Hello Jumani,
Yes it will take time(introducing ICT and expecting fully online environment ) once we are considering about developing countries…then the responsibility of intellectuals will come in to play. Human element is very important in this sense..resources should manage well with proper planning….to curtail the time period (distance to fully e-learning environment)I think the role of intellectuals (professors like you) is very important. This is a much needed demand in this decade…development of the country depends on the development of ICT as well as development of research on theses sectors….academics, intellectuals together with entrepreneur should join hand with government(partnerships) for this journey.You can a find a copy of the paper here. (Yonkers, V. (2008) Creating the Knowledge Economy: A model of technology, economic development, education, and research & development policies. American Educational Research Association Conference: International Education SIG. Presented March 26, New York City, NY. ) I am wondering if any of you know of any comparative studies on e-learning which includes Canada (apart from the OECD, TIMMS, or PICA studies).
Thanks..as you suggested comparative study will bring better results.I think researchers can use quantitative as well as qualitative data.(some time I wonders some qualitative researches come up with very good conclusions)..Triangulation of research should be the way.e-learning and research of e-learning should be number one in ICT and e-learning policy in the country. Percentage wise if you invest 100 Canadian $ for e-learning at least 10% should spend on research and development(like you invest 10% from your Gross National Income(GNP) for R&D).If you can benchmark some country then it is easy for you to have a comparative analysis.(in the future other countries will benchmark Canada!!).And more importantly I think there is a role of “promotion” which can play a good role in E-learning .In promotion we can use the AIDA model.
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
To make you potential customers (in e-learning we can say people who do not aware about the subject) you can create their awareness by using promotions(advertising, sales promotion, personal selling etc,etc)…then for interest, desire and action different promotional campaigns can be used. This is very important in every industry. Especially if you want to have a proper plan (or business plan) you need this.