American vision of the social perspective of e-learning in higher education

Abstract

There are many who believe that after the impact created by the incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICT) "nothing will be like it was before". Without straying too far, in the field of education, e-learning provides the ability for communication between very distant peoples and greater access to education and culture to people who, for whatever reason, are excluded from them. For this reason, some time now has been spent on considering the social perspective of e-learning, in other words how to make use of the range of possibilities offered by this distance learning process, afforded by the use of the Internet, in order to improve the quality of life of people on the American continent.

Given this state of the question, one would expect that the social perspective of e-learning would occupy a leading place in academic discussions devoted to higher education in America. However, this is not the case, although a number of significant initiatives leading in this direction have been found. Notable among these are the Institute for the Connectivity of the Americas (ICA) and the Education Portal of the Americas, which, with the support of a number of institutions, work ceaselessly in favour of the application of ICT to problems of disadvantaged peoples, not only by overcoming obstacles of geography and time but also by educating people.

First of all, the author offers a comparative focus of the social perspective of e-learning between Europe and America. Secondly, she then goes on to comment on the present state of the initiatives being carried out on the American continent in favour of this social perspective. Thirdly, and finally, she sums up the present state of the issue surrounding the subject.