Through a process of mutual capacity building among active researchers in Europe, America and Australia and those in the developing world, educational researchers will be in a virtual community of expertise developed on the basis of Salmon's (2003) 5-stage model of community building. Knowledge built up will be shared and transferred to the wider community of practitioners in other higher education institutions all over the world. The process seeks to meet educational needs beyond conventional distance learning programme design and delivery, and provides for flexibility of content, learner support and development needs in a variety of cultural, social and economic contexts.

In accordance with the guidelines laid out in the Modalities for organizing the work of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) document, the proposed community of expertise is committed to:

1. analyzing existing and on-going research, programmes and practices in e-learning and distance learning, with a view to identifying best practice and developing guidelines, standards or templates for dissemination;
2. sharing knowledge and findings of research studies on cutting-edge, new or emergent issues in higher education;
3. identifying technological or organizational transformational solutions in order to overcome barriers to development using Information and Communication Technologies in the higher education sector; and
4. actively seeking opportunities for, and facilitating, multi-stakeholder partnerships and resource sharing in research into e-learning and distance learning education.