E-LEARNING AND ITS PROSPECTS

E-LEARNING AND ITS PROSPECTS
Revolutions have always begun from the world of words and ideas. It comes as no surprise that education is breaking all predefined boundaries to weave its own attractive web in the Internet. The term “E-Learning” was coined in the late 1990s to describe the use of technology to deliver learning and training programs. E-Learning is a term that means something different to almost everyone who uses it. Some think only of web-based self-study while others realize E-Learning can encompass real-time learning and collaboration. E-learning is the unifying term to describe the fields of online learning, web-based learning, and technology-delivered instructions. E-Learning does not require physical classroom attendance. Via the Internet, the learning experience is delivered to the user personably and effectively. We are all familiar with classroom-based learning (c-Learning) which is face-to-face group learning led by an instructor or subject matter expert. In E-Learning environments learners interact with learning materials, their instructors and other learners from various locations and often at various times using network technologies. It has been said that there are two reasons why we learn; some leaning is essentially forced on us while the other is what we sit back and enjoy. E-Learning has brought back the joy in learning through its innovative, interactive content and delivery.
Definition
The development of the E-learning revolution arose from a number of other ‘educational revolutions’. Four such revolutions are :
l The invention of reading & writing.
l The emergence of the profession of teacher/scholar.
l The development of moveable type (print technology).
l The development of electronic technology.
E-Learning is the effective learning process created by combining digitally delivered content with (learning) support and services. It can be defined as;
l The convergence of the Internet and learning, or Internet-enabled learning.
l The use of network technologies to create fosters, deliver, and facilitate learning, anytime and anywhere.
l The delivery of individualized, comprehensive, dynamic learning content in real time, aiding the development of communities of knowledge, linking learning learners and practitioners with experts.
Research indicates that students generally appear to be at least as satisfied with their on-line classes as they are with traditional ones. Developments in internet and multimedia technologies are the basic enabler of e-learning, with content, technologies and services being identified as the three key sectors of the e-learning industry. Many higher education’s, for profit institutions, now offer on-line classes. By contrast, only about half of private, non-profit schools offer them. Online education is rapidly increasing, and online doctoral programs have even developed at leading research universities. Learners learn better through use of clear headings, limited distracters, visuals, screen-friendly fonts, appropriate white space, web safe colours, etc. Unlike the conventional distance education program that has no direct link between the teacher and the student, online education provides ample space for interaction. The learner takes centre stage to pace the learning process, while the instructor assumes the role of a coach, encouraging the learner to achieve the learning objectives. Online learning, which incorporates tools like video conferencing, audio streaming and chatting, is gaining opinion among the student community for its flexible structure which allows them to access lessons and take tests from anywhere in the world.
E-learning can include indepen-dent, facilitated, or collaborative approaches to learning. Independent learning refers to each individual learner completing learning activities or modules on their own, in their own environment, on their own schedule. Facilitated learning is designed to be completed through interaction with instructors or coaches. There are several ways this can work, for example, a learner might complete a section of learning on-line then discuss key concepts via e-mail with the instructor or with classmates. Collaborative learning relates to working with other learners in an on-line environment. For example: an e-mail discussion with other learner’s on a particular topic or everyone posting to a bulletin board or course room.
Technology
E-Learning can make use of a wide range of technologies and media. These technologies can be categorized by delivery media or interaction tools.
Delivery Media
l Print (texts, study guides and workbooks are still very common in online learning courses.)
l Audio (Streaming audio - Used to deliver the instructors comments over any network and audio tapes)
l Video (streamed, video, cable TV)
l Data (web pages, CBT computer files, online tests, interactive tools)
Interactive tools
E-learning has been broadly divided into two categories; the Asynchronous (not existing at the same phase) method, which is devoid of any virtual class room interaction or time stipulations and the more popular, Synchronous method, in which the members exist in the same time phase in a cyber class room. The latter is preferred due to its convenience, liveliness derived from regular interaction and for the motivation factor. Flexibility, time to reflect, situated learning and cost effective learning are the advantages of asynchronous learning while motivation, good feed-back and pacing are the advantages of synchronous learning.
