Introduction
No one is ambivalent about e-learning. Both e-learning enthusiasts and e-learning skeptics present strong arguments to support their contrasting viewpoints.Yet, caught up in this debate, we sometimes lose our focus on what is most important: ensuring that learning programmes are inextricably linked to improved performance. What is the most effective approach to learning? How can we ensure our own learning programmes are best-structured to drive enhanced performance?Brian Sutton, Chief Educator at QA, explores the merits of e-learning and Blended Learning and provides insight into how we can enhance the knowledge, skills and attitude of our teams.
What do we mean by e-learning?
e-learning is a term that elicits strong emotions, you either love it or hate it – no one is ambivalent. This is hardly surprising as we have all experienced learning of some form and are therefore experts, we know what works and are at a loss to know why anyone can see things differently. But before we go too far, lets pause for a moment to make sure we are clear about what e-learning is, for only then can we discuss what it may become. When we talk about e- learning what do we mean? Most people probably think about attempts to replicate the classroom experience on screen. This is what I call tell and test, the pedagogy employed is to provide information followed by examples, then simple testing to check comprehension and memory. There is probably also summative test at the end.
Advanced packages may have a pre-test which provides fast tracking through the material for those who have already achieved some of the objectives. This is certainly e-learning, there is a lot of it about and it can be very imaginative, highly visual and graphically pleasing. However, one must question the advisability of taking the pedagogy of the Victorian classroom and applying it unchanged to a computer presentation. But what about other forms of e-learning? There are many other examples of good e-learning, some share this pedagogy and others are based on alternative models. I would certainly class Virtual classroom as being e-learning, here we use an asynchronous audio visual collaborative tool to provide real time discussion and application sharing. The key to the effective use of this particular tool lies in its enablement of collaboration – a key adult learning process.
But what about some less obvious uses of technology, do they also merit the label e-learning. I think specifically of test preparation environments, simulations and video role plays, video games, Internet books, e-labs, discussion boards and forums, free text search engines such as Google. Some of these may at first glance not fit into your definition of e-learning but they certainly fit into mine – for all of them connect people with either other people, repositories of knowledge or opportunities to experiment with varying parameters. For me these are all most definitely Learning opportunities. The problem is that a lot of what we call e-learning is actually e-Teaching. Imagine what the world might look like if in we were to utilize the incredible opportunities that the e world gives us to produce stimulating learning environments. Once you stop thinking of instructing or teaching and concentrate on the process of learning – all sorts of possibilities open up.
Deepa Singh
Business Developer
Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com
Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com
Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com
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