HELIOS is an integrated research and development project funded under the eLearning Programme of the European Commission. Its task is to establish a sustainable observation platform to monitor the progress of eLearning in Europe vis-à-vis policy objectives and to forecast future scenarios of its evolution.

The HELIOS Yearly Report 2005/2006, "Evolving eLearning" has just been published. The main conclusions and recommendations are:

• eLearning should be de-marginalised from the educational discourse as well as from educational policies as its contribution to innovation of learning is becoming more and more evident.
• In enhancing access to learning opportunities, eLearning per se cannot be the one size fits all solution, and is definitively not enough if not associated to a clear vision, strategy and an inclusive policy which takes into consideration and attempts to tackle at once several factors contributing to deprivation (unemployment, disabilities, social exclusion, etc). Establishment of partnerships, coordination of resources and actions in the field, although challenging, would greatly improve the effectiveness of public resources and increase the impact and visibility of the implemented actions. Last but not least, it is fundamental to be realistic about sustainability of projects: short term summative evaluation driven by economic sustainability arguments has killed and may continue to kill innovative initiatives that produce benefits which correspond to public interest.
• eLearning can substantially contribute to employability, provided that research and practice efforts are concentrated on quality eLearning and that further research is conducted into the extent and nature of measurement of returns to investment in eLearning as far as employability of elearners is concerned. In fact, the measurement of benefits of eLearning should not just be based on the assessment of learning outcomes and elearners satisfaction, but also evaluated in relation to the career development of elearners, although many other factors and constraints intervene. Last but not least, a lot could be done to market the benefit of eLearning in terms of employability towards the employers. In fact the successful completion of eLearning not only could enhance the competences related to the contents of the eLearning courses, but requires as pre-requisites many "core employability skills" such as ICT literacy, self-management and especially "autonomous learning competences"
• eLearning is having a substantial impact on personal development and citizenship, and it can do even better, provided that the human factor is not neglected within eLearning, since this is a necessary (although not sufficient) condition to achieve enriching eLearning experiences. This means concentrating investment, research and practices on two priority areas: the personalisation of eLearning solutions, encouraging such developments as the bottom up production of content, the capacity of eLearning to fit many different learning styles and the emergence of technologies that increase the flexibility in fruition, and the "humanisation" of eLearning, embodied by such developments as the diffusion of game-based elements, new possibilities for learners' interaction and empowerment, the community building aspect of eLearning.
• The criteria for the analysis of eLearning developments and evolutions need to be refined: the progressive "complexification" of eLearning makes the traditional, sector-based approach unable to capture change in terms of eLearning conception and use. In line with the above, to be successful eLearning strategies should be re-thought according to "territorial aims", and thus designed along the main features of each typology of eLearning use and practice.
• In this context we believe that publishers and e-content producers still have an important role to play, provided that new business models are proposed and that design strategies are oriented towards active inclusion of users in the process of content creation. Up to now, in fact, content creation in formal educational environments seems to be shifting from publishers to teachers, but learners are still out of the process. Strategies should be promoted to ensure the involvement of final users (learners) in the design and implementation of eLearning content and processes.
• eLearning activities are now required to be oriented at "making learning attractive" particularly towards those who are not used to learn. Learners should be made aware of the reasons why a certain learning experience could be enriching, beneficial and suited to their own needs. In this respect, capitalising prior learning, enhancing self-esteem and dignity of learners, valuing successful informal and non-formal learning experiences which took place through eLearning, are fundamental in spurring their motivation when approaching to, or getting back to a learning experience, be it mediated by ICT or not.
• The learning behaviors of the so-called digital natives shall be object of in-depth studies so to investigate on the potential of adoption of digital natives practices by digital immigrants and to foresee future developments of eLearning. Furthermore, emphasis shall be placed on the concept of ownership in eLearning: much of the success of eLearning is in fact related to the possibility to personalize learning to one's needs and interests. There is a strong discrepancy between informal and formal learning in promoting the concept of learning ownership: if formal education does not recognize the increasing needs of learning ownership expressed by learners, it risks to become obsolete.
• There is a need for more political attention on these emerging bottom-up phenomena in the use of technology - often leading to informal and non formal learning experiences often as valuable as formal ones in terms of skills development and knowledge building and sharing.
• Teachers, tutors, team learning facilitators have to be given the knowledge, examples and time to "adopt" ICT in their daily practice and to explore the specific improvement paths. Empowering teachers and trainers to stay competitive/to regain competitiveness compared to their technology literate/students and supporting teachers themselves to become "e-supported", competent in learning and by that competent in knowledge society and more autonomous in LifeLong Learning and beyond emerges as a top priority for the success of innovation policies.
• In order to promote successful policies, programmes and actions in eLearning it is necessary to: understand trends globally, "think territorially", look at the intertwining between eLearning developments and societal trends and only then propose integrated policies.
• The reported trends are suggesting possible scenarios for the future of learning. In general terms, when thinking and talking about the future the focus should shift from "expecting the future" to "being prepared to influence the future".
• There are organizational dimensions (such as the adoption dynamics of eLearning) relevant to the organizational culture that - though being neither pedagogical nor technological - are essential to be taken into consideration to guarantee the progress of eLearning. Such dimensions shall be addressed by research and the results of ongoing successful practices shall be promoted and disseminated among eLearning practitioners and stakeholders.
• The identification of tensions or "critical uncertainties" might: provide a platform for debate; support eLearning stakeholders in avoiding simplistic and unidirectional visions of the future; encourage individuals and organizations to position themselves with regard to core issues for the future and develop a predictive capacity and a "transformative" (instead of "adaptive") approach.

These conclusions and recommendations taken together can be considered as initial steps towards the building of roadmaps supporting policy makers and researchers in defining a scope for action with regard to innovation in learning systems related to ICT. The "building" process will continue during the second year of HELIOS activity, thus allowing continuous refinement and a revised formulation in the second HELIOS Yearly Report.

HELIOS is now conducting the survey "eLEARNING and INTERNATIONALISATION of EDUCATION and TRAINING" and kindly request that you respond to their online survey.