Asynchronous :
1. E-mail : Used for questions and discussions.
2. Web Forums : also called discussions forums or bulletin boards. They are probably the most common form of interaction in online courses.
3. Newsgroups : Public forums that use the Usenet system.
4. BBS : a computer bulletin board that you dial like a web forum + email + file transfer.
Synchronous :
1. Chat Rooms : can be either moderated by an instructor of un-moderated for class use.
2. Shared Whiteboards : allow class members to write on the same digital white board.
3. Application sharing : The same program and file can be shared for demonstration or collaboration.
4. Teleconferencing : Could be used to deliver instructor audio, or for collaboration.
5. Videoconferencing : Either from expensive, high quality, dedicated systems, or from less reliable desktop versions.
6. MMOs & MUDs : Virtual worlds where users take on avatars and interact in various ways.
Why E-learning
E-learning lessons are generally designed to guide the students through information or to help students perform in specific tasks. Information based E-learning content communicates information to the student.
There are lots of good reasons to consider an online E-learning program:
l Online learning is more affordable than traditional classroom learning, with savings of 60% or more.
l Online courses can be taken in multiple sittings and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — to better acco-mmodate your busy schedule.
l Online learning is as mobile as you are! Your learning can take place on the road, in the cafe, or any other place you have an internet-accessible computer.
Prospects
As per William Glasser;
“We learn…….
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss with others
80% of what we experience personally
95% of what we teach someone else”
Prospects of E-learning can be summarized as follows;
l Dynamism - Learners progress at the pace that suits them best, at the time that suits them best while getting the information that they need.
l Real time - Learners have access to information that is correct and up to date through the web, information databases or university or company intranets.
l Collaboration - Learners are able to meet in a virtual space with other members and practitioner experts to discuss issues, answer questions and even participate in simulations and management games without having to leave their office or home.
l Speed of delivery - Learners benefit from learning when required, learners are able to access the right sort of training at the right time with the right people.
l Convenience - Learners have access when they want it.
l Consistency - Learners have access to the same materials.
l Global reach - Learners regardless of where they are receive the same message and are able to engage other learners and practitioners globally.
Future of E-learning
The world is shrinking rapidly. The Internet has brought the world together in ways that nobody would have expected. You can now attend a college half way around the world, with students from any country with Internet access. Knowledge is expanding at a tremendous rate. Just-In-Time learning that meets the needs of individuals as they occur, makes learning more meaningful and effective. It will be heartening to know that the Indian E-Learning industry is estimated to grow up to $182-billion by 2009. The Indian government has also taken significant steps towards dissemination of information through a number of e-Learning projects, not only for rural students but for the community at large.
Conclusion
E-Learning has created a new dimension in education, both within and beyond the curriculum and is still looking at further opportunities of becoming more useful via new emerging technologies. We are really on the threshold of new opportunities and this is just the beginning of a new horizon of education. The power of e-learning lies in its potential to provide the right information to the right people at the right time and place, and not only due to its “anyone, anyplace, anytime model”. Technology advance-ments will continue to reshape learning over the Internet with increasing use of streaming, TV-quality video and simulation-based e-learning. The same technology is bound to make major inroads in schools in the coming years. One of the clearest directions that e-learning has taken in the last few years is in the development, promulgation, and adoption of a range of technical specifications and standards for e-learning. The creation of technical specifi-cations and the development and adoption of technical standards are key activities ultimately underpinning the success of e-learning globally. World over, the online education market is booming, and surveys by leading market research firms indicate that online education will follow an upward moving graph and that more and more institutions, organizations and individuals will implement this mode of learning. As per the recent remarks of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, 11th five year plan will be dedicated to “National Education”, clearly indicates the future of e-learning in India in coming years.


