Education and society

Without a doubt, broadband Internet is changing the world of commerce, entertainment and communications. But what kind of impact will broadband technology have on society as a whole? What will it contribute to the development of society? And is this technology capable of changing society in the long-term? The huge significance of broadband Internet to a country’s global competitiveness is often stressed and this factor is clearly underscored by the experts consulted in “Deutschland Online 3”.

The key areas of application for broadband technologies are education (e-learning) and public administration (e-government). What benefits and prospects does broadband offer in these areas? What are the associated risks? And how well-situated is Germany at an international scale? As part of “Deutschland Online 3”, experts from government agencies were asked their opinion on these issues.

Key Findings

• “Onliners”, according to 92% of the experts surveyed, have clear advantages over “offliners” in their social and professional life.
• Around 55% of the experts from government agencies view the integration of new media as one of the most significant challenges for the German educational system.
• Nearly 63% of consumers would like to see their child have a high degree of access to PC and broadband Internet at school by the year 2005, and more than 80% expect this to be the case by 2010.
• E-government offers the public clear benefits in terms of convenience and speed, plus increased administrative efficiency, a reduction in the level of bureaucracy, modernization and an increase in the quality of public services.
• By any international standards, Germany lags behind in its utilization of e-learning and will take until around 2010 to reach the development status attained by Sweden in the year 2003.
• The German development status in the e-government domain is rated by the experts as mediocre; they estimate that public services in Germany will not be available online to the extent they already are in Sweden until the year 2010.