Nalin Abeysekera

Always welcome. I think dissemination of knowledge is one part of a responsibility. As you stated PESTLE(political, economical, social, technological, legal  and environmental factors )affecting on everything. Iceland case I think because of the climate and environmental factors.It is nice to see different factors affecting even the usage of internet too.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Yes I think this is the idea I too try to bring forward,,,, e-Learning is not only computers…we should look at the problem like that….According to the statistics only 4.7% internet users in Africa. But they are doing well with given resources.I think we can easily get the statistics about interent users from http://www.internetworldstats.com

It's very intersting we can even do a small survey too...

I think we have to focus on other elements of e-Learning too. e-Learning is not only computers we can discuss instructional radio, instructional television  plus m-learning .Specially in developing countries we should focus on alternative methods. Because as we discussed there are some barriers on law income, law rate of internet usage etc.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Once we are considering instructional radio I think we have good examples from Africa. Effective Community Radio in Education by Gordon Naidoo discuses the community radio and educational transformation in south Africa (see the attachemtn)..I think we should look for the avenues like this too…..

In Open University system students coming from that background can use PCs at our regional centers without paying. In Universities also they are providing facilities for underprivileged students because of the concept of free education. And now in Sri Lanka there is a trend to focus on poor students ….your contribution towards this is always welcome!!!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

e-Learning and the market in developing countries<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

There are some barriers in developing countries. But on the other hand if some one can convert this into opportunities then there is a good market for e-learning. According to the product life cycle (PLC) theory in sri lanka e-Learning (as a industry) in growth stage……..

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Reasons for that is so many players coming to the market, and following factors,

•         Product pricing is aggressive

•         Gaps in market coverage are filled

•         Promotion expenditures moderate

•         Production efficiencies lower costs

As I mentioned earlier only 14% of the Advanced level students has been absorbed by the university system ever year. More importantly there is a huge demand for local MBAs especially on e-Learning. So in developing countries this is one way to invest and make profit!!!!!!!!