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The perfect blend
Blended learning offers us the best learning methods from the world of traditional learning and that of
e-learning.

he styles of teaching and learning nowadays go far beyond traditional pedagogic efforts within the four walls of the classroom. During the past couple of weeks we had discussed the significant aspects of e-learning. It may be a standalone-style under certain circumstances. But it can be effectively combined with elements of traditional learning methods.
Such a combination is called blended learning. In other words it integrates e-learning techniques, including online delivery of materials through web pages, discussion boards and e-mail, with traditional teaching methods, including lectures, in-person discussions, seminars or tutorials.
Such multiple approaches are often employed in the training of professionals engaged in vocations such as management. Language teaching also gainfully employs this style to a large extent. Blended learning may even include m-learning (mobile learning) that takes place via wireless devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or laptop computers. Sometimes the terms hybrid learning and mixed learning are used instead of blended learning.
Though e-learning stands for electronic learning, it has, as we have seen, come to mean learning using the computer and Internet.
The concept
One may argue that blended learning is not a new concept. Teachers have been using multiple resources for teaching - textbooks, audio/videotapes and different kinds of projectors, laboratory experiments, workshop tasks, tests and examinations, apart from face-to-face classroom instruction. The only new element is perhaps e-learning.
In the modern environment a proper blend may cover properly organised events such as face-to-face instruction from a teacher, online lessons, discussions either online or in a physical group of participants, seminars, or online communities.
The demands of new technologies and the 24/7 global environment cannot be satisfied with the only source of classroom instruction, with its inherent limitations. Blended learning on the other hand is an evolving process for the development of human capital.
It may be noted that the style is more employed in industrial or business environment for training rather than in conventional school-level teaching, although it can be applied in any situation. The concept of learning and development has become more important than training and development. Although there is a lot of talk about knowledge management, knowledge-bases strategy is often more about nurturing people with knowledge.
For achieving success with blended learning, there has to be considerable enthusiasm and commitment - much more than in organising a classroom lecture. But once you have jumped into the water, you are in a process with great potential. The boundaries are global. The resources are boundless.
A great merit of blended learning is that it can cater to individual preferences in learning style. We know that shirts tailored to suit individual measurements are far better than the `free size' shirts we may buy from a readymade shop. The case of learning is similar. In normal institutionalised learning environment there is no such option. Peter Honey and Alan Munford, experts in learning styles, have classified learners into four categories - Activist, Reflector, Theorist, and Pragmatist. Their attributes are briefly indicated below.
Activists
· Activists learn best when:
· Involved in new experiences,
problems and opportunities
· Working with others in
business games, team tasks,
role-playing
· Being thrown in the deep end
with a difficult task
· Chairing meetings, leading
discussions
Activists learn less when:
· Listening to lectures or long
explanations
· Reading, writing or thinking
on their own
· Absorbing and understanding
data
· Following precise instruction
to the letter
Reflectors
Reflectors learn best when:
· Observing individuals
or groups at work
· They have the opportunity to
review what has happened
and think about what they
have learned
· Producing analyses and
reports doing tasks without
tight deadlines
Reflectors learn less when:
· Acting as leader or role
-playing in front of others
· Doing things with no time to
prepare
· Being thrown in at the
deep end
· Being rushed or worried
by deadlines
Theorists
Theorists learn best when:
· They are put in complex
situations where they have to
use their skills and knowledge
· They are in structured
situations with clear purpose
· They are offered interesting
ideas or concepts even though
they are not immediately
relevant
· They have the chance to
question and probe ideas
behind things
· Theorists learn less when:
They have to participate
in situations that emphasis
emotion and feelings
· The activity is unstructured
or briefing is poor
· They have to do things
without knowing the
principles or concepts
involved
· They feel they are out of tune
with the other participants,
for example with people of
very different learning styles
Pragmatists
Pragmatists learn best when:
· There is an obvious link
between the topic and job
· They have the chance to try
out techniques with feedback,
for example role-playing
· They are shown techniques
with obvious advantages, for
example saving time
· They are shown a model they
can copy e.g. a film or
a respected boss
Pragmatists learn less when:
· There is no obvious or
immediate benefit that they
can recognise
· There is no practice or
guidelines on how to do it
· There is no apparent payback
to the learning, for example
shorter meetings
· The event or learning
is `all theory'
Most of you have in you the elements of more than one learning category. You can think and find out your strongest style and your weakest style to identify how you learn best. The optimum strategy can be adopted in each individual case.
