After recently watching “behaviours in e-Learning” by Ray Jimenez I realised that in under a session of three minutes I had suddenly learnt something new, something for free and all from the comfort of my office space.
It seems e-Learning is evolving rapidly and that more and more people are being educated as a result. With e-Learning on the rise and more and more reliable sources available online for users to substitute their face-to-face learning, we should consider how this impacts on our culture. Specifically in terms of how we have changed our learning habits and in turn what the effects are both positive and negative.
E-learning
Before looking at how e-Learning has impacted users on a cultural level we must first have a comprehensive understanding of what e-Learning is.
E-learning can be defined quite simply as “learning using electronic means” but in more depth it is any knowledge gained from using the internet or electronic data bases whether it is recreational or academic.
By using online material like interactive graphics and simulations one can learn from the comfort of one’s home or office; e-Learning eradicates time and space constraints of ‘real time’ learning and in effect lets the user learn at their own pace.
E-Learning, according to Kevin Kruse, creates “unique opportunities” due to a rise of e-Learning such as “more efficient training of a globally dispersed audience; and reduced publishing and distribution costs as Web-based training becomes a standard.”
Effects of e-Learning
According to Dusti Howell, who writes on effective e-learning, one of the effects felt most by people who learn online or spend time online at all is the ‘depressed and lonely’ effect. This has been determined by a study with technology giants such as Intel, Hewlett Packard, AT&T Research, and Apple Computers.
This effect is just a ripple of the most re-occurring argument against spending too much time on the internet: users depriving themselves of interacting in the ‘real worlds’ resulting in anti-socialisation due to substituting real world interaction with online interaction.
By substituting a trip to the library for example, a student merely has to go online to Google Books or the Library’s online journal catalogue eliminating the chance of seeing students with similar interests or advisors that could help them. I happen to use the online method of research far more than actually going to the library and it has resulted in making me far more efficient as I save on time and avoid getting distracted.
This ‘depressed and lonely’ affect may be common but from what I can tell, living in a fully socialised environment means I only use e-Learning tools when I need to and socialise in the ‘real world’ beyond that; I therefore cannot seeing myself or my colleagues or friends getting this effect unless they eliminated ‘real world’ interaction all together.
Kevin Kruse also discusses "collaborative learning" and how e-Learning is argued to not be able to compensate for a traditional, group learning setting through communication’s technology. However, with things like “well-delivered synchronous distance education, and technology like message boards, chats, e-mail, and tele-conferencing” it is hard to argue that e-Learning at the very least hasn’t considered this issue and trying to combat it with such technology and online functionality.
By accepting that e-Learning can never fully replace the value of traditional learning we can look at these differences and try to accommodate them. E-learning and its advantages far outweigh the few disadvantages discussed and should be considered in all organisations and institutions to make learning more accessible to all.
