Svein Qvist-Eriksen, President, Norwegian Association for Distance Education (NFF/NADE)

What has been the most promising development within ODL in your region in 2011?

It is, of course, difficult to point out specific developments within one year as most developments and changes happen over greater time spans.

Attention and recognition
There is an increased attention to life-long education, and clearly signs of increased attention of educational opportunities offered by online institutions for adults and others who cannot (or prefer not) to take advantage of traditional campus based solutions. The Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) educational committee, through its statements to the national budget the last two years clearly indicates recognition of the core competence and position of distance education/online institutions within Norway’s educational system. It is also clear that online learning solutions are in the process of becoming recognized as suitable solutions also for the education of children and youth, as supplement for both weak and strong students (initiative taken by the Minister of Education).

We could also mention recognition through specific awards, such as NKI receiving the Boldic Award for specific pedagogical and media solutions and Nordic cooperation, and Rosing Award for “best internet pages”.

Userfriendly technology
Media, tools and technology develop at a continuously increasing speed, getting more userfriendly. A typical trend is that applications become increasingly easier to understand and use, and some technologies are becoming easier and cheaper for the schools to integrate in courses and
programmes, short videos are more easy to produce and simpler to use by learners.

Policies
When it comes to educational policy, Fagskolene (tertiary formal accredited programmes) are becoming recognized in the society and are established as a specific area of education. Online education providers are important players in the field by offering a large number of tertiary vocational programmes.

What is mentioned above relates to a large degree to private online providers. Concerning public providers, the Ministry of Education, clearly advocates the development of online, flexible education in higher education, exemplified by the political support to Norway Opening Universities (Norgesuniversitetet) and through the emphasis on developing ICT infrastructure for higher online education through the “e-campus” project.

Where do the main challenges lie in your region?

For private institutions one main challenge, or perhapsthemain challenge, isto provide cost efficient high quality online education. As state subsidies are fading out, students have to pay the full fees. Developing high quality online education that can be offered at a price the market is willing to pay is a great challenge in a country where education generally is free of charge or highly state subsidized.  While Sweden some years ago was an international leader in distance education, private distance education nearly disappeared from the scene in short time, as distance education was discriminated concerning public funding compared with most other educational solutions for adults. There is a danger that Norway may experience a similar situation, as funding decreases, and also because of the strong public involvement in education that easily results in streamlining solutions that in practice to a large extent excludes accreditation and recognition of alternative solutions.