A new report published in January 1996 calls for the formation of a European Learning Agency and Network (ELAN) amongst its many proposals. "Building the European Information Society for Us All" is the first interim report of the High Level Expert Group on the Social and Societal Aspects of the Information Society. It contain a set of first reflections which form the basis for discussions with the European Commission.
The objective of this report is not to add one more document to this already over-subscribed field. Rather, it is to transcend this discussion from the outset, by making a separation between data and information, and by distinguishing between the notion of information and the need for knowledge. It is necessary to separate out the transmission of data from communication between people, and the acquisition of knowledge.
The report considers that most present-day telecommunication systems are still systems of transmission of data but it focuses attention on ways in which information can be converted into useful knowledge, so that the ‘information economy’ may become a ‘knowledge-based economy’ and the technology be put at the disposal of all. The underlying information and communication technologies provide the potential for great increases in productivity and many new and improved products and services. However, the report considers that history shows that the ability to convert this potential into actual gains in productivity and improvements in living standards and quality of life depends on a prolonged process of learning and institutional change.
First and foremost, the report considers that it is essential to view the Information Society as a "learning society". The High Level Group agree that education and training is an important sector, but the sectoral boundaries cut across the formal provision of education and training services. Learning and the development of knowledge should be a lifelong process which takes place at work and in the home, as well as through education and training. Furthermore, putting the central emphasis on the learning society, rather than the Information Society per se, provides a potentially much more positive route forward for the Information Society debate. In particular, the more appropriate emphasis on learning illustrates that, although access to the information super-highway is and will continue to be important, it is insufficient to ensure the rapid development of a knowledge-based economy. The report argues in favour of an approach to access to information which goes beyond conventional ideas about universal service provision (USP).
The report places particular emphasis on reshaping education and training systems so that they can meet the demands of lifelong learning in the Information Society. Three propsals are made. Firstly, new courses, curricula, infrastructures and other resources are needed which recognise the significance of information and communication technologies as both an object of and tool for learning.
Secondly, the High Level Group feel it is necessary to underline the continuing salience of the social role of learning, both as a collective experience and one which takes place via direct human contact with teachers. They consider that, the role of the teacher will be enhanced in the Information Society, as teaching shifts away from the teaching of established texts and routine drills towards helping people to develop the ability to learn and to navigate the new seas of information, such as those being created on the Internet.
The third proposal is the formation of a European Learning Agency and Network (ELAN). The ELAN will not seek to supplant existing efforts to promote the tools and techniques of open and distance learning. Rather, the aim would be to provide a central forum in which approaches and experiences can be shared, especially in areas such as quality assurance, training, and research and development.
Finally, the report notes that, ‘Life-Long Learning’ is a central pillar of the Information Society, yet few seem to know how to make it really happen. To provide a system of education and learning, which lasts from the cradle to grave and which is available to all, is especially difficult in these times of public spending restraints. Yet the report states that this conundrum must be resolved if the Information Society really is to be a Learning Society.
Whilst national policies will, and should continue to, vary and much can be gained from cultural diversity The High Level Group considers that a working group should urgently look into the possibilities for a ELAN to promote leading edge applications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in areas of special interest for all-European education and training. Such a European Agency and Network should be a central forum for the efforts of the EU to foster R&D in the field of new ICT applications by bringing together trainers and teachers from industry as well as from the education sector and from the new media and cultural industries.
Such a European Learning Agency and Network could be a centre for quality assurance, as well as for training, re-training, research, design and development. It could help greatly to structure the market for European designed ICT products and services. Special arrangements for access and cooperation with SMEs would be essential. Such arrangements should cover both the participation of SMEs in design and development work and advisory services on access of SMEs to new training and multi-media software products and services.
Appropriate coordination with the LEONARDO and SOCRATES programmes as well as MEDIA 1 and INFO 2000 would be needed in the design of any future ELAN. Whilst many of its activities would involve coordination of existing networks and cooperation with them, the proposed ELAN should act as a strong focus for far more ambitious efforts for the EU in all these areas.
Members can find further information on the LearnTel WWW site under Euro Watch.