"Education is recognised by OECD member states as a fundamental key to wealth creation and competitiveness in the current global information economy".
A Borderless World OECD 1998
This Action Plan is a focus for change in the education and training sector. It establishes a framework within which all stakeholders can:
- develop strategies and implement key initiatives to ensure that all citizens possess broad literacy, numeracy and technological literacy skills for life, work, and lifelong learning and that there are adequate numbers of people with the specialist skills needed by the ICT industries and other Australian industries to service the needs of the economy;
- improve their understanding of the social, cultural and economic impact of the information economy on education, training, research and development; and
- reconsider the ways that they do business to achieve and maintain their national and international competitiveness.
The Plan identifies outcomes that the education and training industry must achieve if it is to play its enabling role in supporting Australia's transition to the information economy and maintain its place as one of Australia's major export earning industries.
It also articulates the education and training industry component of the overall Government Strategic Framework for the Information Economy (December 1998). The Plan has been developed in consultation with all parts of the education and training sector, through the ERC. The ERC is an Advisory Committee of MCEETYA and is recognised by both MCEETYA and the MCIE as the national forum for policy advice on issues relating to the educational use of ICT. Membership of the ERC includes representatives of each State/Territory school and VET systems, non-government schools, higher education, and the Commonwealth.
Critical Success Factors
This Plan details the wide range of actions that are needed to ensure that education and training can discharge effectively the pivotal role it is playing in supporting Australia's transition to the information economy. Among these actions, a number stand out as being of especially high priority:
- providing professional development for teachers, trainers, researchers and all workers in the education and training industry to assist the whole population in the changes required;
- enabling access to advanced information technology and telecommunications infrastructure including high bandwidth at an affordable price and reliable sustainable infrastructure support services within education, training and research institutions and libraries;
- promoting cooperation throughout the education and training sector and between governments and industry in the development, promotion and delivery of online content, applications and services;
- developing a comprehensive government policy framework for education and training that supports the information economy and the knowledge society; and
- encouraging regulatory frameworks that support Australian education and training in a national and international context.
The role of the Education and Training Industry
Education and training is a key industry in the information economy, as a producer, consumer and export earner. The education and training industry produces skilled people, creates knowledge, provides access for the community to the lifelong benefits of online learning and is an enabling force for other industries.
Each part of the education and training sector has a role to play in developing the people who will power the information economy.
School education provides the foundation knowledge, skills, attitudes and values upon which our children and our future society depends. Schools establish a pathway to lifelong learning for all Australians. Integrating ICT into school educational practice prepares all young people to participate in and contribute to an information society that requires high levels of literacy, numeracy, technological competence and a spirit of creativity and enterprise.
Vocational education and training equips Australians for work and enhances workers. flexibility and adaptability in the labour market. Vocational education and training encourages workers and enterprises to increase their investment in training. Through its connections with industry, vocational education and training works within the context of global industry competition, international industry standards and new developments in industry which arise from those competitive pressures.
Adult and community education has the potential to reach out to all citizens in delivering work related and personal enrichment education and training. Adult and community education is provided through networks of community focal points such as the local schools and libraries and many other adult education colleges, centres and neighbourhood houses. These access points will become increasingly important to education and training, particularly as the necessity for lifelong learning increases.
Universities also operate in an internationally competitive environment. They supply the professionals and experts required for many highly skilled occupations, leadership and management. Universities make a major contribution to Australia's research and development effort. Higher education is the second largest research and development performer after the business sector. Many of the innovations that have created the information economy have originated in higher education institutions.
A Coherent National Vision
The information economy is already transforming the way we live, work, and think about a wide range of activities and possibilities. The information economy is global, breaking down national, state and territory boundaries in education, training, recreation, and work. It is challenging the ways we have done things in the past and offers opportunities to create better ways of doing things. We must maintain the momentum to retain our place in the world. As a well educated and technologically advanced nation, Australia is well placed to take advantage of the benefits of the information economy. We will be able to convert this potential into reality if we have a coherent national vision for the role which the education and training sector will play and if we make an appropriate national investment in the education and training industry to enable us to realise that vision.
Understanding the impact of the information economy on our society, culture and the economy will require a re-think of how we do business and the development of new approaches to learning. Creating effective systems for applying new technologies in education, training, learning and research to enable the education and training industry to operate effectively is a complex change management process. The process needs to be understood and managed in a holistic manner. The enabling role of education and training is critical to both the public and private sectors. Support for change, and investment in it, needs to be widespread and provided over the longer term to achieve sustainable and effective outcomes.
Governments need to play a catalytic role in ensuring that the education and training sector makes the best use of information technology for learning, teaching and research. They make a heavy investment of public funds in the development and maintenance of the sector. Their policies in areas such as telecommunications have a profound impact on the sector's ability to take advantage of ICT. They set the regulatory frameworks for the information economy and have a key responsibility for ensuring that these frameworks enable Australia to be internationally competitive as well as supporting equity of access and equal opportunity for all citizens to participate effectively.
Governments need to work with each other, with the education and training sector and with industry to promote collaboration and encourage new links to maximise the value of the new investments required and to exercise a leadership role in the information economy. Effective partnership with the private sector can provide access to a wider pool of expertise and technology, open up new market opportunities and create a climate more conducive to innovation in the application of technologies to education and training.
