E-LEARNING: RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNIVERSITIES

The essay presents the incorporation process reconstruct of distance education in Italian experience.
The paper try to highlight the transition from modern to postmodern society, focusing both on this extraordinary change in the landscape of cultural and communication processes, and outcomes for the education system and educational and pedagogical models that govern this relationship.
The reasoning is linked in the space of intersection shared by developments in communication sciences, pedagogy and sociology of education. In fact, these disciplines are interested from the radical transformation that old and new media led in social and educational systems.
The research aim to understand, on the one hand, the potential of these techno-social environments for educational systems, on the other, relapses and new questions for a sociological reflection more attentive to new social dynamics produced by these technologies.
The reflection is primarily theoretical. We seek to trace, through these different disciplines, the effects triggered by the advent of ICT on the persons and learning systems. Then, the search is accompanied by a reflection on data of secondary nature.

We start from the idea that, despite widespread criticism immobility of education systems, and the absence of an overview about the use of these new devices in teaching practices, we register a significant tendency towards change.

On the basis of these considerations, the research attempts to:
• define the framework of experiments / use of ICT within education systems (universities and schools);
• highlight any differences in perspectives / models in use among the e-learning systems and teaching practices;
• draw a reflection of risks / opportunities, strengths and weaknesses associated with the use of such instruments / techno-social environment in educational processes.