Expanding the learning community: the effective use of ICT in provision of higher education

Information and communication technology offers the potential for greatly expanding learning communities in all sectors, including higher education. The efficacy of ICT in higher education is however still a matter of contention. There are now numerous relative evaluative studies but many of evaluative studies relate only to individual instances of the use of ICT. In some cases these evaluations have been undertaken by parties with a vested interest such as the person responsible for an ICT innovation. This paper draws on a national investigation of the effectiveness of the use of ICT in flexible provision of higher education in Australia and upon the emerging conventions concerning ways in which ICT can be used effectively and efficiently in the provision of higher education. There has been available for several years evidence that the use of ICT in education does not generally detract from learning outcomes. Evidence is now available that ICT can contribute to efficiency in provision of higher education including cost-efficiency. Realising this potential means overcoming a wide range of challenges. This paper identifies critical decisions that need to be made when employing ICT in provision of education and provides some guidelines for the effective and efficient use of ICT