A Global Elearning Market

A global eLearning market?
Or the globalization of learning!

Along with the growing adoption of eLearning, the debates surrounding globalization are moving to the education and learning spheres. Indeed the eLearning market is showing more and more signs of `globality´ with giants surrounding the market (Adobe, Microsoft, Tell Me More, SkillSoft,…) and multinationals expressing needs in `global training´ (a learning/training program that is expanded worldwide).

This globalization of training lead to rethink the duality of global / local in the area of education: the very famous `think global, act local´ is used today as a business strategy but also as a motto in the initiatives in international education. But education globalization enthusiasts have to deal with some negative reactions already taking place against this trend and resistance appeared all over the world.
Thinking about a global eLearning market involves taking into account all the subjects surrounding the theme of globalization, i.e. all the subjects dealing with market dominance, homogenization of culture and opening up/closure of some regions. Is the eLearning market a market like all the others? Is education a product which has to be treated like the others? The question of the culture globalization has already been set up, and is called one more time in this debate.

Do we assist to a globalization of the education and training market thanks to the eLearning trend? What are the outcomes and limits of this globalization?

Globalization has become a buzz-word with the start of the millennium. It evokes fears, delocalization, homogenization but also enormous economic potential, the future of capitalism and the integration of the poorest in a flourishing economy. The globalization word is already controversial… but when it comes to culture, it is even worse! Let´s try to find a way in the polemic and see first how the needs of the market may have initiated the globalization trend, then...