China has been moving rapidly to improve the use of information technology in elementary and secondary schools, progressing in stages from offering basic computer programming courses to creating networked schools with information technology integrated into the whole curriculum. By 2003, in the developed regions of the country, 70 percent of teachers applied information technology to their classes often. In the Tenth Five Year Plan (2001 - 2005), the Chinese government gave priority to the construction of information technology infrastructure. By 2003 the ratio of elementary school students to computers was 12:1 in the most developed regions and 373:1 in the least developed. At the high school level the range was from 8:1 to 18:1. One goal is to equalize educational opportunities across the geographic regions, which now vary greatly As part of this education improvement initiative, the central government will undertake a number of programs, including an ICT development project in village schools, aimed at improving staff development, school management, and instructional quality and efficiency. According to the new teacher training plan, normal universities will make full use of face-to-face education and distance education to lay the groundwork for improved instructional resources and form an instructional network for village and city teachers. Those regions which have been well equipped with computers and school networks will develop network training and TV training. The purpose of these efforts is to effect modernization in education, meaning the improvement of educational efficiency and effectiveness and the promotion of more learner-centered instruction.

Education in Indonesia is facing some major problems related to access and quality. Only about half of the eligible children are enrolled in school at the junior secondary level and only one-third at the senior secondary level. Regarding quality, large proportions of students fail to meet the cutoff scores in various subjects at all levels in school completion examinations. ICT is viewed as a potential contributor to solutions for these problems. In terms of government policy for ICT, Telematika which refers to the utilization of ICT in various sectors and aspects of life, was established based on a presidential decree, and Telematika Pendidikan (utilization of ICT in education) has been developed, and a five-year action plan was implemented in the years 2001 to 2005. The success of Telematika depends on the availability of appropriate infrastructure. Currently, Indonesia has 8 million Internet users (about 3% of the population); other statistics show that the ICT infrastructure is less extensive compared with neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. In addition, Internet access costs are still prohibitive in Indonesia. The implementation of E-Learning in Indonesian education can be viewed as a supplement, a complement, or a substitute for the traditional teaching-learning process. To date some subjects of the senior secondary school and vocational school curriculum have been developed in the form of E-Learning as a substitute for face-to-face instruction. In the near future this will be expanded to some subjects of the junior secondary school curriculum. At the tertiary education level, there are some universities that have implemented E-Learning, especially as a supplement for their regular teaching-learning process. In regard to extending access into schools, the Ministry of National Education has been piloting Open Senior Secondary School in seven districts of six provinces by implementing E-Learning.

This paper reviews the history of E-learning policies, current status, and finally the representative cases in a sequence. Korea made national master plans to be “the most wired nation in the world.” One of the national plans, Comprehensive Plan for ICT in Education (CPIE), began in 1997 as the corner stone of E-learning. The initial stage of the CPIE (1997-2000), focused on ICT infrastructure and ICT literacy set-up, supplying every school classroom with access to Internet service. The second stage with CPIE(II) (2001-2005), has turned its emphasis to the integrated use of ICT in curriculum and information distribution and teachers’ training. CPIE(
), now under design, aims at fundamental change in school education, ushering in an ‘E-learning era.’ The focus of ICT policies for infrastructure in school education has changed. At the beginning the one computer for one teacher or for one classroom was the goal of the policy. However, over time, integrated use of ICT in curriculum has been more focused. Digital contents development and distribution of the public sector from the late 1990s up until now entered into three critical phases: (1) content development- enriching ICT multimedia contents for education, (2) sharingcollecting and distributing contents based on (3) the quality control-reviewing and screening of collected data. In terms of the professional development of teachers, Korean government set up life cycle for professional development for teachers such as (1) standards and models set-up, (2) training programs delivery, and (3) best practices distribution, and followed the cycle. In addition this article described several examples of E-learning in Korea such as Eductional TV programs for the college scholastic ability test, Cyber home learning networks, and Cyber high school.

Elementary and secondary education in Canada serves a geographically dispersed and ethnically diverse population. Global economic integration places importance on advancing the knowledge and skills of the Canadian work force. Within the K-12 sector, the goal is “raising the bar and closing the gap”– raising the overall performance of students while narrowing the achievement gap between students from lower and higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Technology can shift the focus from teaching to learning. Projects in which this transformation has taken place have entailed collaboration among researchers, theorists, discipline specialists, and classroom teachers. A national project, SchoolNet, facilitated Internet connections and built school level capacity. A recent national survey indicates that virtually all elementary and secondary schools in Canada had Internet-connected computers, with a ratio of students to Internet-connected computers of 5.5:1. However, many of these computers were functioning with older, slower operating systems. School principals reported that most teachers possessed the required technical skills to use computers for housekeeping functions but only about half of school principals felt that the majority of their teachers were adequately prepared to use computers to enhance student learning. Canada faces a number of tensions regarding ICT integration in the schools. Effective integration depends on a sound, system-wide infrastructure. However, administrative computing requirements, rather than educational considerations, often drive hardware decisions. Professional development must be scalable and sustainable; allow for on-site work in schools; include appropriate incentives; be activity based and allow for ‘play’ and discovery.

