Online and Blended Learning: A Survey of Policy and Practice from K-12 Schools Around the World

This iNACOL (International Association for K-12 Online Learning) report, a follow-up to its 2006 survey, profiles the digital-learning status of fifty countries from Albania to Thailand. It documents global trends, issues, and challenges relating to digital learning—and shows that the questions and concerns surrounding digital education in the U.S. permeate national borders, much like the internet itself. Atop the list of challenges: Survey respondents cited a lack of public knowledge of (and thus an interest in) digital learning. Lack of funding was also a key barrier to online-ed proliferation, survey respondents said. Unfortunately (though understandably, given the scope), the report’s broad brush strokes offer little by way of detail and even fewer international lessons for the States—even in the nine country case studies. For more specifics, we’ll have to look elsewhere.