E-learning, from being an option that was gaining steadily in popularity the world over, is fast becoming an indispensable solution now – in this Coronavirus Threat situation. With Lockdown in place almost everywhere, E-learning is the only way for Education to continue, and proceed.
This would be an opportune time to know E-learning, and E-learning Solutions all you could, so as to be able to make the most of them.
What E-learning is
Learning with the help of electronic technology for accessing curriculum related to education from sources outside of the conventional classroom is known as E-learning.
As per reports
In the year 1954, a Harvard Professor, B. F. Skinner, invented a ‘teaching machine’ that enabled schools to give students certain programmed instructions.
The world got introduced to the first CBT program – PLATO-Programmed Logic, for Automated Teaching Operations -- in the year 1960.
By the early 1990s, many such schools had come into existence that delivered online courses alone.
The term E-learning has been existing since the year 1999, when it was brought into use at a seminar related to CBT systems. ‘Online Learning’ and ‘Virtual Learning’ are also terms that are used for E-learning.
E-learning tools, and delivery methods, witnessed expansion in the late 20th century, when the computer and the internet got ‘introduced’.
In the 2000s, E-learning came to the aid of businesses, as well, when many a company decided to train their employees via E-learning.
With E-learning, material can be shared in various kinds of formats, like
Users can also choose to communicate with educators through message forums or chats. Live online classes or webinars can also be conducted.
There are a number of LMSs or Learning Management Systems and methods through which courses can get delivered.
E-learning, if not entirely free, can be an affordable solution. With the help of this solution, a learner can access knowledge and information as per his / her convenient time, and location.
The Plus Points Of E-learning
E-learning, as is evident, has several plus points. Let us look at some of the major ones, here.
E-learning can be suitable for most every kind of educator – be s/he a teacher intending to engage high-school students in ways that are more interactive, or be s/he a corporate trainer who has been hired by a company to train employees for a specific purpose.
No Constraint Of Location And Time
In the case of physical classrooms, one has to keep in mind the location and the time factor. Learners who can reach the location at the given time can attend the class; the others cannot. A certain amount of time has to be set aside for learners to travel to, and from the location, too.
In the case of E-learning, one can have access to a class from the confines and comfort of his/her residence – or almost anywhere else s/he might be. One can ‘attend’ a class in Mumbai, sitting at Chennai, and vice versa, almost any time s/he chooses to.
When the constraints of location and time are done away with, the world becomes a smaller whole, with greater, easier, quicker, and way more economical exchange of information, and education.
Virtual Interaction Can Be Safer
Virtual Interaction during Online Classes can be safer for various reasons
E-learning Can Be Economical
E-learning can enable you to ‘virtually’ attend classes almost anywhere in the world, and as many times as you would decide to. Imagine the expenditure, travel time, and formalities the exercise would involve, had you to be physically present at all these classes to learn from them. In the case of E-learning, you would hardly need to purchase books or notes, either. That saves you more money, travel, and time, going around looking for books.
You can learn through E-learning what might have taken you joining expensive courses, or paying hefty tuition fees to learn.
These are but just a few broad instances of how economical E-learning can prove to be.
Access To The Best Educators
Through E-learning, you can gain access to the lectures and lessons of the best of educators all over the world. With Video Streaming being an integral part of E-learning, you can learn from the videos of educators from almost any corner of the world. Video Streaming can make E-learning all the more effective by ‘virtually’ transporting you to certain places, situations, or scenes, to ‘illustrate’ them better. Thus, E-learning, and video streaming, can actually make Education more effective – and research can prove this, too.
Access To The Widest Range of Learners
Just as learners can gain access to the best of classes, courses, and educators through E-learning, educators, too, can find the best of, and greatest number of enthusiastic learners through E-learning platforms. Simply because E-learning, or Online Learning, can hardly be confined by geographical boundaries.
If one is thinking of spreading information as far as possible, E-learning is the solution.
If one wants to make as much money as can be by teaching / training as many students / learners as possible, E-learning is the solution.
E-learning Is Technology With The Times
Hardly any company operating today can do without the Internet. With the expansion of multinational corporations across the world, people from one country get to work with people from several other countries. When all these people from various countries need to receive a certain kind of training from the company they work for, E-learning comes into operation.
A professor can host a Guest Lecture with the help of E-learning, just with the aid of technology – cameras, microphones, etc. No one needs to leave the confines of the house for the purpose, either. The cameras and microphones can give almost the same effect as being physically present, and interacting, during a live lecture. The added advantage is that this lecture can be replayed as many times as required, for reference, revision, or even for the students who might have come in late.
The Future Of E-learning
The present is greatly – if not entirely – dependent on E-learning. Most of us are in the Lockdown situation due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and all learners can do now is take the aid of E-learning to continue educating themselves. Educators are utilizing E-learning platforms for instructing their students, and continuing with teaching. Right now, E-learning seems to be the only way one can learn, or train.
The future of E-learning, therefore, seems extremely promising; especially now that we know how helpful – even lifesaving – it can be during times when stepping out of the house could be a threat to life, and therefore, prohibited.
Over the years, up till now, E-learning had been attempting to complement our traditional and other methods of learning and teaching, to make them more effective. The result is that today there are a number of tools for the creation of
and more.
E-learning Trends
Micro Learning
Very well suited for mobile devices, Micro Learning – tending, through push media, towards push technology -- is a paradigm shift that almost can do away with the need for learning sessions that are individual, because the process of learning stays embedded in the regular routine of the end user.
Personalized Learning
This presents the learner with a choice regarding
to learn.
Personalized Learning involves the tailoring of curriculum, learning environment, and pedagogy, to suit the requirements and goals of each learner, individually. This is something broader than Differentiation, or Individualization.
Gamification
Users are engaged and problems are solved in a non-game context, with Gamification – which is the use of game mechanics, and game thinking.
Automatic Learning
Do you remember the scene from ‘The Matrix’, where Neo downloads a series of Martial Arts training programs into his brain, by strapping on a number of electrodes, while lying on a dentist’s chair? He then announces, “I know Kung Fu”. This is Automatic Learning. We are headed towards this.
We are, in fact, headed towards a lot of advancement in the sphere of E-learning; and you are most welcome to avail a free consultation with us at Ascentspark Software, if you wish to discuss E-learning, or how you could use it to its fullest, to suit your requirement the best.
Of course, we can also give customized solutions related to Learning Management System, should you want any.
