher Education professionals have raised different questions. Discussion covered wide scope of topics, related to Distance Education in Higher Education institutions. It was agreed among the participants, that policy in this field should focus on six main issues:

• Students’ approach;

• Teachers’ approach;

• Institutions’ approach;

• State policy;

• Technology;

• Quality assurance.

During the discussion it was tried not to duplicate already existing policy and benchmarks, rather recommendations are based on the existing experience and everyday activities of the institutions, working in the field of Distance Education.

Concerning students’ approach, the main issue of learning skills "learn how to learn" and "how to learn using ICT" was identified. It should be discussed and suggestions provided how to take advantage of the fact that young people are eager to use new technologies and how to benefit from this eagerness in Higher Education. It was noted that the number of students, especially part-time, is increasing. These students are mainly working adults, and this requires HE institutions to be flexible. One of the solutions would be to introduce e-learning as the possibility to meet growing demand of the market. While doing so we need to treat equally both groups of students — having access to the PC and those who do not. Those who do not have access, have the right to be provided with the possibility to use PC in a special place in the Higher Education institution or in one of the supporting centres (public access points). This also raises the following questions: The capacity of the connection — is it high enough? Are students able to study without the Internet access points (ex. from homes only)? This is very important issue and has to be kept in mind while developing study programmes and the means for their implementation. And finally, Distance Education should be usable for ALL students / customers — it should serve as a tool, be user-friendly.

While speaking about the teachers’ approach technical and pedagogical support to the teachers should be emphasised, as it is the crucial factor for the success. Only those institutions, which pay sufficient attention on this issue, may expect better results in the implementation and development of Distance Education. It was also pointed out, that there is a lack of highly qualified Distance Education and e-learning staff, and this fact might be the main reason for insufficient support of the teachers. Having that in mind and the need to introduce new techniques, technologies, methodologies, and to adopt the changes of the educational market, learning theories/perceptions in Distance Education should be discussed between the educational and experts of the field and the recommendations should be drafted up for practitioners.

The discussion about the institutions’ approach has raised the problem whether pure Virtual University would be educationally promoted, as social and effective aspects of learning are important. However, Distance Education gives the ability to operate at a huge scale; however it is related to changing functions academia, because only teams of authors would manage the task. Courses should be designed by the Course Teams, which should include course author, IT specialist, DE specialist, designer and etc. Distance Education is not cheap, but could be economically effective, if the quality is high. It was also remarked, that there is no real cooperation, mainly competition between Higher Education institutions in Distance Education field — even if one institution has already created a course on a specific topic, another institution will do it again — create it’s "own" course. Such problem exists and might be partially solved by introducing copyright roles, which would give the possibility for the institutions to allow using their courses without the fear that they might be copied by the user’s institution. The discussion on corporate culture development during transfer to knowledge society could also support the movement towards better cooperation and more effective use of e-learning development resources.

State policy in the field of Distance Education was mentioned as one of the issues to which the attention should be paid. Participants raised the problem that in many countries there is a lack of strategic approach at governmental level; however, initiatives exist. Higher education institutions lack strategic direction in relation to e-learning and lack of funds for development of programmes. It should be kept in mind that e-learning might help to implement the strategy of wider participation in Higher Education — part of students could be e-students. The same might apply for older people wishing to return into education — they might use DE as a tool for their studies.

From the technology point of view Distance Education gives better possibility for equal opportunities and social inclusions. Disabled people feel more comfortable and this encourages them to learn. It opens up doors for Higher Education for those, living in rural area. HE becomes reachable from every geographical point of the country. While developing technology-based programmes and introducing Distance Education by using the possibilities of different technologies, it should be noted that technology is a servant, but not the master. New educational methods should be developed before introducing new technologies — methodology should go before technology. From the disability point of view, content in digital format is largely display-independent and this makes it more suitable for this particular target group.

Quality assurance is a very important issue while speaking about the Distance Education. The question "How to organise effective learning in DE?" is still on the agenda. It is still under the discussion how to achieve quality assurance in Distance Education, what should be the parameters that could help top measure quality in this field. A scientific research should be made here and the tool for measuring quality in DE should be created.

As a result of discussions, presented above, the following policy recommendations, focussing on three main issues, are suggested:

• All students should be treated equally in terms of funding (full-time, part-time and e-students);

• Higher Education has to be inclusive and Open Distance Education can help to achieve this objective;

• Accessibility and flexibility of HE should give a possibility to the people with disabilities;

• To make e-learning as a service which would be most available and accessible: enhancement of existing e-systems;

• E-learning has a low barrier entrance into education, especially for people with disabilities, elderly, socially disadvantaged — almost anonymous, flexible in time and place, therefore it should be promoted for these groups.

• ODL systems should be built as an addition or enhancement of the existing systems — should not be the replacement of existing systems;

• Learning skills should be emphasised;

• Studies in Distance Education should be applicable in vocational (formal, non-formal and informal) education;

• Systems should be behind the technological cutting-edge — technology has to be the one what people have;

• The development of pedagogy is slower than development of technology — emphasis on development of new educational methods before introducing new technologies is to be promoted;

• Every teacher should master open learning models, be able to chose most appropriate technology and pedagogical methods, as well as be part of Course Team, and ; "Train the trainers" activities should be fostered at institutional and national levels.

• Blended learning should be introduced as a term for governmental policy;

• The development of e-courses should have similar academic value as writing of traditional books.

• Markets are different and education is and should be different;

• Access to the internet is limited — it is impossible to request that person would have a computer at home, therefore institutions should aim at providing facilities;

• Strategy for needs analysis is needed;

• More attention should be given to recognition of Distance Learning, e.g., records in Diploma Supplement;

• Need to study organisational culture in context of e-learning development;

• Quality assurance regulations, strategies must not be different from the traditional HE — same quality requirement should be applied for full-time and e-students;

• Guidelines for the implementation of copyright in Open and Distance Education should be created.