It’s been a long time since the term “e-learning” has been thrown around. However, there are still so many people out there who are not familiar with it. They don’t know what e-learning is and how it can help them in being successful. This blog post is here to offer you a brief yet profound introduction to e-learning. If you want to know what it is, how it has grown up to be a part of so many lives and whether e-learning is the future of education or not, go ahead:
What is e-learning?
The physical presence of students and teachers in classrooms was the only known thing up until the early 2000s. Any other types of education pattern were destined to be questioned. However, this scenario changed drastically when the world welcomed computer evolution. It brought a remarkable change in the learning conventions.
Basically, e-learning is a computer-based educational system that helps people to learn anytime, anywhere. In its initial stages, it was delivered through a blend of computer-based methods such as CD-ROM. Later on, the Internet happened and the rest is history. We got so many technological advancements that today, the geographical boundaries are bridged within a blink. Today, students can gain knowledge from their desired school, college or university at the comfort of their home without any disruptions. All they have to do is to use some online tools or gateways to get real classroom experience.
Due to the amazing performance of e-learning systems, online classroom learning is flourishing like never before. E-learning is making it possible to share a wide range of materials easy. It has become a super-easy task to share videos, documents, PDFs, word documents and slideshows and several other formats worldwide.
Many large and small educational entities are adopting e-learning methods and offering expert help online to students across international borders. They enhance the quality of e-learning by imparting knowledge through webinars (live online classes), and communicating via messages, and chat. In all, e-learning has made its place in our world, and it’s going to change the way we think about classroom learning. There is no exaggeration in admitting that e-learning is the future of education.
How E-learning has turn into a “big thing” in the last decade?
Online learning has made it bigger because it serves people in all the right ways. Students adopted this on a huge scale not only because of the easy availability of course materials. There are several online training practices which turned it into a “big thing” in the last decade and still ensuring that e-learning is the future of education:
Supportive community
E-learning establishments and teachers encourage a strong sense of community amongst the online students. It enables students to connect with each and other, with mentors and teachers. Also, it helps them to use the resources in the best possible way by managing online classes.
Interactive activities
It is crucial to include interactive activities so that brainstorming can take place. The more students will brainstorm the better they may research on a certain topic. Thanks to the advent of the internet which has made live class and courses a reality. Through these live courses opened up a lot of possibilities. Students can attend live courses and finish their coursework offline. This enables them to reach the roots of a particular skillset and subject.
Effective usage of resources
The way teachers and students have used and are currently using available resources is flourishing e-learning to a great length. Just scroll on the web for a while and you will be able to track down many online services offering access to data, for example, Wikipedia. To get the maximum benefits, both the parties do optimum and complete use of a plethora of resources available online. Teachers across the globe never fail to use access to plenty of information to enhance their teaching ways and they often redirect students to such web resources. This practice also foretells that e-learning is the future of education.
Clear expectations
Generally, the students are aware of what they will gain from online class instructions. Both teachers and students agree on a method of communication and delivery of core syllabus. Disagreements barely take place, For example, the professor might want to share study material via e-mail. But, a student asks “take my coursework online on the e-learning site only”. Things may get confusing and hectic. Fortunately, such situations do not result in serious clashes and are sorted at initial levels. This co-ordination (when adopted on a big scale) ruled out the possibilities of mishaps and made e-learning successful.
E-learning is here to stay
So far in this article, we have reminded you that e-learning is the future of education because it gives so many benefits and people are actually practising ways to make it better than before. Apart from this, there are yet other reasons why we can say that e-learning will continue to flourish.
Computer ownership is growing and making e-learning more accessible and viable for students in all corners of the world. Internet connections are getting better every year with increased speed and data usage. This is further raising more opportunities for multimedia training. Mobile networks are also improving on a consistent basis resulting in better telecommuting. All these awesome things become even more fascinating with portable devices like smartphones.
On the other hand, there is no denial of the fact that e-learning is expensive and time-consuming. It may still not be at its best. However, we can make it more measurable and effective. There are several trends that are giving us views on how e-learning is the future of education. Some of them are gamification, personalized learning, and micro-learning. They help in creating better interactive courses, standardizing the learning process and incorporating informal elements to the overly-formal learning process. Thus, we can happily conclude that e-learning is here to stay.
