E-learning in Higher Education. Key concepts, European trends, and guidelines

E-learning plays an increasingly important role in the changing landscape of Higher Education in the European area. In the three main provision areas (degree education, continuous professional development, and open education), Higher Education Institutions find in e-learning the possibility of supporting both the shift towards flexibility in learning paths and modalities and the transition towards student-centered learning and active teaching methods.
It is now well established that e-learning in itself is not a panacea, nor, on the contrary, a catastrophe for educational systems, and it is generally accepted that it is not equally suitable for all educational settings, for all subjects and for all learners, but evidence from research can be found regarding its effectiveness under certain conditions. Furthermore, as was already known from decades of research into distance education and educational technologies, it is clear that pedagogical awareness and educational purposes must guide the choice and development of technical solutions, not the other way around. Such awareness allows education professionals to take full advantage of the affordances and possibilities of blended and online education for specific types of students, subjects, and contexts.
The purpose of this study - conceived as part of the INLEARN project, co-founded by the Know-how Exchange Programme of the Central European Initiative - is to provide Higher Education Institutions and practitioners, policymakers, and education funders in non-EU CEI Member States with design principles and effective implementation models for online and blended courses and programmes, based on widely-accepted learning theories, available evidence from research, and best practice.
The study is divided into three main sections.
Part 1 provides a conceptual framework for describing the variety of phenomena that go under the umbrella term of e-learning.
Part 2 focuses on current trends and future prospects for e-learning in the European Higher Education Area.
Part 3 gives insights into teaching and learning activities, people & roles, and technology in e-learning. Finally, relevant instructional and multimedia design principles are presented, as well as valuable guidelines for course development, implementation, and evaluation.