E-learning and economic development in Cambodia

Electronic learning becomes popular in the past decades due to the belief that technology could make big difference in education system. Many developed countries, the United State, the European Union, and so on, have obtained abundance of benefits from E-learning. Due to globalization, goods, services and technology transfer flow across borders, and developing countries could access and use those resources for their own beneficial. Cambodia, a developing country in South East Asia, strives to improve economic development which refers to not only economic growth but also prosperity in the society as a whole. Elearning could provide three main strategies, strengthening human resources, boosting economic sector and smoothening ASEAN integration.

First, E-learning is strengthening human resources. The educational system in Cambodia is very limited, and the quality is lower compared to other countries. Of course, educational system in the capital cities mainly Phnom Penh are various and strengthening; however, in the rural area, many people could not be received the same educational system; those who cannot effort to come to city decide to abandon their studies. The role of E-learning is very crucial to provide the opportunity to all students with the same quality regardless their locations. Moreover, E-learning teaching materials could be video or audio, and it could be real-time (live streaming) or self-learning. E-learning could be conducted in two ways, internet and intranet. Intranet is combination of networks in specific places to ensure a specific goal, so internet is optional for E-learning. The courses could be recorded and sent to E-learning center in specific location, and the recorded could be done using Khmer or other languages that suitable for the course. Furthermore, E-learning provides many interesting subjects that are taught by well-known university and professors, thus, higher educational students could access to those materials and learn what they are interested.

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Second, E-learning does play vital role in promoting and boosting economic development in Cambodia. The amount of labor forces that Cambodia could provide to investor are very low compare to other countries in the region and the world. Consequently, many foreign direct investments flow to other countries due to labor incentive. E-learning could contribute not only standardized educational system but also vocational training to those who want to find job available in the market. Vocational training provides training system to people in a short period of time in order to transfer the right skill for needed jobs in the market. Embedding E-learning system with vocational training could enhance the quality and reliability of the training so that Cambodian labor forces could compete with other countries in the region to absorb the foreign direct investments (FDIs). The creation of Cambodia Stock Exchange and many technology companies are signs for the improvement of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Cambodia.

Last but not least, E-learning could be a big push to fasten the ASEAN integration. Currently, there are some initiatives to create a learning system, called E-learning system among universities in the region. For instance, an E-learning center was established at Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Cambodia, and this center has cooperated with other universities in South East Asia as well as some countries in East Asia such as Korea. E-learning provides opportunities for students to obtain high quality education from other popular universities and professors. Moreover, E-learning could be a platform where students .This cooperation is very important to create bond between countries especially students, new generation that will take after the countries in the future. ASEAN integration could be a great achievement for ASEAN in order to strengthen economy system and reduce the gap between rich countries and poor countries in the region.

To conclude, economic development is the main goal for each developing county, and I strongly believe that E-learning in this era could play vital role if the government and the civil society could use this educational tool wisely. 2|Page