Continuing Education has become significant mainly because of a very rapid
development of the world. ICT – as an important part of this world – has been supporting this trend to a great extent.
These technologies also bring a new range of possibilities in education. University of New York / Prague uses
relevant information technologies as a backbone of its educational system. This enabled the integration of
e-learning interface UNYP NetLearn within the system. The NetLearn can be used in any course taught at UNYP. In the
Spring semester 2003, we choose several pilot courses which will be taught in a combined form using this technology.
University of New York in Prague expects from this system a significant increase in the quality of classes.
The opening of a new teacher – student communication channel is another important issue. The system should also
improve the individual approach to students by the teachers.
The future development in the field of education lies not only in regular study programs based on daily attendance,
but mainly in weekend and part–time study programs. Given the fact that the students in these programs usually hold
full-time jobs, and in addition to this they have to be in class during significant periods of time. The load of
these students is very high which has a serious impact on their in–class performance and the quality of
education.
The system will provide the opportunity to cut down the time spent in the classroom and to balance it with the
extensive usage of e–learning communication tools. Students employed full–time during the week will be able to plan
their study load throughout the whole week. Last but not least, the administration costs of classes will decrease as
well. That should in turn lower the tuition of the courses and make education accessible to a wider range of
applicants. |