Make the best
Each one of you is a different person in the matter of learning preferences. The learning style that suits you best may be chosen by each one of you by ensuring effectiveness.
What are the different steps that you should undergo to achieve this goal? The first requirement is accepting the possibility of styles that are different from what is currently being followed by you. Some of you may have an obsession that the style you have been following is the best. The need and quality of learning in a particular situation should determine the most suitable style. Blended learning providers have to offer learning solutions and delivery systems to meet diverse requirements. Tailoring to meet the customer needs would involve offering a wide range of options and necessary coaching support.
In the world of changing patterns of educational effort, the best styles of learning have to be adopted by those who desire to maintain their competitive edge in various professional fields. The days when one could survive successfully for decades on the strength of educational assets and qualifications acquired in early life are over. Updating knowledge and skills in your preferred fields is indispensable for professional success. Blended learning is a blessing in achieving this objective.


Learning from the computer screen
E-learning is bound to play an increasingly important role in the education scene in the coming years.

Often, the e-learning process involves four steps: material being presented, practised, assessed, and reviewed. The progressive steps are adapted from experiential education theory, which forms a strong foundation for effective learning.
These can be explained as follows:
New materials such as theory and practical skills are introduced.
Participants practise the application of the newly presented materials.
They assess their work.
They reflect and review the lessons learned. This will influence the next progressive iteration of the learning cycle.
Elements involved
E- lectures: introduction of concepts and techniques.
Discussion forum: enables online interaction. Posting of questions as well as responses.
Expert guidance: clearing serious doubts or giving answers to questions. There can be an online `mentor' who will provide answers to your queries. This ensures personalised instruction wherever needed.
Network treasury: a catalogue of websites that can be of special help in handling specific topics. Sometimes, referred to as `course documents.'
Local learning tutor/facilitator, for face-to-face guidance, especially for developing practical skills.
Group activities: group discussions, seminars, learning circles and partnership activities. This ensures interaction among peer groups, thereby easing the pains of isolation in the educational effort. Communication of this kind will add substantially to the efficiency of learning. Students who have lived in hostels do know how much and how well they learnt from healthy interaction among their hostel mates.
There will be concerns regarding the efficacy of e-learning in comparison with conventional classroom face-to-face teaching. It has been established that well-planned and executed e-learning has been effective; further, it has proved to be a blessing to those who have no opportunity to engage themselves in the conventional mill of institutional rigours. The pace of learning can be determined by the learner to suit his taste and convenience. The framing of curricula and syllabi, and flexible schedules may have to be different from those of routine institutionalised academic programmes.
E-learning is interactive and dynamic, though the setting is different from that in a college or school. The capabilities and talents of the best teachers are made to benefit thousands of students stationed in various locations.
Periodic assessment and evaluation of students, and remedial steps are easily arranged.
As in on-campus education, benchmarks can be kept in respect of curriculum construction, syllabus review and updating, institutional contribution, student assessment, teacher assessment and so on to ensure quality in the teaching-learning process.
The tremendous advantage in e-learning has been brought out by an expert thus: "Internet-based work allows collaborators to communicate any time from anywhere to any place. People from different parts of a building, State, country, continent or the globe can exchange information, collaborate on shared documents and ideas, study together, or reflect on their own practices."
It is estimated that several millions of students undergo e-learning at the global level, and that there is a 25 per cent growth in the number of e-learners.