The Action Plan seeks to provide a common agenda on which all stakeholders' governments, education and training providers and the private sector - can work jointly to achieve common national goals.
Key Action Areas
The Plan sets out five interrelated Action Areas under which intended outcomes and key strategic priorities are identified to enable the education and training industry to become a full partner in the industrial and commercial development of the information economy. Each Action Area is equally important and only by addressing each of them in an integrated way will the purpose of the Plan be achieved. A brief description of each Action Area follows.
People
- Education and training must supply the skills necessary to drive the information economy. To do this, the education and training sector needs leaders and workers with the vision and skills to develop new approaches to learning and to implement change. Professional development for teachers, trainers, content developers, researchers and all other workers in education and training is essential to allow them to be change agents to achieve the goals of the information economy.
Infrastructure
- All parts of the education and training industry need access to advanced telecommunications and information technology infrastructure including high bandwidth at an affordable price. Reliable, sustainable and mutually compatible infrastructure support systems within and between education, training and research providers need to be established. Infrastructure provision and the conditions to allow research and development links between education and training providers and industry are also important. All of these are critical to enable the education and training industry to conduct its business efficiently and effectively.
Online Content, Applications and Services
- The education and training sector needs to invest in developing new approaches to learning, and content, applications and services which enhance the learning experience in Australia and develops leadership internationally. How online content, applications and services are delivered is a key element in the value chain for Australia's education, training and research industries. Australia is a small market and development costs are high. Education and training must cooperate with the private sector to promote an active and productive content and services delivery market.
Policy and Organisational Framework
- A comprehensive policy framework is required for education and training, including research and development, that will support the information economy and a knowledge society. Policies at all levels (national, system and organisational level) must articulate a vision for the future, provide for a level of investment to effect change and promote equity and access and to enable Australia's education and training industry to become internationally competitive. Education and training organisations must improve their planning and change management strategies to ensure the agreed outcomes are achieved.
Regulatory Framework
- Telecommunications, intellectual property management, online content, e-commerce, and a range of other regulatory and technical frameworks need to be in place so that the education and training industry can operate efficiently and effectively and become internationally competitive. The regulatory and technical frameworks will need to reflect international developments and be mindful of support mechanisms in these areas which have been applied overseas. The regulatory framework should support and not impede the needs of Australia's education and training industry. In a knowledge based society, intellectual property is currency. Effective copyright legislation is an integral element of this.
Action Area 1: People
Key outcomes for education and training
1.1 All citizens are able to use technology confidently and creatively to enhance their ability to communicate, create, organise, manipulate and apply knowledge. Managers, decision-makers and leaders throughout the community comprehend the significance of ICT for the activities for which they are responsible and have the capacity to lead and manage organisational change.
1.2 There are adequate numbers of people with the specialist ICT skills, knowledge and research capability to meet the needs of the ICT industries, other industries and the community more generally.
1.3 The education and training industry workforce is able to take full advantage of ICT:
- Its teachers, researchers, trainers and support workers are able to effectively integrate the new technologies into their activities.
- Its managers and decision-makers, at all levels, can lead and manage the individual and organisational changes that will be required to take full advantage of ICT.
- Its providers have access to the skills needed to effectively plan for the development and maintenance of their IT infrastructure.
In an era of intensifying global competition and accelerating economic, social and cultural change, significant changes to the education and training sector's traditional practices will be required - in teaching and learning, in research, in the provision of support services and in administration - in order to fully tap the potential of ICT. Without those changes, and the visionary leadership required to guide their implementation, the provision of expensive hardware and technical support will be wasted and Australia's capacity to compete in the information economy will be fundamentally compromised.
Change leadership is more than new skills - it is about being entrepreneurial in manipulating, connecting and generating knowledge, about being expert in how knowledge is created.
Citizens' ability to use technology confidently and creatively, and leaders' ability to envision and manage change
Technology-related skills will be useful only to the extent that they build on a broad educational foundation and improve the ways in which people are able to learn and work.
Keeping abreast of technological change and developing the skills needed to make effective use of new technologies is one critical element of lifelong learning. All Australians need to be able to access the means of acquiring skills to participate fully in the information economy. The goal must be to make access to opportunities for ICT skills development universal, so as to avoid accentuating the divide between 'knowledge haves' and 'knowledge have nots'.
Over the longer term, the school system is the most appropriate vehicle for providing citizens with broad ICT-related skills, awareness and competencies which they can build on in later life. State/Territory governments are working to build schools. ability to serve in that capacity. Complementary action is underway at the national level. ICT-related skills and awareness now feature in agreed national goals for schooling1. The MCEETYA National Education Performance Monitoring Taskforce (NEPMT) is investigating the use of performance measures for student achievement relating to new technologies, and a survey on school students. IT skills has been conducted to assess and report on the extent to which students are developing skills in information processing and computing2.
The most effective way of raising students' ICT awareness and skills will be to ensure that ICT pervades schools' curriculum practice in the same way that it is permeating other areas of community life.
Consideration will need to be given to developing ICT literacy for the existing post-school age population and those who 'slip through the cracks' of the school system.
