A Norwegian scholar, Morten Flate Paulsen, who has been an enthusiastic proponent of online education since the mid-1980s, analyses in his recent book the emerging phenomenon of online education and provides a comprehensive overview of various aspects of online teaching and learning. The book is available as a traditional printed book and as an online version. Paulsen approach the online education phenomenon from different perspectives and covers global, institutional, administrative, pedagogical, economic as well as technological aspects. The book is divided into four parts: the first part of the book (Online education, Teaching, and Learning) discusses online teaching and learning and provides detailed explanations of many terms and concepts. It also presents models of online education and an updated version of Cooperative Freedom, his theory for online education (first published by the author in 1992). There are plenty of discussions of the learning management systems necessary to run online courses and related issues, and sound empirical data about the use of LMS. The third part (Global e-learning in a Nordic perspective) introduces online education and learning management systems as well as virtual university initiatives in the Nordic countries. Paulsen takes the reader on an exceptional journey through the successes and failures of online education in these countries and also analyzes the strengths and flaws, and qualities and inadequacies of the Nordic online education collaboration. A comparison of online education support systems in Scandinavian and Australian universities is also given.
The final part of the book (Trends and Future developments) presents potential LMS improvements suggested by European system administrators (113 experts in 17 European countries). It also discusses important trends and future developments in international online education. As mentioned above, this book is an amazingly thorough and comprehensive guide to various aspects of online education.
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