In India also, e-learning is an emerging trend. The Indian Space Research Organisation has taken the initiative for e-learning in institutions such as Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. There has been help from Carnegie Mellon University.
Two deemed Universities, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani and the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, have taken initiatives in e-learning — the former in the field of technology and the latter in management. Organisations such as GurukulOnline Learning Solutions have done work in the field of e-learning.
While evolving any e-learning format, four basic pedagogical perspectives have to be kept in mind for achieving effectiveness, from an educational standpoint:
Cognitive perspective — cognitive processes involved in learning.
Emotional perspective — emotional aspects of learning such as motivation, commitment and fun.
Behavioural perspective — skills and behavioural outcomes of the learning process. Application to real life/on-the-job settings.
Social perspective — social aspects which stimulate learning, interaction with others, peer support, and peer pressure.
Online-only colleges
Online-only colleges have emerged, though at a slow pace in the west. They mostly focus on areas such as management, accounts and law. There are claims of superiority of digital delivery beyond the podium. It is a moot point; conventional face-to-face learning has, of course, its own merits.
The following quote is relevant. "A face-to-face human conversation, the sort for which dinner tables and traditional seminar and meeting rooms are designed, is a spatially coherent, corporeal and strictly synchronous event. The participants are all present in the same place, everybody hears the words as they are spoken, and replies usually come immediately. The telephone and talk radio have allowed them to be dispersed spatially, but have not altered this condition of synchrony."
In spite of this superiority of conventional classroom instruction, e-learning is sure to play a significant role in the Indian education system in the years to come.
The fact that the aspirants of higher education in the country are far greater than the seats available in the conventional institutions give force to the development in this sector. Those who live in remote areas, or are employed but interested in continuing education, will find the blessings of e-learning a great boon in their career advancement.


The blessings of e-learning
The wonderful world of E-learning has given education another dimension. Explore the different facets of e-learning.

Times are changing fast. We know of the Indian Gurukula style of education, wherein the disciples lived in the house of a great teacher or the Guru. The Guru and his wife treated them as the members of the family. The sishyas or disciples had lifelong personal indebtedness to the Guru. With the changing social modes, education became institutionalised.
The relations between the teacher and the students once considered as sacred and unique perhaps degenerated for various reasons. They gained commercial overtones, even though there are exceptional instances of wholesome relationships between the teacher and the taught being maintained even after the latter finish their studies.
The advent of technology combined with the educational needs of the people brought about significant changes in the delivery systems of teaching and learning. We had in some detail discussed certain aspects of distance learning in the earlier series. Let us now look at e-learning or electronic learning, which may sometimes be employed in distance education as well.
Confusion in definitions
You may not get a uniform answer if you ask different experts to define e-learning. Although concepts and approaches differ, there is a common philosophy among those who practise different styles of e-learning. It may be remembered that e-learning is not static; even the terms involved change at a fast pace. Some of the terms and concepts relating to e-learning are:
Asynchronous Learning
Computer based training (CBT)
Computer-Assisted Instruction
Computer-mediated communication
Cyber learning
Blended learning
Distance Education
Distance learning
Distributed learning
Internet Education
Multi-modal Instruction.
Online Education
Online learning (OL)
Open distance learning (ODL)
Technology based learning
Virtual Education
Web based training (WBT)
The implications of some of the important terms are indicated below. In distance education, the teacher and the student are separated by geographical distance. Various gifts of technology are used to bridge the gap. Online education allows the study of higher education courses through the electronic medium of the Internet, using personal computers or other devices of communication. Access to study materials, reference papers, journal articles, and contact with tutors / fellow students are through the use of personal computers and telecommunication devices. There will be great flexibility in the matter of duration of study as well as the location of the student.