The needs of the existing post school-age population should be met by encouraging individuals and their employers (or education and training providers, in the case of students in post-school education) to provide the skills they need to work in the information economy. This requires close cooperation between the formal education and training system and business. Governments can encourage individuals to upgrade their skills through awareness raising activities and, especially, by demonstrating the power and potential of ICT through their own program delivery.
Some groups which are currently disadvantaged may be at risk of becoming further disadvantaged if their ICT skills fall short of community norms. These groups include indigenous Australians, the disabled, the unemployed, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, those who are not in the paid workforce, and people who live in regional areas or at the edge of cities.
While the need for change will apply to everyone, the role of managers, decision-makers and leaders will be crucial. They will spearhead the processes of identifying the changes that are needed in their local contexts, engaging their respective communities in the change process and carrying through the adjustments that are needed. They will need to be more than simply competent computer users. They will need a real understanding of what ICT can offer for their areas of responsibility together with an appreciation of the necessity for taking advantage of ICT in order to survive and prosper in an increasingly competitive global environment.
The need for specialist ICT skills
The ICT industries are significant providers of high value added employment and export income for Australia. ICT specialists are also employed in large numbers in other industries. Each part of the education and training sector has its own role to play in meeting the need for ICT specialists.
Demand for ICT skills will continue to rise as Australian business and industry increase their participation in the information economy and as more and more services go online. The ICT industry is concerned that the supply of skilled persons may not be able to meet emerging needs. Shortages of ICT specialists are currently an issue in Australia and globally. Industry accepts that there are limits on the extent to which it can expect the public education and training sector to carry responsibility for developing solutions. Educators and trainers need to work alongside industry to ensure that sufficient numbers of competent ICT specialists are being produced.
Industry and government are working together to meet ICT skills needs. Industry has formed an Information Technology and Telecommunications (IT&T) Industries Task Force as a means of focussing attention on this issue and identifying how best to respond to it. In February 2000, Senator Richard Alston, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and Dr David Kemp, Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, announced Commonwealth Government funding of up to $5 million to help establish an Information Technology and Telecommunications Skills Institute, to assist in better meeting industry skill needs. The Government has asked industry to provide matching funding. It is envisaged that the Institute will commence operations in the second half of 2000.3 VET providers and universities work closely with industry, especially in areas of professional development and research. In regional areas, education and training providers contribute to regional development. In the information economy, there is an increasing need to develop these links further.
The ability of the education and training workforce to effectively apply ICT
Success in the online environment demands new and different skills and attitudes. Like other community sectors, the education and training sector faces a massive challenge in preparing its workforce for the changes that lie ahead and which are already beginning to take place.
For example:
- The relationship between teaching and learning is changing. ICT is allowing learners to manage, share and create knowledge, using the tools of the information society. Developing high quality online learning materials requires teachers to share the developmental task with professionals from a range of non-teaching disciplines and perhaps also with learners.
- Research is changing. ICT is enabling enhanced communication among researchers, and between researchers and the wider community, vastly enhancing researchers' access to information, providing powerful tools for addressing research problems, enabling wider and faster publication of research results and enabling remote access to, and hence sharing of, research infrastructure by multiple, geographically disparate research communities.
These changes are taking place in an environment in which competition between providers is increasing - within and between each part of the Australian education and training sector, and with international providers. This means that taking action to use ICT effectively is a necessity, not an option.
Progress in developing the requisite new skills is taking place, but not at the pace or depth required to support a major shift in practice. The key challenge is to diffuse knowledge and understanding from 'early adopters' to the workforce as a whole.
The ability to respond quickly to changing conditions is a critical source of competitive advantage in the information economy. To a significant extent, the education and training sector's ability to adjust quickly to the demands of the information economy will set the pace of adjustment for the community as a whole. It is therefore important that the sector meets the challenges both quickly and well.
Key Strategic Priorities
The outstanding priorities are generic and specific skills enhancement, professional development, and addressing potential student disadvantage.
The industries of the future are knowledge based industries and teachers, trainers and researchers are a key part of these developments. Effective change requires effective change agents. Teachers, trainers, researchers and all workers in the education and training industry need to have the skills to both lead and participate in change.
The education and training sector will:
- Promote the development of generic and IT industry specific skills through encouraging:
- the integration of ICT skills in all courses in all parts of the education and training sector;
- improved career advice for students; and
- expanded education and training / industry partnerships.
- Review and monitor the ICT skills base of the existing workforce in the education and training sector.
- Support a range of professional development strategies and models that enable a critical mass of staff in schools, VET and higher education to be skilled in the pedagogical, technical and managerial aspects of applying new technologies to learning.
- Stimulate and disseminate research into effective professional development using ICT and into the relationship between the use of new technologies and improvements in learning outcomes.
- Investigate approaches to address the needs of students who do not have access to technology-rich environments at home, through programs targeted at students experiencing educational disadvantage.
Action Area 2: Infrastructure
Key outcomes for education and training
2.1 All education and training providers have affordable access to an advanced ICT infrastructure including high quality end user equipment and high capacity networking within and between provider institutions, to:
- support effective models of teaching and learning;
- enable Australia to maintain world class research and research training; and
- foster competition within the education and training industry and open up opportunities for the industry both within Australia and overseas.
