e-Learning defines as:

"... the effective teaching and learning process created by combining e-digital content with local community and tutor support along with global community engagement."

Often, tutors ask a simple question like this: "Why should I use e-Learning?"

Generally e-Learning is seen as offering solutions to several challenges currently facing HE. These include the move towards lifelong learning, with its ongoing demand for continuous professional development, and the drive to widen participation. These challenges come at a time of increasing pressure on resources, and the increasing diversity in the student population and their modes of attendance, including learning that is part-time, at a distance, open or flexible, and work based E-learning can improve the flexibility and quality of learning by:

• providing access to a range of resources and materials which may not otherwise be available or accessible, for example graphics, sound, animation, multimedia;
• giving control to students over when and where they study;
• allowing students to study at their own pace;
• providing a student centred learning environment which can be tailored to meet the learning needs of individual students;
• creating an environment that promotes an active approach to learning;
• supporting increased communications between staff and students, and amongst students;
• providing frequent and timely individual feedback, for example through computer assisted assessment, and positive reinforcement;
• motivating students through appropriate use of interactive courseware;
• supporting and encouraging collaborative learning;
• supporting economic reuse of high quality, expensive resources;
• encouraging students to take responsibility for their own learning.

Is e-learning worth my time?

E-learning requires investment of time and effort in developing new skills, new approaches, and new resources: perhaps time and effort that would otherwise be spent on research. However, you can save time and effort in the long term. For example, you may create banks of flexible resources that can be reused, you may design learning activities that can be redeployed, or you may produce computer assisted assessment (CAA) that will allow you to cope with increasing student numbers with no increase in marking time. The key to improving the effectiveness and quality of student learning and making it worthwhile is to replace existing traditional modes of teaching with more active and engaging learning opportunities, delivered where appropriate by e-learning.

What will students expect?

With most 16 year old students using the Internet regularly for support with homework and 67% of 16 year olds authoring web pages, , students themselves will increasingly expect technology to play a part in their learning (DfES 2002, Becta 2002). Students also expect to be able to work and learn at the same time and, therefore expect flexible access: something which e-learning can provide. However, care must be taken to ensure that particularly mature students are catered for prior to any elearning taking place, in that they have ample opportunity to acquire these skills.

What are the benefits for the educator?

E-learning could benefit you by:

• reducing the administrative load by making routine information available online. This will release more time for other activities;
• making communication easier with individual students and groups of students;
• making it possible to use a wider range of resources that may otherwise be too difficult or expensive to use;
• reducing assessment and marking loads through the use of CAA and computer mediated communication (CMC);
• motivating and supporting students to take responsibility for their own learning;
• supporting an increasingly large and diverse student population with little increase in teaching time;
• releasing time for more active, engaging and interactive forms of teaching;
• making it easier to amend and update materials;
• contributing to Quality Assurance Agency institutional audits.

E-learning offers practical ways of dealing with some of these challenges and can help shift your role from that of teacher to a guide and facilitator of students' learning.

What are the costs and benefits?

The costs and benefits of e-learning are difficult to quantify due to the large number of variables involved. Each institution will have to decide whether the benefits outweigh the costs in its particular context. A JISC funded project at Sheffield Hallam the Costs of Networked Learning, has developed an activity based costing model for school/faculty implementation of elearning, which allows the analysis of the costs and benefits in a more detailed and systematic way. A key challenge in making this decision is that while many of the costs are specific and measurable, for example the cost of technology, and the cost of your time and the effort involved, many of the benefits are not. Perceived benefits include greater flexibility, improved access, widening participation, and increased student involvement in, and ownership of, their own learning. Therefore, while we cannot claim that teaching with technology reduces costs, it can increase the quality of learning. However, these benefits only come if e-learning innovations are carefully designed and used appropriately.

How do I get the students involved?

It must not be assumed that students who are familiar with computers are already skilled in e-learning. Even though students may routinely use computers to access the Web or for social purposes, they will not necessarily view it as a tool for learning. According to Chickering & Ehrmann (1996) there are seven key issues in encouraging student involvement in learning. They state that good practice in learning and teaching:

• Encourages contact between students and lecturers.
• Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.
• Encourages active learning.
• Gives prompt feedback.
• Emphasises time on task.
• Communicates high expectations.
• Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

eLecture

A key objective of public policy is "to influence or guide human behavior in such a way that certain governmentally (societal) prescribed goals are achieved; the goals are perceived as being in the public interest, as expressed, for example, through the democratic political process." (Hatfield 2002). In the course on Policy, Law and Institutions, the following examples of public policy goals in telecommunications are discussed:

• Expand the telecommunications sector
• Increase telephone penetration (teledensity)
• Expand the range and scope of services for citizens
• Establish and maintain reasonable rates
• Achieve compatibility with regional and/or international policy norms

Development theorists believe that achievement of the public policy goals in telecommunications have a positive impact on other sectors. In the previous modules, we have already discussed policy objectives in sectors such as health, agriculture and business. We will now consider the education sector. Its policy objectives are to:

• Improve the quality of education
• Increase efficiency
• Improve access
• Eliminate disparities between rich and poor, girls and boys, and urban and rural dwellers.

The policy objectives in education and in the telecommunications sector have similar objectives. Both aim at improving access and increasing efficiency, etc. A key question is how regulators and educators can align their policy objectives so that they reinforce each other. Questions that need to be address include: how can improving access in telecommunications improve access in education? How can increasing efficiency in the telecommunications sector benefit the education sector?
Universal Service Funds for Schools and Libraries: E-rate

A common telecommunications policy objective is universal access. In the U.S. universal service funds are set aside for schools and libraries and are administered by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company <http://www.universalservice.org>.

