China is a vast country with uneven regional development, and this is reflected in the quantity and quality of education, informs an essay on 'E-learning in Chinese schools and universities,' included in 'Distance Education Technologies in Asia,' edited by Jon Baggaley and Tian Belawati.

One learns from the essay important survey findings, such as that more than 60 per cent of students and their parents say they choose online schooling because they think they 'can obtain guidance from famous teachers in different places'; that schools have developed unevenly with respect to the quality of teaching, services, courseware and websites (content, forms, links updates, etc.); and most K-12 online schools provide an online library containing links to general resources, though not based on the school's own courses.

Student-centred learning

The authors also fret that a common and serious problem in the schools' curriculum resources is the over-emphasis on the aesthetics of teaching materials, without attention to the effective design of the teaching environment and practices. They add that, in general, the network delivery of most online schools still emphasises 'teaching,' the one-way spreading of knowledge, and uses a monotonous, teacher-centred approach consistent with traditional modes of instruction without harnessing the diverse features and advantages of online education.

"The students can only receive the content passively, and the so-called independent learning provided by many online schools is limited to the opportunity given to the students to learn from the network courseware on their own, without the necessary resources for effective independent learning." The authors, therefore, recommend that online courses should provide opportunities for group discussion, role-playing and problem-solving, and should use such methods as research-oriented and collaborative learning, thus moving to a more student-centred learning mode.

JV approach

Among the many positives mentioned by the authors is 'The League of Mutual Building and Mutual Sharing of Basic Education in Remote Areas' launched by Renda Middle School, in conjunction with six organisations including the MoE (Ministry of Education) and the China National Library. "The school offered its teaching materials free of charge to students in remote areas of western China, giving the local teachers a chance to explore up-to-date and effective teaching methods online..."

Another major initiative to encourage e-learning and to raise funds for the ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure is the joint-venture approach involving schools and businesses. Viewing this as 'a new golden era for Chinese DE (distance education),' the authors report that 'by the end of 2002, 53 per cent of all 67 pilot schools gained their financing from joint programmes with the business community. Some investors also participated in running the DE venture. In this increasingly market-driven mode, the costs and benefits of DE in higher education are being intensely examined.'

The essay concludes with the forecast by the authors that e-learning will lift Chinese higher education to a new level, transforming it from serving not just the elite of the society but the general public, as a crucial component of China's lifelong education system.