Whether on- or off-campus, all participants in the education and training sector need access to high quality, reliable, sustainable and affordable ICT infrastructure that is capable of supporting the most up-to-date tools available for learning and knowledge creation. This includes: the equipment that end users need to access and use online services; the systems and networks that link users within their own organisations; and the wider links that provide connections to people and online services around the world. Universality of access to infrastructure will be important to avoid accentuating the divide between 'knowledge haves' and 'knowledge have nots'. Citizens will require access to ICT to support lifelong learning.
Strategies to ensure that this outcome is achieved need to address the following questions:
- What infrastructure does the education and training sector require, now and in the future, to play its part in the development of the information economy?
- Does the education and training sector have the infrastructure it needs? Does limited access reflect a lack of installed capacity, pricing or regulatory constraints, or other impediments?
- What will it cost to develop and maintain a world-standard ICT infrastructure for education and training, who will pay and how?
What infrastructure does the sector require?
In August 1999, DETYA commissioned a consultant's report4 on the education and training sector's bandwidth requirements to provide input to the National Bandwidth Inquiry. The report makes it clear that the sector's bandwidth requirements are high and growing.
- For higher education, the growth could range from 50% to 130% per annum over 1999. 2004. Growth is estimated at 50% in 1999. The rate of growth will be determined to a significant extent by pricing regimes.
- For VET providers and schools it is estimated that each provider with more than 200 students will require at least 128 Kbps in 2000, 256 Kbps in 2001 and 2 Mbps by 2004.
Education and training is one of the largest users of bandwidth in Australia. In the coming years, new applications such as virtual classrooms combining video conferencing with electronic whiteboard and documents will place heavy demands on bandwidth. The sector's bandwidth requirements may be exceeded only by the requirements of the TV and movie industries.
How adequate is the sector's infrastructure?
Advice provided by the education and training sector, and confirmed in the consultant's bandwidth report, entitled Bandwidth Requirements of the Education and Training Sector, indicates that limits on access to ICT infrastructure is a key impediment to the education and training sector's participation in the information economy.
- While higher education and VET providers generally have access to adequate computing resources and communications facilities to carry out individual study and research and an increasing (but still limited) amount of online programme delivery they lack the universal facilities necessary for teaching complex applications, developing and using new technology (such as video classrooms) for teaching and research purposes, especially in multi-campus institutions, and for research projects which require high levels of dedicated bandwidth. The consultant's bandwidth report found that current Technical and Further Education (TAFE) and VET networks are not adequate, particularly outside the major cities. While most universities are well advanced in using internet technology through the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet), there are 5 regional universities which have no broadband access. Universities have argued for an increase in Australia's supercomputing facilities and associated research programs so that Australia can capitalise on the benefits of being linked to cutting edge international research and is able to support leading edge industry development in Australia. High bandwidth is crucial to getting the best value from any supercomputing investment.
- All State/Territory systems and the non-government schools have programs in place to connect schools to the Internet. However, the situation varies across jurisdictions. Many schools lack adequate computer resources for the individual use of students. While an increasing number of Australian schools have internet connections that enable multiple classroom use, the majority still have only single line dial up access and some, particularly in remote areas, have none at all. In many schools that are increasing their online activities, 64kbps connections are proving inadequate, especially for the larger schools. Non government schools are facing the same challenges as public schools.
- The community based Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers are also unable to meet growing ICT needs. All community providers would benefit from shared access to technology which is available in public institutions such as schools, libraries and TAFEs.
Student access off-campus will become increasingly important as more and more education and training is delivered online. Data on students. off-campus access to personal computers (PCs) and associated equipment is not available at present.
Disparities in access and cost between urban and rural and regional areas present key equity issues as well as issues for regional and industry development. The lack of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) within local call areas of rural and remote parts of Australia make internet access exceedingly costly in comparison to regions with local access to ISPs. This affects a considerable proportion of businesses as well as the education and training community. Cost issues were identified in the consultant's bandwidth report as needing further attention.
Why are there shortfalls in infrastructure availability?
For the most part, shortfalls in infrastructure do not appear to reflect limitation in installed telecommunications capacity, and existing limitations are in the process of being overcome. There appear to be few technical limitations to installed telecommunications capacity for the national optical fibre trunk networks. Under the Commonwealth Government Universal Service Obligation (USO), a 64 kbps Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) service is available on demand to 96% of Australians. For the remaining 4%, the USO requires availability of an on-demand Internet-based asymmetric satellite service that delivers a satellite downlink comparable to 64 kbit/s (plus reimbursement of 50% of the price of purchasing the necessary satellite receiving equipment). A number of carriers have firm commercial plans to launch such services in the near future.
However, the education and training sector considers that pricing and regulatory issues are limiting significantly its capacity to take up online services. If the education and training sector's uptake of online services is constrained, then so also will be Australia's rate of transition to the information economy because of the pivotal role that education and training will play in that transition.
In terms of pricing, the existing policies of the telecommunications carriers will make it very expensive for the education and training sector to meet the expected growth in demand for bandwidth. In some instances, current policies are forcing universities to develop their own wide area networks or install microwave links - activities that do not fall within the ambit of their core business - because, to do so, is currently more cost effective than using carrier telecommunications infrastructure.
