Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also thank our guests for attending. I am the product of a distance learning programme but, unfortunately, we did not have access to ICT when I was pursuing my studies. I engaged with WebCT in 1998 and moved on to Moodle in more recent years.

There are two issues in which I am interested. Reference was made to blended learning. I am of the view that e-learning and online learning are no substitutes for blended learning. In the context of the postgraduate versus undergraduate debate, it has been my experience - from attending various conferences - that the e-learning model fits very well into the postgraduate scenario. With regard to undergraduates, I refer to a study undertaken at a certain institute of technology - its location is of no real importance - whereby a lecturer embraced online learning to the ultimate. Whether it was video, audio or PowerPoint, you name it and he had it on his system. He ran two trials. The first was the placebo, so to speak, whereby the students involved had no access to the online learning programme and the second involved students having full access. The trials ran over two years and the lecturer noticed that the curves relating to both groups were exactly the same. He called in those from the group exposed to e-learning who had performed very badly and asked them to explain how this had happened in light of the level of resources available to them. Their reply was that they knew the information was available online and, therefore, they did not see the need to attend lectures. They then put off engaging with the programme. This fits with the scenario relating to attrition rates, a matter which is of some concern to me.

How do our guests measure and assure quality? I am also interested in how they deal with the issue of intellectual property rights in the context of their ICT developers. I am not sure how the august institutions represented here deal with such developers but it has generally been my experience that e-learning and other forms of ICT-based learning have come into being as a result of the goodwill and good work of the academic staff involved. These types of learning have developed organically and, as a result, no clear plan has been put in place. We are now in a position whereby lecturers are devoting significant time to developing online content. How are the institutions funding this? Do they have teams in place to develop and maintain the relevant software? I agree with what has already been stated in respect of CPD.

I understand that there has been something of a cooling off in the US with regard to MOOCs. Professor Brown indicated that online learning is not a panacea, that we are undergoing an evolution in the context of teaching and learning and that when we emerge from this process, ICT will be just another aspect of the overall picture.

I become disturbed when people refer to the markets in the context of discussions relating to education. Are we looking at the development of online content and the delivery of overseas programmes as a sort of "try-it-and-see" approach to attracting funding from abroad? It is clear that the London School of Economics and the Open University have tremendous track records in delivering programmes across the globe and I am sure they have made quite a lot of money from doing so. I do not intend this as a criticism and third level institutions should, by all means, be in a position to make money. Does that which we are discussing represent an opportunity for Ireland? I am not being critical, I just want to establish whether such an opportunity exists.