An ecological model of e-learning in a Chinese context: critical reflections of five years’ practice of e-learning management in the BIOE

The paper presents critical reflections of five years’ hands-on experiences of setting up and managing an e-learning institute, the Beiwai Institute of Online Education (BIOE). It first spells out the Chinese educational context towards the end of the 20th century. This is followed by a critical review of the national ICT initiatives taken by the Ministry of Education, BIOE being part of the programme. The initial theoretical assumptions that underpinned the setting up of BIOE are analysed. The five years’ practice functions as a natural testing period, as it were, of the assumptions. Although the testing was in no sense equivalent to hypothesis testing experiments carried out in a laboratory, some valuable theoretical and practical implications are drawn. Also presented is an ecological model of e-learning, a holistic approach to e-learning, which is an outcome of the five years’ practice.