In terms of regulatory issues, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) advises that the treatment of its online service provider, AARNet, under the Telecommunications Act 1997 makes it very difficult for AARNet to deliver services to TAFE, schools and other government and non-government (not-for-profit) organisations, even where this would reduce overall demand for funding on State and Commonwealth Governments. This is producing unintended outcomes in a range of areas, for example in multi-sector institutions. The arrangements also make interaction with business and industry through shared infrastructure costly and difficult. AVCC Members are only allowed to use AARNet for or in connection with research, educational or administrative functions of AVCC Members. Prior to revision of the Telecommunications Act 1997, AARNet provided access for some TAFE colleges and schools in a number of areas where there was no alternative network infrastructure.5
What will infrastructure cost, who should pay and how?
Responsibility for developing, maintaining and financing ICT infrastructure is shared between:
- individual students (who are generally left to their own devices for off-campus access to PC equipment, modems and other peripheral equipment);
- providers (which generally take responsibility for developing and maintaining internal ICT networks and providing on-site student access to PCs);
- State, Territory and local Governments (and AARNet in the case of higher education institutions), which, to varying extents, provide interconnections between providers and/or within particular regions; and
- telecommunications providers, ISPs, and to a lesser extent broadcasters, whose policies (made within the constraints of a regulatory framework) largely determine the price and availability of wide-area and international connectivity.
Large infrastructure investments are being made by all of these players. Not surprisingly, the question of how these investments should be paid for is difficult to resolve. For example:
- Who should pay for off-site student access to PCs and associated equipment? Should publicly funded providers have the right to require students to own such equipment and if so who should pay for it? How would the equity implications of a policy to require individuals to own their own PCs and associated equipment be managed?
- Who should pay for the bandwidth that education and training providers will need to support their online activities? Should costs be shared with other telecommunications users, for example through an extension of USOs and price concessions for educational users? Alternatively, should the supply and pricing of ICT infrastructure be left entirely to the market? If costs are to be met by the education and training sector, how should they be shared between Government funding agencies (Commonwealth and State/Territory), individual providers through the use of their existing government grants and other revenue sources, or individual students through access charges?
- The education and training sector considers that some form of government intervention (either through preferential tariffing policies for education and training or through direct subsidies) is needed in view of the sector's pivotal role in the development of the information economy.
Some funding vehicles may be more effective than others in supporting the development of ICT infrastructure investments, their subsequent maintenance and their integration within the overall fabric of infrastructure provision at the provider and systemic levels. Infrastructure investments often require significant levels of funding. To the extent that responsibility for allocative decisions is devolved to local agencies or individual providers, the onus is on them to make provision for such investments through the prudent use of government or other funding sources. Central agencies need to ensure that funding incentives promote investments that are appropriate and cost-effective. In this context, a particular question is whether it is desirable for 'central' funding authorities (at government and/or provider levels) to retain some earmarked funding to support strategic investments, or whether all funding should be devolved to 'end user' areas.
The multiplicity of players in the bandwidth arena raises coordination issues, as does the need to reconcile a range of different policy objectives (relating, for example, to telecommunications, competition policy, industry and regional development and social equity). Governments face a considerable challenge in ensuring that their policies and programmes in these different arenas all 'face in the same direction', to address the education and training sector's needs in a cohesive way while also recognising wider policy considerations.
Key Strategic Priorities
The outstanding priority for action in this area is bandwidth at an affordable price to carry out learning, teaching and research. This has been identified as critical by every part of the education and training industry.
While some work has already been done on this area, we need a greater understanding of the likely future bandwidth requirements of the sector - from the needs of schools to the highest levels of research and development.
The education and training sector will:
- Monitor the supply of, and demand for, bandwidth across the education and training sector, including cost factors and international comparisons.
- Examine funding and legislative options for ensuring that education and training providers have access to bandwidth at prices comparable to Australia's international competitors.
- Maintain up to date information across the education and training sector that enables optimal decisions on infrastructure.
- Investigate establishing minimum requirements for bandwidth and establishing education and training industry standards for equipment configuration and numbers at the provider level.
- Investigate methods of funding, financing and maintenance including the establishment of strategic partnerships between education and training and the ICT industries and service providers to develop innovative new models for providing infrastructure and bandwidth to educational institutions and workplaces.
Action Area 3: Online Content, Applications and Services
Key outcomes for education and training
3.1 Australia's education and training sector has an advanced capacity to apply online resources, applications and services ('online services') in ways which support:
- new paradigms of teaching, learning and research;
- continuous innovation and improvement in curricula; and
- better and more efficient support services and administration.
3.2 Australia has an advanced capacity to produce a significant body of online education and training services that are capable of meeting its own requirements, of expressing Australia's unique cultural identity and of earning export revenues.
The ICT revolution offers enormous opportunities for the education and training sector. This potential will only be realised if ICT is used to deliver online services in ways that allow the sector to work better, more accessibly and more cost-effectively.
Online services may embrace:
- Applications and resources to support teaching and learning including course materials designed for online delivery, learning resources for students, support materials for teachers, services that enhance the accessibility of online material by aggregating and indexing it (such as EdNA Online)6;
- Applications and resources to support research activity;
- Student support services such as online career guidance information;
- Applications and services to support the efficient and effective business operations of education and training in an online environment, such as assessment and reporting systems, institutional administration and course management and delivery systems.
