Philippines cited for e-learning growth

The Philippines has been cited as one of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of high growth in “e-learning” revenues in the next few years, according to a global report by US-based market research firm Ambient Insight. Ambient Insight said in a statement that in Asia alone, the market for learning and training programs supported by electronic technology is expected to reach $11.5 billion by 2016, or more than twice the $5.2 billion in 2011. The report, titled “The Asia Market for Self-paced e-Learning Products and Services: 2011-2016 Forecast and Analysis,” finds that Asia has the highest growth rate for e-learning worldwide at 17.3 percent yearly and the growth in some countries “is nothing short of remarkable.” In terms of growth rate in e-learning, the study places the Philippines at seventh. The country joins Azerbaijan, Thailand, Kenya, Slovakia and India with growth rates of between 30 percent and 35 percent. The two countries with the highest growth rates in the world are Vietnam and Malaysia, respectively at 44.3 percent and 39.4 percent. Also in the top 10 are Romania and China. “The vast majority of revenues will be generated from the sales of packaged content, (which) is rising so rapidly in many countries in the region that suppliers are scrambling to meet the demand,” said Sam S. Adkins, Ambient Insight’s chief research officer. “Authoring tools will generate the second-highest revenues after packaged content during the forecast period,” Adkins said. “The growth rate for cloud-based authoring tools and learning platforms in Asia is a robust 22.7 percent, the highest growth rate of all products. Authoring tools are in high demand as commercial suppliers and internal organizations rush to meet the demand for content.” According to Ambient Insight, the major factors driving growth include the massive content digitization efforts across the school systems “in every country in the region” and the large-scale deployments of tablets in the academic segments, as well as the explosive growth of online higher education enrollments. Other factors cited are the strong demand for e-learning in the corporate sector in many countries and the strong demand for digital English-language learning products in both the academic and consumer segments across Asia. In the Philippines, e-learning has been gaining ground in the education and agricultural sectors, with a big push from government efforts. One group that has been actively promoting and using e-learning is the Philippine e-Learning Society, or Pels, whose members are mainly colleges and universities in both the public and private sectors. Also, the Department of Agriculture is running an extension program called e-learning for Agriculture and Fisheries with the Agricultural Training Institute as the lead implementing agency. The program is being carried out with help from other government agencies, state universities and colleges and nongovernment organizations.