In other words, learning is asynchronous; it can be anywhere anytime. Computer-Based Training involves interaction with a computer, using courseware. Computer-Mediated Communication may encompass the use of chat rooms and video conferencing as well. In Computer-Assisted Instruction, the computer may give you drills as in the preparation of entrance tests in a competitive environment. Virtual Education invariably uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) to deliver educational programs.
In asynchronous learning the students may combine self-study through the Internet with other modes such as chat or laboratory practice to suit personal preferences. Blended learning merges net-based learning with face-to-face instruction. We shall discuss blended learning in some detail separately.
We may however accept the simple definition of e-learning as "the delivery of formal and informal learning and training activities, processes, and events through the use of electronic media like Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN / WAN, CD-ROM, audio / video tape, satellite broadcast, DVD, interactive or other TV, cell phones, personal organisers, etc." There may be local tutor support.
The foregoing description emphasises that anyone attempting e-learning should necessarily develop skills in handling digital material. Computer proficiency and efficiency in Internet browsing are the prime requirements.
Often people imagine that whatever is available on the net can be easily found through search engines. This is a misconception. The plight of a student who looks for specific information on a particular topic may be similar to that of a stranger pushed into a dense forest and asked to locate a particular tree.
Once he is in the wrong path, he may wander endlessly without ever reaching his target. Let us illustrate the difficulty involved. A popular search engine offers 112 million sites for oxygen and 4460 million sites for management. The art of narrowing down the number of sites to suit our specific need calls for considerable knowledge and skill in browsing. E-learning permits among other things access to the richest sources of information and meaningful interaction on the content of the lessons among people at different centres. The convergence of the Internet and learning enables easy accessibility, and opportunity to people and organisations to keep up with the rapid changes in the world, and gain from the latest trends in technology.
Online learning normally uses only Internet / intranet / LAN / WAN learning; it excludes the use of CD-ROM. E-Learning is a broader term compared to online learning.
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Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional
The following list was inspired by eLearn Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lisa Neal's blog post "Ten Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes To Be a More Successful e-learning Professional." We'd like to offer the "Web 2.0 Edition" of Lisa's list:

Listen to a conference presentation. When you run across conference presentations while reading your RSS feeds (EDUCAUSE Connect is a prime source, as is OLDaily), save the conference site as a bookmark and revisit it to hear a presentation.
Record a 10-minute presentation about something you are working on or learning about, either as audio (use Odeo) or video (use Ustream), and post it on your blog.
Do a search on the title of your most recent post or on the title of the most recent thing you've read or thought about. Don't just use Google search, use Google Blog Search and Google Image Search, Amazon, del.icio.us, Technorati, Slideshare, or Youtube. Scan the results and if you find something interesting, save it in del.icio.us to read later.
Write a blog post or article describing something you've learned recently. It can be something you've read or culled from a meeting, conference notes (which you just capture on the fly using a text editor), or a link you've posted to del.icio.us. The trick here is to keep your writing activity to less than 10 minutes—make a point quickly and then click "submit."
Tidy your e-portfolio. For example, upload your slides to Slideshare and audio recordings to Odeo and embed the code in your presentation page. Or write a description and link to your latest publication. Or update your project list.
Create a slide on Zoho. Just do one slide at a time; find an image using the Creative Commons licensed content on Flickr and a short bit of text from a source or yourself. Add this to your stick of prepared slides you use for your next talk or class.
Find a blogger you currently read in your RSS reader and go to their website. Follow all the links to other blogs in their blogroll or feedroll, or which are referenced in their posts. Well, maybe not all the links, or it will take hours, not ten minutes.
Write a comment on a blog post, article, or book written by an e-learning researcher or practitioner.
Go to a website like Engadget, Metafilter, Digg, Mixx, Mashable, or Hotlinks and skip through the items. These sites produce much too much content to follow diligently, but are great for browsing and serendipitous discovery. If you find something interesting, write a short blog post about it or at least a comment.
Catch up on one of your online games with a colleague—Scrabulous on Facebook or Backgammon on Yahoo. Or make a Lolcat. Or watch a Youtube video.

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