Online services are providing the foundation for a transformation in teaching and learning and all other aspects of the business of education and training. In many cases they will be saleable internationally, opening up major opportunities for Australia to earn export revenues.
Education, training and research are becoming increasingly competitive on a global scale, and increasingly significant as enablers of the success of Australia's other industry and community sectors. The education and training industry is keen to take up the opportunities that are on offer in developing online content, applications and services. The education and training industry considers that Australia should capitalise on its key education and training areas of national advantage to promote our cultural identity both within Australia and internationally.
The education and training sector is moving to take advantage of ICT on a range of fronts, but progress overall is patchy and far more needs to be done. What is needed is an environment in which the sector is encouraged to take up and effectively apply ICT as rapidly and comprehensively as possible.
Success in this area will depend to a significant extent on matters dealt with elsewhere in this Plan. A physical infrastructure capable of supporting online services needs to be developed and sustained. Education and training workers and their managers need to comprehend the potential of ICT and be empowered to make use of it. The broader policy and regulatory environments need to be conducive to the production and uptake of ICT, particularly in relation to the protection and trading of intellectual property.
Further requirements need to be met if Australia is to effectively apply and produce online services:
- Understanding the market - A better understanding needs to be developed of the market segmentation in the education and training market and in making decisions about what needs to be created and what could be customised. The scope of online services is quite different to many existing education content and services. A better understanding of the key areas of value added elements in this new market will be essential.
- Collaboration - Online services are frequently expensive to acquire, produce and maintain. Acquisition, production, maintenance and usage need to take place on a large scale to spread fixed costs across large user populations. One way to keep unit costs down is for providers to collaborate in acquiring7 and in producing online services.
- Standards - The interoperability of online services emanating from different sources, both locally and internationally, should be maximised.
- Quality Assurance - Mechanisms need to be investigated which facilitate consistency of learning outcomes when education and training is delivered beyond the institution or extends beyond a single part of the education and training sector.
- Creativity and innovation - ICT opens up a myriad of new possibilities. We need to encourage a diverse range of creative approaches.
- Domestic diffusion - Online services produced in Australia should be widely accessible within Australia.
- International saleability - We need to develop a strong international clientele for Australian produced online services in order to enhance the affordability of those services within Australia. We will be protecting our cultural identity locally while projecting it abroad, generating significant export revenues.
Key Strategic Priorities
The key priority for the education and training sector will be to develop greater collaboration across the whole of the education and training industry and with other industries in acquiring, creating, marketing and financing online content, applications and services.
The education and training sector will:
- Promote the development of an Australian online education and training content market through publicly funded projects, national collaborative efforts and other strategic interventions.
- Support a quality assurance framework for Australian online education and training content, including:
- development of technical standards and information management standards to allow widespread and easy access to the products, applications and services; and
- intellectual property rights management.
- Promote EdNA Online as a public domain gateway to Australian education and training resources and services.
- Investigate the development of an industry strategy to work out how best to capitalise on the potential for developing Australia's capabilities both for local application, including the public interest, and for export.
- Stimulate and disseminate research on the opportunities provided by online services for innovative content development and its relationship with pedagogy.
Action Area 4: Policy and Organisational Framework
Key outcome for education and training
4.1 Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments put in place an agreed policy statement which recognises the key enabling role played by education and training in supporting Australia's transition to the information economy.
There is a need for a national vision in education and training to provide a framework for governments, education and training systems and institutions and stakeholders to pursue future activities. All governments, education and training stakeholders and the broader community need to understand the key role of education and training in the information economy and to recognise the potential gains of proactive policy and organisational responses.
The Government's Strategic Framework for the Information Economy provides a whole of government policy framework for the information economy and includes the role of education and training. There is wide agreement that new technologies have the potential to transform education and training. We now need to move towards a national consensus about what transformations are required and how they might be achieved. Similarly, all parts of the education and training sector recognise the importance of ICT in education and training. We now need to move towards a nationally agreed policy statement to provide the vision and direction for education and training in taking forward this Action Plan.
This Action Area proposes a set of key principles to underpin a high level joint Commonwealth State/Territory government statement to address Australia's future in the information age and the important role of the education and training sector in that future. These are:
1. Education and training is a key engine of the information economy
- Awareness raising - When making policies, enacting legislation and planning at government and organisational level, key decision makers in government, industry, the education and training sector and the community need to understand the key role that the education and training sector plays both as an industry in its own right; and as an enabling system within the information economy.
2. Education and training is a key participant and leader in the information economy
- Education and training is a strong participant in the information economy and should be positioned to provide leadership. Policies and activities should be made with this principle in mind.
3. Innovation should be encouraged and stimulated
- Governments, education and training and industry need to work collaboratively to create an environment which removes barriers and creates incentives for innovation in learning and research, to enable the education and training industry to compete globally.
4. Equity, market orientation and competition policy need to be balanced
- All citizens need the skills and access to infrastructure to participate effectively in the information economy. The education and training sector can be a key way of realising the equity and public interest objective at the institutional, regional and individual learner level. The public interest can be represented through a range of policies promoting equity but functioning within the framework of competitive markets.
- Policy makers use strategic intervention in periods of rapid social and economic transition to ensure the education and training industry is able to effectively perform its central role. Such intervention should ensure that leading edge developments or identification of gaps in market coverage are not missed through lack of resourcing.
