Higher education
Online learning
Online learning or Electronic learning (e-Learning or eLearning) is a type of Technology supported education (TSL). The general idea is that rather than a tutor the student learns by using instruction through computer technology.
In some instances, no face- to- face interaction takes place at all. E-learning is used interchangeably in a wide variety of contexts. In companies, it refers to the strategies that use the company network to deliver training courses to employees. In many cases the company might have several required courses and also several voluntary courses. The application which trains and tests the employee might be placed on the companies LAN or it might in fact be supplied by a third party vendor from their website.
In the United States, it is defined as a planned teaching/learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies. Again e-learning’s main avenue is via the Internet or more specifically the world wide web.
Lately e-learning has been used to very great effect delivering courses or programs of study where the students rarely, if ever, attend face-to-face classes. Many colleges have rolled out extensive online learning applications to widen their appeal to users worldwide.
The worldwide e-learning industry is estimated to be worth over thirty-eight (38) billion euro. Although in the European Union only about 20% of e-learning products are produced within the common market. Developments in internet and multimedia technologies are the basic enabler of e-learning, with content. The vast majority of courses are concentrated in the IT, Programming and computer skills areas. E-Learning is a catch-all term that covers a wide range of instructional material that can be delivered on a CD-ROM or DVD, over a local area network (LAN), or on the Internet. However most internet users would probably expect that whatever medium they use the application serving the course would be backed up by online updates and testing.
By 2006, nearly 3.5 million students participated in on-line learning. This only counts those in accredited third level education in the United States. This has now been taken up to a very great degree by employers in the first world and developing nations such as India where in many cases there is a statutory obligation for employers to train their staff in several areas. These course might be ‘health and safety training based’ or they could also be ‘rights and responsibilities’ based. Governments tend to increasingly place the burden of training on the employer who must then supply training to employees. In this context e-learning has been a very great time and money saver from an employers perspective. Large employers specifically can see a return on their investment through the employers login to their training center. They can train, set up, schedule and award certification to employees without even leaving their seat.
Many higher education institutions, now offer on-line classes. However the ‘for profit’ institutions have been able to adopt the technology more quickly than state universities and public education systems.
E-learning is naturally suited to distance learning and flexible learning, So another benefit of e-learning to employers is that the employee might log in at home and continue learning on time which the employers is not paying for. Tests carried out in the UK suggest this to be the case. If incentives are offered almost all employees with internet access at home opted for online as opposed to traditional training.
e-Learning can also refer to educational web sites such as those offering learning scenarios, worksheets and interactive exercises for children. The term is also used extensively in the business sector where it generally refers to cost-effective online training. Companies such as Thirdforce which are one of the market leaders in B2B online training can handle many tens of thousands of students. This makes Thirdforce and companies like it one of the largest online training and teaching establishments in the world.
Higher education
Online learning
Source by Mick Wright
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