E-Learning as an Educational Strategy on Islands with Low Population Density: Case Study in the Autonomous Region of Azores

Abstract

In the school year of 2003/ 2004, the Regional Department of Education and Culture of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, implemented an innovative project for adult learning. The school EB 3/S Vitorino Nemésio, on Terceira Island, became the first Portuguese school with adult education mediated through the Internet, from elementary level (5th grade) up to the secondary level (12th grade). In this research, we strived to understand up to what extend did media-based adult education supply an effective answer to geographic and demographic issues in the Azores. The results tell us this system appears as an affirmative answer to the geographical and demographic limitations of the Azorean Islands. Nevertheless, there are still unsolved problems, mostly the teachersâ?? limitations as far as pedagogic and technical skills on the fields of Information and Communication Technologies and eâ??learning are concerned. Adult e-learning also offers other possibilities, on the domain of teachersâ?? and other staffâ??s continuous training as well as its wider and more effective implementation outside the Region.