A review of e-learning policy in school education in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing: Implications to future policy planning

The acceleration of e-Learning around the world has driven the major cities/regions in the Asia–Pacific region such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing to plan and implement official policies on e-Learning for enhancing the quality of school education. This article aims to review experiences and then draw lessons of these four major Asian cities/regions in the development of e-Learning policies on the dimensions of infrastructure, curriculum integration, students learning, teacher professional development, as well as leadership and capacity building. It is identified that each of the four major Asian cities/regions has its own area of emphasis in the planning of future e-Learning policies, with Singapore focusing on scaling up good practices of e-Learning among teacher community; Hong Kong focusing on creating digital classrooms supported by wireless networking for student-centered learning; Taiwan focusing on cultivating students with 21st century skills through daily subject teaching; and Beijing focusing on providing digital resources and e-textbooks geared to school curricula. Five implications with regard to e-Learning policies are further made in order to provide a point of references for other cities/regions to develop future e-Learning policies for school education in the 21st century. Copyright © 2014 Beijing Normal University.