Subprogram 7: Industry Policies and Training for e-Learning Professionals

Objectives

The Expected Goals of this program are as following：

1. Construct a good legal environment foundation for e-learning and provide enterprises the legal information in digitized form with new network technology to expand Asian markets, and to prompt changes of learning content and status. Technologies are important in developing e-learning; however, only with the complete and perfect establishment of the learning content and policy training of the relevant enterprises can we achieve the goals of an information society, of digital divide balance and of information application. Therefore, to promote e-learning industries, we should refer to foreign laws and understand whether existing laws may become future obstacles. If so, we can lay the legal basis for development of e-learning.

On one hand, we will study and analyze the relevant legal obstacles to e-learning promotion. We will focus on the potential legal problems of policy enforcement, technology, application and industry development so as to know which rules have interfered with policy promotion. For example, required credits and hours for a degree limit the e-learning incentives. Also, we need to understand which laws lack supporting measures that will affect the policy development, for instance, on-line registration and authorization of digital publications. Moreover, we should consider which rules are out of date and improper to adopt; for instance, we have to make sure whether industry orientation of the e-learning and online science park are suitable for the rules for the establishment of the science park and so on. On the other hand, we will analyze the development of the e-learning related laws in major areas of Asia. With limited e-learning markets in our country, after the domestic market is saturated, we have to expand the market to other major Asian countries: Mainland China, Singapore, Japan, Korea and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to understand their laws in order to properly assist enterprises to expand throughout the Asian market. Furthermore, we can submit the government agencies the analysis result as reference for constituting our domestic laws.

2. Draw up domestic industry policies to help enterprises develop business opportunities.

E-learning industry is a major part of the future domestic IT industry. A well- functioning e-learning industry not only enhances the competitiveness of the national information services industry but also expands e-learning and encourages national knowledge-based industries. Also, as this is a newly-emerged industry, it is necessary to draw up relevant policy guidelines and supplementary measures. The industry policies focusing on e-learning industry will be the reference for our government to promote e-learning.

3. Train e-learning professionals, and accelerate e-learning introduction to industries and enterprises.

Though enterprises want to promote e-learning, they usually don't know how to implement it or have no professionals to assist them. On the other hand, the e-learning industry needs professionals to help enterprises promote, establish and design teaching materials and program contents; therefore, it's urgent to train e-learning professionals. Since national e-learning is still developing, we need to define professional status and plan training programs according to required abilities. At first, by using international instructors, we will set a team to train the professionals. Also, through the establishment of communities for lifelong learning, we will enhance their technologies so as to adapt to change in the environment.

4. Help industries to be geared toward global e-learning development, from the aspects of law, market, technology, international perspective and experience. The development of e-learning technology changes every day and the issues covered by internal enterprises are extensive. According to the manufacturers' needs in the online science park, we will hold e-learning seminars about laws, markets, technologies and current trends; introduce the newest ideas, methods, experiences, constitutions, and related issues from other countries, and share them with the related staff in enterprises and industries. We will also interact through classroom or simulation training., as constant learning strengthens and enhances e-learning in enterprises. Meanwhile, we will fully control the developing trend for e-learning technology and domestic and foreign laws and be geared toward the latest developments in all fields.

Task Items

1. Study and analyze the e-learning constitution policies in our country and the major Asian countries

• a. Collect and organize related laws for promoting domestic e-learning industries.
  In order to promote e-learning industries, it is necessary to remove the legal obstacles which may interfere with policy promotion. We will classify and organize the possible laws existing focusing on e-learning policy enforcement, technology, application, and industry development. In the seventh project, we will conduct accreditation studies of the companies of e-learning industries, feasibility studies of the encouragement measures of e-learning products with good performance, the studies of the regulations concerning competition in e-learning industries (including pricing, network, sharing, public goods, public facilities, opening essential facilities, e-signature, blanket prohibition, etc.), and studies of the accreditation classification system of the manufacturing companies. The issues for study and analysis are as follows:

• b. Hold conferences for relevant industries/academia to understand the problems faced by different fields in promoting e-learning.
  When promoting a new industry, it is unavoidable to face problems, such as lack of regulation or deficiency or ambiguity, in the existing laws. For example, the virtual network may cause problems with regulations under the existing laws, since e-learning is not only a new learning model on the Internet, but also a different form of commerce. In contrast with other commerce, e-learning is an e-commercial trade through the Internet and also an authorization or a transfer of intangible intellectual property. The promotion method of e-learning also differs from general industries. It can construct related parks on the Internet for clustering relevant industries. Before making an overall criticism of the relevant laws, it is necessary to know the opinions of relevant academia and industries on the existing laws. It is expected that the study and the simulation of the government's policies can create a well-functioning e-learning environment. Methods will be as follows:

• c. Study and analyze the development of e-learning regulations in the major Asian countries.
  Use information tools, such as journals, books, and Internet, to translate and study the collected information. Delegate representatives to Mainland China and Singapore to participate in relevant seminars or to visit the appropriate authorities. Collect information about the laws for promoting e-learning. Propose research reports on status quo and developing trends.

2. Use research results to expand research effects.

• a. Produce e-book.
  For the general public, the legal problems about e-learning are not clearly understood at the present time. It is important to fully understand related legal problems and substantial concerns about regulations. Therefore, this project will convert the research reports of expected problems into e-books, concerning the research results about e-learning laws in Mainland China and Singapore as well as the possible legal problems in the process of promoting e-learning. We will use e-learning technology to put the information on the Internet; thus, people in different fields will further understand the legal problems about e-learning in our country and the major Asian countries.

• b. Provide consultation services for the legal regulations about e-learning.
  In order to promote the legal constitution and relevant policies, the government should actively solve the problems about legal regulations of e-learning. Therefore, this project plans to provide on-line legal consultation for e-learning industries in the online science park, and assist executive authorities to answer problems proposed by different fields.

3. Study the policies for e-learning industries in different countries, and formulate suggestions for policies concerning domestic e-learning.

Collect information from reports by domestic and foreign consultation companies, visit foreign governments and operators in Taiwan, visit domestic operators, and conduct business travel to other countries. Conduct researches for e-learning policies, guidance measures and current promoting situation, in the countries with better performance. The content of the suggestions on domestic e-learning policies should include analysis of the e-learning environment and market business opportunities, the evaluation of the e-learning industry in our country, and a feasibility study on expanding international markets for the domestic e-learning industry.

4. Plan the classification, course structure, and content for e-learning professionals.

We will refer to prestigious institutions in the United States (such as ASTD, Capella University, UMUC, Online Learning Conference, Training Conference, etc.), the United Kingdom (such as Certified E-Learning Professional), and Singapore (such as e-Learning Competency Center), collect and study domestic and foreign information, and define the classifications for e-learning professionals. We will also use the Delphi study analysis to plan the structure and content of the courses.

5. We will hold training classes for e-learning professionals, and create professional communities.

We will select e-learning professional of three categories, such as e-learning teachers, designers, and managers, design teaching structures according to the contents of planned courses, and introduce international teachers to hold faculty training, in order to absorb foreign experience. The training methods will depend on the requirement of different courses. At the moment, we are focused on classroom training; other training methods include e-Learning or hybrid teaching. Meanwhile, we will create communities for e-learning professionals of one category. In addition to forums, actual network activities will also be held so that people can exchange their feedback and experience and the creation and management of communities and learning activities can also be promoted.

6. Hold prospective, popular, and international seminars and workshops.

• a. We will plan and hold e-learning seminars and workshops,
  hold prospective e-learning seminars (including advanced technology and the latest market trends), theme seminars (such as content management, learning components, mobile learning, e-learning, and quality standards), big professional conferences, or workshops (such as material editing tools, platform systems, and material designing). Initially, the major training style will be classroom training, and other styles will include e-learning or hybrid teaching.

• b. Hold conferences about laws and policies, as well as effective publication seminars.
  We will use research results, expand research effects and gather opinions from different fields. These are important issues for implementing and promoting laws and regulations. This project will be executed by holding seminars on e-learning legal policies in addition to holding conferences for gathering the opinions from different fields. We expect to hold e-learning seminars on e-learning legal policies for a total of 400 people. The issues that are expected to be discussed are as follows:

7. Design and produce e-learning materials.

We will select the entity courses available to manufacture e-materials, such as e-learning guidance, for on-line training or promotion to industries. The manufacturing models will have different presentation, design, and manufacturing styles depending on different topics. The models will include speeches, screen operations, program writing, and simulations (combined with teaching design). In addition, due to a lack of Chinese books about e-learning domestically, the publication of guide books for the reading population is very important.