5. Collaboration and strategic alliances need to be encouraged
- In the information economy, the creation of new knowledge and its speedy application to the design and delivery of new products and services is at a premium. Informal and formal links between independent suppliers, customers and competitors can provide a knowledge-generating network in which shared problems can be solved through collaboration, even within an intensely competitive environment.
- Creative collaboration involves multiple linkages at all levels involving the whole community, including:
- developing collaborative national frameworks for cooperation at policy and planning levels including agreed national policy statements, quality planning frameworks, technology planning and implementation frameworks for the education and training sector to participate effectively in the information economy. The ERC is an excellent example of this.
- balancing competition (eg between State and Territory Governments or between institutions) and cooperation and partnership within the education and training industry which can help to develop flexible, open markets and accessible trade routes, promote innovation and improve productivity.
- recognising the scope for the extension of collaboration at community level (eg libraries, rural transaction centres) to assist both in an equity and industry development focus.
- developing viable strategic alliances with industry to achieve a leadership role in the global information economy and to gain the financing required.
6. Governments have a role in investing for the future
- Governments have a key role in investing for the future either by providing funding and/or in developing other mechanisms to promote leading edge initiatives or in filling gaps where there is lack of market interest. Governments also have a public interest role. Governments are the principal source of policy direction for education and training in Australia and the major providers of education and training. Education and training funding policies need to be developed which take into account the major long-term up-front and ongoing investment required to ensure that the education and training industry can play its part alongside other industry sectors in the information economy.
- Funding policies are needed which take into account the changing nature of the learning enterprise, (stimulated by constantly changing technologies and new opportunities for flexible delivery) and which recognise the importance of recurrent investment in ICT infrastructure and professional development.
- Funding these initiatives is expensive. It will require all governments and the education and training industry to examine all options including the extent to which current funding mechanisms are conducive to the requirements of the information economy. The education and training sector will need to consider minimising duplication of effort where national cooperation could yield better and more cost effective results. Similarly all governments need to identify the extent to which current resource allocation policies and administrative arrangements within each part of the education and training sector inadvertently impede collaboration.
- All governments and the education and training industry will need to move from a funding policy paradigm which is government dependent to a financing paradigm which seeks various options for financing the longer term investments required.
7. There needs to be effective strategic planning at organisational level
- At the organisation and enterprise level, education and training providers and research bodies need to incorporate the necessary frameworks for managing organisational change and continuous improvement approaches into their strategic planning. The new frameworks must enable them to function effectively in the information economy and to implement ICT strategies at local level using effective and efficient online business practices. Information and communications technology issues need to be an integral part of their policy development and planning processes.
- Planning at the local level needs to address equity considerations including a recognition that access and equity policies and new learning technology policies should be mutually reinforcing.
8. Research and Development and evaluation are required
- Undertaking quality research will be a key to effective policy development, analysis and implementation.
- Comprehensive information about the use of ICT in education and training, including international benchmarking, is needed to ensure that Australia is competitive with regard to the use of ICT in education and training. This information will provide the base to guide current and future investment policies.
Developing viable benchmarking methods, stocktakes and evaluation criteria at systemic, local and organisational level will be important in increasing understanding of the education and training needs for the information economy and the effectiveness of initiatives. Developing performance indicators which are meaningful and accessible for the whole of the sector will be particularly challenging but would enable the sector to decide how best to introduce and support change. The education and training sector could consider developing a performance information framework capable of providing information to guide the continuous improvement of policy and management of the use of online technologies in teaching and learning.
Key Strategic Priorities
The education and training industry needs a shared national vision and underpinning principles as a framework for future actions.
The education and training sector will:
- Develop a cross sectoral policy statement for endorsement by MCEETYA.
- Continue to support the ERC as the key national body on information economy issues in the education and training sector.
Action Area 5: Regulatory Framework
Key outcome for education and training
5.1 The education and training industry is an active player in influencing future regulatory initiatives and the special requirements of the education and training industry are recognised in the development of regulatory frameworks given its key enabling role in the information economy.
Market rules are being established by governments to facilitate the information economy in areas such as intellectual property, telecommunications, online content, privacy, electronic transactions and data protection. These rules and regulations will impact significantly on how education and training is organised and managed and how learning takes place.
Setting a suitable regulatory framework is a vital step in building the confidence of the education and training community, industry and consumers. The establishment of an effective and efficient regulatory framework which meets the needs of the education and training sector will assist in enhancing Australia's competitive advantage in the global information economy.
The education and training sector at all levels needs to have an understanding of the major legal and regulatory issues affecting its performance and needs to communicate its preferred position to governments, the education and training stakeholders and the broader community more generally.
The regulatory framework needs to support education and training in its enabling role. Governments need to consult with the education and training industry about regulations impacting on the sector. The sector is concerned that agencies involved in developing elements of the regulatory framework for the information economy may not routinely consider the impact of their work on the education and training industry. As a consequence, unintentional barriers are created which have an impact on the performance of the sector within the information economy.
The regulatory framework in Australia should:
- ensure affordable access to information resources;
- remove legal and regulatory barriers to the effective delivery of education and training using information technology and encourage flexible arrangements for education and training; and
- ensure open world trade in Australian products and services.
