Whilst there is apparent universal agreement that e-learning is becoming more
important in the further education (FE) sector, there is a shortage of empirical
evidence regarding the impact of these processes, and of variations across
subject areas, within further education. It is in this context that the Department
for Education and Skills (DfES) commissioned the National Foundation for
Educational Research (NFER) to undertake a survey of all further education
and sixth form colleges and to supplement a recent qualitative study of
e-learning use in FE.1 The research aimed to establish the scale and extent of
e-learning use among FE lecturers in three subject areas, examine the
associations between the use of e-learning and intermediate outcomes for
learners and staff and explore the policy implications of the use of e-learning
in FE.