Future of E-Learning: Perspective of European Teachers

Abstract

Imagining is the first step in actualizing something. Several technological developments have been the product of people's dreams. This study discusses the results of a workshop related to dreaming about what e-learning will be like in the future that was part of an in-service training course included in the European Union Lifelong Learning program. The purpose of the current study is to shed light on the workshop participants' visions of the future of e-learning. The participants emphasized that e-learning will not only develop toward technology but also lead to pedagogical outputs. It was predicted that e-learning will contribute to education as blended learning and lifelong learning become popular. Other leading issues will be the integration of technology with the human body and the facilitation of learning. The author of the current study, who took part in the workshop, emphasized cloud-based technologies. Workshop participants stated that cloud-based services will inevitably become part of fields such as information security storage and estate services, as well as education. Moreover, they predicted that information and education clouds will emerge that can be accessed anywhere and anytime, and that these clouds will be used at all grade levels through facilitation by moderators on a local and a national basis. They also mentioned that the concept of e-learning will evolve into cloud-based learning.