Copyright
The issue of copyright is the key priority area for the education and training sector. The sector considers this area of the regulatory framework to be crucial to the effective and efficient delivery of education and training in the future.
In principle, the education and training sector supports amendment to copyright legislation to recognise changes which the online environment will require in the delivery of education and training. However the education and training sector considers the proposed Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Bill 1999 can only be the first step in updating copyright legislation to take into account the online environment. Formal processes will need to be set in place involving the education and training community, to further develop the legislative base to give Australia a digital copyright regime which is capable of properly balancing the interests of users, creators and investors into the future.
Telecommunications
The issue of telecommunications regulation is also of central concern to the education and training community. This issue is dealt with under Action Area 2 - Infrastructure.
The following regulatory areas are also priorities for the education and training sector:
- online content;
- domain names, in particular the management of the .edu domain space.
Online Content
The Government is developing a national regulatory framework for online services, involving a co-regulatory regime for service providers at the Commonwealth level and regulation of content providers/users by the States and Territories. There is a need for ongoing consultation with the education and training sector about the impact of this framework on the sector and how to address these special requirements (eg access to information) in implementing the legislation.
The sector recognises the need to balance policies at the local level to reflect the new regime while allowing for the range of information to be accessed by all who are seeking it. As such, the education and training sector is of the view that the regulatory regime for online content needs to put the control of online content as close as possible to the user.
The education and training sector needs to be kept informed and actively consulted concerning ongoing developments. It will also actively seek to influence developments through the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) and the Australian Broadcasting Authority and continue to monitor international developments in this area.
Domain Names
Given the importance of maintaining and promoting Australia's reputation and prestige in education and training, the regulation of the .edu second level domain space is an important matter for the sector. It is anticipated that an entity with representation from all parts of the education and training sector will be formed, capitalising on existing expertise, which would be recognised by virtue of the commitment and support of the key stakeholders in the education and training sector.
Electronic Transactions
The education and training sector signals its ongoing support for developments in:
- electronic transactions;
- privacy and data protection.
The sector supports Government initiatives to use the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 as a model for national uniform legislation to put electronic commerce and paper based commerce on an equal footing. The sector recognises that enactment of this legislation will alleviate the uncertainty surrounding the legal status of electronic communications.
The education and training sector recognises the need to ensure awareness by the education and training community about a range of electronic transaction issues which will impact on the conduct of their business operations. The education and training sector currently carries out many back office functions which would lend themselves to electronic transactions including enrolments, payment of fees, assignment submission and the posting of results. The sector recognises that it will need to develop business models for transactions in an information economy which are compatible with wider business practice including:
- an understanding of its requirement for electronic transactions in an information economy;
- fostering the development and supply of a range of cost-effective and affordable technologies and services for users;
- an understanding of trade practices requirements and consumer protection; and
- encouraging financial institutions to offer a range of secure and affordable online services for the education and training sector.
The sector will also need to be kept informed of, and adapt to, developments in the use of authentication technologies and services for transactions and ensure appropriate standards of encryption in relevant products and services.
Privacy and Data Protection
The education and training sector supports the development of appropriate safeguards to protect student and teacher privacy in the web publishing environment, and in respect of other transactions which take place through education and training providers/institutions.
Key Strategic Priorities
DCITA, through AGIMO, has been oversighting policy work to develop a regulatory framework for the information economy. The regulatory framework must support the education and training sector in its enabling role in the information economy.
The education and training sector will:
- Develop and implement a research agenda on the actual and likely implications for education and training of legal and regulatory frameworks related to the use of ICT in education and training.
- Devise and implement targeted communication strategies to inform education and training stakeholders of the current and emerging regulatory issues that will impact on the use of ICT for education and training.
- Establish and communicate its preferred position in relation to the Government's legal and regulatory framework, particularly in the key areas of copyright and telecommunications.
- Continue to develop its approach to priority regulatory issues through the ERC.
Endnotes: Learning for the knowledge society
1 The Common and Agreed Goals for Schooling in the 21st Century stipulate that 'when students leave school they should be confident, creative and productive users of new technologies, including information and communication technologies, and understand the impact of those technologies on society'.
2 Real Time: Computers, Change and Schooling (National Sample Study of the IT Skills of Australian School Students, October 1999)
3 Further information is available at: http://www.aiia.com.au/ 
4 Bandwidth Requirements of the Education and Training Sector, Olaf Moon, August 1999. Measurement for University requirements taken from the Committee of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) 1999.
5 The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) is currently reviewing the future regulatory arrangements for telecommunications facilities and services operated by the AVCC and others. The current exemptions have been extended to end December 2000.
6 'EdNA Online' (http://www.edna.edu.au/ ) is an extensive, free, public Website with access to quality resources and services for the Australian education and training community. It vastly improves communication between peers for both students and teachers, especially those working in isolation because of geographical or physical factors. It allows improved access to curriculum materials and provides opportunities for joint exploration of topics between teachers and students.
7 To take one example, the Commonwealth Government is providing $1,040,000 under the Science Lectureships Initiative to the University of New South Wales and Latrobe University to jointly develop a distance and on-line learning program, offering a Bachelor of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics and continuing professional education units in these areas, to meet national needs.