In the United States, the implementation of educational technology is influenced by many factors, but in elementary-secondary and higher education the recent economic recession forced a slowdown in investments.. In higher education, analog media, such as overhead projection, videos, and slides, are still heavily used. Digital media use is growing, but at a slower rate each year. Most instructors exchange e-mail with students, but smaller percentages use more sophisticated applications. Course management systems, now ubiquitous, are prompting the integration of technology into instruction. Over two-thirds of all universities offer distance education, and enrollments grow by about 25 percent per year. In elementary-secondary education, technology integration has been influenced by the “No Child Left Behind” initiative. Hence, the focus has been on the use of computers as a tool for assessment. When at school, students in grades 4-12 use computers predominately in a computer lab, most commonly to find information, visit school websites, and to take tests. K-3 students use technology to play learning games, create pictures, and practice spelling and reading. The student-per-Internet– connected computer ratio was 4.3:1 in 2004. Schools are going wireless fast. Professional development continues to lag behind teachers’ needs. The largest barriers to greater adoption and use of computers are lack of time to prepare and insufficient technical support. Virtual schools continue to proliferate and attract new students. These findings indicate that pervasive access to information technology infrastructure does not guarantee its use. Social and psychological factors impinge on educators’ use of ICT.

One major regional characteristic of Southeast Asia is that the technology backbone varies significantly from country to country as well as within each country. In terms of technology use in classroom there is a broad range of technologies being used including print, radio, video and computer–based materials. Print materials are still the most extensively used for instructional media. Radio/audio-tapes and television/video-tapes are also widely used in combination with print materials. There are a significant number of initiatives for the use of computer-based materials especially in some of the more developed countries. Singapore and Malaysia are much more advanced in terms of using ICT in classrooms. In Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, cooperative efforts between government ministries and multinational companies have made it possible to install computers in urban and rural classrooms and train teachers. The government of Brunei Darussalam has initiated ICT initiatives to bring computers into classrooms. Cambodia, Laos PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam have been assisted by international donor agencies in establishing ICT infrastructure. ICT has been integrated into the secondary school curriculum of most Southeast Asian countries, In some countries, the integration has been done in the primary level as well. Factors influencing the use of ICT in the classroom in the region are (1) ICT vision embedded in national policy, (2) ICT infrastructure, equipment, and software, (3) integration of ICT use into school curriculum, (4) support of school leaders, (5) teacher training, (6)technical support, and (7) collaboration with business and communities.

The APEC Sister Schools Networking (ASSN) project was conceived as a means to respond to ICT challenges to promote human capacity building and to enhance interconnectedness of the school-based population in APEC economies. The project was initiated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand at the 13th APEC Ministerial Meeting in Shanghai, China, and was further developed by the Ministry of Education, Thailand for consideration and endorsement at the 18th EDNET Meeting in Hanoi. The project was funded by the APEC Central Fund and the Thai Government covering participation costs of fourteen travel-eligible economies and of international speakers as well as domestic activities conducted in seven coastal provinces along the Gulf of Thailand and in Bangkok respectively. The ASSN Project was divided into two phases: Phase 1—ASSN Virtual Community and Phase 2—APEC International Youth Camp. The overall aim of the project was to provide an opportunity for students and teachers to learn more about APEC, APEC economies and cultures, to promote friendship, a sense of APEC partnership, cooperation and interrelationship among the APEC youth and teachers while focusing on the Pacific coastal ecosystem.

The Internet, as a general utility for carrying information and communication technologies, provides a vehicle for the unprecedented availability of information. The global proliferation of the Internet and the increasing speeds of transmission mean that information is available anywhere in world, at the time and place of one’s choice, and in a manner that encourages individual exploration (Tomlinson-Keasey, 2002). For educators, information and communication technology (ICT), including the Internet, holds the promise of not only greater access but also higher quality learning materials provided to students at a lower cost, coupled with the possibility of a more learnercentered paradigm of instruction. Meanwhile, technological and economic development has placed greater demands on education systems in many countries, calling for people who are more adaptable to change, more innovative and creative, and better able to apply their knowledge to solve complex problems. Are Asian and Pacific countries meeting these challenges? This UNESCO publication, Integrating ICT into Education, clearly supports the claim that ICT has been embraced in education, at least in the six economies examined, and has made an impact on education systems. A wealth of experiences, good practices, and lessons has been generated for the benefit of others in the region. The purpose of this book is (1) to describe lessons learned in integrating ICT programs based on based on the experiences of six Asian countries— Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—and (2) to synthesize and analyze ICT integration experiences in connection with specific lessons learned and highlight best practices and the need for further improvements.

Farrell and Wachholz provide a comprehensive report of the findings of a large-scale survey of the uses of information and communication technologies (ICT) in UNESCO member countries in the Asia- Pacific region. The surveys were prepared countryby- country by different individuals or teams. The reader is immediately struck by the sheer volume of information condensed in its almost 300 pages, as well as the great effort that each of the authors invested in researching and compiling each country report. Fortunately, the individual reports are brief and follow a consistent pattern, so that the cases can be compared quite easily. The book consists of 44 country-by-country, systematically organized, brief reports of the current state of ICT in education throughout Asia and the Pacific arranged into four regions—Central and South West Asia, East and South-East Asia, Pacific Island Countries, and South Asia—written by 24 authors who work as researchers, instructional designers, consultants, professors, and specialists in ICT. In this report, UNESCO uses a very broad definition of ICT, including broadcast technologies (radio and television), computers, related peripherals, e-mail, and the Internet and World Wide Web.