Enter e-Learning

WHY DO WE HAVE e-LEARNING?

Arguably this is a question that does not need to be asked! So many of our day-to-day activities are now routinely technology-based, for example elec- tronic access to cash or shopping, that for a large majority if not all of us techno-familiarity is a necessity. Many people, however, remain on the other side of the ‘digital divide’, isolated by such factors as socio-economic circumstances, disability or simply a lack of interest, perhaps through per- sonal choice or other cultural influence. Electronic purchasing and infor- mation searching is all around us, and becoming more and more pervasive. For example, the word ‘google’ has become an everyday verb used to describe electronic searching, regardless of whether Google itself is the search engine being used (see Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary , 2005). Such is the pervasiveness of technology-based activities across society that there are few governments that do not have information technology- related learning programmes as part of their national educational policies. For the most part, these promote learning about the technology, how to use it and how to benefit from it. For some 40 years now, however, since the first major developments in using computers to deliver drill and prac- tice in the 1960 and 1970s, one of the most widely acknowledged benefits has been the many uses for computers in delivering education and facili- tating learning. Whether it is learning in schools, universities or the work- place, appropriately designed e-Learning approaches to any aspect of a target curriculum can provide significant opportunities for learners to create and acquire knowledge for themselves.

e-LEARNING DEFINED
There may be as many definitions of e-Learning as there are academic papers on the subject, but broadly speaking they focus on the same set of features. Take the European e-Learning Action Plan definition as an exam- ple: ‘the use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services as well as remote exchanges and collaboration’ (COM, 2001: 2). Here we have mention of electronic technologies, as vehicles for education services and resources, and as the conduits for collaboration and communication. If we may be so bold as to focus on the essentials, however, our preferred defin- ition would view e-Learning simply as:
online access to learning resources, anywhere and anytime. New opportunities, new learning environments
e-Learning offers new opportunities for both educators and learners to enrich their teaching and learning experiences, through virtual environ- ments that support not just the delivery but also the exploration and appli- cation of information and the promotion of new knowledge. The focus for any exploration of the state-of-the art of e-Learning is therefore no more and no less than the combination and convergence of the most advanced features of digital information and communication technologies, for exam- ple, live broadcasts, mobile video and audio telecommunications, three- dimensional (3D) graphics, email, the Web and object-oriented interfaces, all of which can be designed to support, create and deliver significant edu- cational experiences and environments. Concerns about a lack of face-to- face contact have given rise in some contexts to a mix of e-Learning, which may be ‘at a distance’, and more conventional face-to-face learning in the classroom; a process entitled ‘blended learning’. e-Learning enables learn- ers to have as much choice as is practically and economically possible. e-Learning takes place in online environments that range from providing information to engaging the learner in complex interactive simulations. Managed learning environments have been developed to provide an elec- tronic solution to managing the complexity not just of the learning.

e-LEARNING: CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE
environment (resources, online tutorials, discussion groups, assignment submissions, and so on) but also of the records of the learners’ biographi- cal details, examinations and assessment profiles, and the courses they have taken. Very often the students will have access to all this information through unique personal identifiers, while those who facilitate their learn- ing (teachers, lecturers and so on), and those who administer it, will also have appropriate access privileges. Within the learning environment, the students can learn together in e-communities, for example in virtual learn- ing environments (VLEs) or multi-use object-oriented environments (MOOs – more about these later). Interaction is supported by ‘asynchro- nous’ communication tools such as email and discussion boards – where ‘asynchronous’ simply means that they are not happening in the same time frame. An email, for example, is a one-way communication that can be answered immediately or later in a one-way response when the receiver reads it. ‘Synchronous’ tools, such as chat rooms and shared whiteboards, offer the immediacy of two-way communication and are also powerful vehi- cles for the interaction that the learning environment supports. The learn- ing experience itself can be very varied, perhaps involving the student in lectures provided by video, in manipulating simulations or in interrogating an expert system. By virtue of the medium, the learning activities can be tracked and assessed using online tools which are also embedded in the environment. Information is everywhere, sometimes more accessible than at other times. For example, compare the information disseminated freely by orga- nizations through their websites with the information stored by organiza- tions which have to be forced to make it available to the citizens who ‘own’ it. Access is often through legal devices such as the Freedom of Information Acts in the UK and the USA, the Data Protection Act in the UK and the Privacy Act in the USA. Technology has allowed the creation and dissemination of information on an unprecedented scale and with unprecedented ease. Government has expanded to e-government, commerce has expanded to e-commerce – and learning has in turn expanded to e-Learning. Technological advances have extended the dimensions of the information used and provided by social institutions (government, commerce, leisure, education and so on) and have revolutionized the processes that make the information meaningful or amenable for professionals and ordinary


By : rizdanny