Theoretical studies

Invent of Internet changes the way we use of computer. From mail to shopping we all depend on this huge group of network computer. Cloud computing has entirely changes what the internet means. Poourful of desktop application is available on net and storage is available online wherever we go from any device. ELearning and web 2.0 learning totally changes of education system. Teacher and student work together in online project not in school or colleges but from home also. Teaching has never been easy without cloud computing [10].

The Open University has been developing slowly into an e-university for over a decade, introducing more courses that require PC and Internet access, offering more ICT options within other courses. The mix of courses and media is becoming more varied. What characterises the supported open learning model now is a focus on the appropriate media mix, depending on the objectives, the nature of the material, and the target student population. Learning what counts as appropriate is a continuing process that will be as relevant for all other universities wishing to develop elearning. It is a challenging task to capture all that we have learned about the e-university in the space of one article. What follows is a selective account, focusing on some of the most important elements for our survival in the e-world.

Becoming an e-university means increasing the complexity of learning and teaching. It means stretching the capacity of existing systems and staff. It must also mean improving the extent to which we meet students’ needs, both academic and logistic – or else why are we doing it? To summarise some of the most important lessons learned over the past few years of innovation: students appreciate the active learning and support environment offered by ICT:

- we must focus on achieving the right balance, between ICT and non-ICT, between interactive exercises and communicative, collaborative work online;

- we must manage the expectations of demand for more innovative, and more sophisticated materials, while also providing a robust service and delivery environment for them;

- workload planning for students is essential to avoid drop-out; workload planning for staff is essential to ensure sustainable development, making use of techniques such as re-versioning and customisation; academic staff need more help and support from specialist staff;

- academic and support staff need to do more R& D and innovation in teaching - and this must be recognised and rewarded;

- quality assurance providing feedback on all of ICT-related activities, will ensure the continual process improvement needed.

Any university contemplating the move to e-learning will need to address all these points, and to inaugurate a culture of innovation and investigation throughout their processes of learning and teaching. The Open University community is highly responsive to e-services, and that will extend to other HEIs who wish to move into e-learning for part-time, adult, lifelong learning. Whatever we offer, there is tremendous take-up and demand for more. However, ICT is highly labour-intensive. In the short term, at least, costs increase. We need to control costs if the new business is to be sustainable.

Therefore, we need continual process improvement, for online services and for materials production. It is important to keep a balance between the ICT and the non-ICT. We must be clear about the concepts of the ‘e-university’ and ‘elearning’. At the Open University, we are clear that we are not defined in terms of the technology we happen to use. In the 1960s our founders refused to see us as ‘the University of the Air’. We are not about to become ‘the University of the Net’. For universities, it is important to be defined in terms of their core values. Although we may work with the concept of being an e-university we must remain, fundamentally, a University, responsible for research, scholarship and teaching. The means by which we carry out those core activities remains incidental to them.