The following three areas of services are discountable through E-rate funding: telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections (networking). The purpose of the fund is to provide affordable access to the Internet by schools and libraries down to the "classroom" level. Focusing on transport, access, and infrastructure, e-rate does not provide content and end-user equipment. The e-rate has been a critical source in bridging the digital divide in U.S. schools <http://www.benton.org/publibrary/e-rate/greatexpectations.pdf>.

Experience in other countries: benefits of adding e to learning

The Clinton administration estimated that the National Information Infrastructure has enabled 30% more learning in 40% less time at 30% less cost and is therefore cost-effective. Brandon Hall, an industry watcher, acknowledges that companies experience a 40%-60% cost saving when comparing instructor-led education with technology-delivered courses.

In addition to bringing down costs, Corollis suggests that the benefits of eLearning include:

• Dynamism - Learners progress at the pace that suits them best, at the time that suits them best while getting the information that they need.
• Real time - Llearners have access to information that is correct and up to date through the web, information databases or university or company intranets.
• Collaboration - Learners are able to meet in a virtual space with other members and practitioner experts to discuss issues, answer questions and even participate in simulations and management games without having to leave their office or home.
• Speed of delivery - Learners benefit from learning when required, learners are able to access the right sort of training at the right time with the right people.
• Convenience -Learners have access when they want it.
• Consistency - Learners have access to the the same materials.
• Global reach - Learners regardless of where they are receive the same message and are able to engage other learners and practitioners globally.

Moreover, eLearning can be accessed at the same time (synchronous) or at different times (asynchronous).

Mason summarizes the advantages of asynchronous learning as follows:

• Flexibility - Students have access to the teaching material (e.g. on the Web, or computer conference discussions) can take place at any time (24 hours of the day, 7 days a week) and from many locations.
• Time to reflect - Students have time to mull over ideas, check references, refer back to previous messages and take time to prepare a comment rather than having to react 'on one's feet'.
• Situated learning - Because the technology allows access from home and work, the learner can easily integrate the ideas being discussed on the course with the working environment, or access resources on the Internet as required on the job.
• Cost-effective technology - Text based asynchronous systems require little bandwidth and low end computers to operate, thus access, particularly global access is more possible.

Mason also suggests four equally compelling advantages to synchronous systems:

• Motivation - Synchronous systems focus the energy of the group, thus students have an added motivation to keep up with their peers and continue with their studies.
• Telepresence - Students develop group cohesion and the sense of being part of a learning community through real time interaction that conveys tone and nuance.;
• Good feedback - Students receive quick feedback on ideas as well as consensus and decision making in group activities, thus enlivening elearning from a distance.
• Pacing - Students are encouraged to keep up-to-date with the course, requiring more discipline and in prioritizing their studies.

While research on the added value of e-learning is still at its infancy, arguments for and against e-learning can be categorized as: cognitive, educational, social, and cultural (Mason 1998). Arguments against e-learning are summarized as follows by Mason (1998):

Sven Birkerts indicates that the cognitive losses (1994, p. 27 quoted by Mason) include a “fragmented sense of time and a loss of the so-called duration experience, that depth phenomena we associate with reverie . . . a reduced attention span and a general impatience with sustained inquiry . . . estrangement from geographic place and community . . . an absence of any strong vision of a personal or collective future.” The educational argument centers on a move away from analysis, discussion, and examination towards learning that “becomes a product to be bought and sold, to be packaged, advertised and marketed.” The social argument is related to the “breakdown of community.” Finally, the cultural argument centers on the “old concerns about imperialist attitudes, the loss of indigenous cultures and the relentless imposition of Western values.”

Each of these arguments against e-learning can be turned into arguments for e-learning, particularly if the goal of e-learning is to connect individual learners, teachers, and related support professionals to information, ideas and each other via effective combinations of pedagogy and technology.

Cognitive gains from e-learning include hypertext learning which is non-linear and can be structured to engage learners into making greater use of critical thinking skills. Educational gains of e-learning include being forced to consider the requirements of learners and becoming more flexible with curriculum. Also, learners will look towards teachers for perspective, interpretation, analysis, motivation, and guidance (see for example Gilbert 2000), and teachers will expect learners to become critical users of information and to generate their own contributions to knowledge. Social gains from e-learning will strengthen community. For example, an engaged institution, as suggested by the Kellogg Commission Report, is likely to redesign its teaching, research, and extension and service functions to become even more sympathetically and productively involved with their communities; this will require a definition of community that may be both local and global; face to face and virtual. Another social gain is that educators who are using ICTs are also learning to take greater advantage of face time. For example, some teachers who are unable to meet their students require they form a community of learners and do face to face discussions about the material. Hallowell (19??) suggests that the human moment where two people talk and listen to each other in the same place and at the same time will be more highly valued and sought more intentionally and frequently. Finally, cultural arguments for transnational e-learning include engendering participation of students from different countries; an express aim to attract international participation; and multi-cultural course content, as in multi-cultural case studies in international telecommunications policy and regulation.

In conclusion, eLearning could enable students in Africa and in the US to collaborate together, to share information and ideas, to talk with peers and professionals, to focus on problem solving, and to contribute to the knowledge base.

Benefits to teachers include:

• Increased access to information,
• Getting help and ideas from colleagues,
• Connecting the classroom to the outside world,
• Increased awareness of new techniques, and
• Changing teacher’s role from delivers of information to facilitation of the learning process.

A look at how training courses will be taught in the future.

One hundred million. That's the number of Americans expected to be involved in adult or continuing education by the year 2004. Many of those individuals will be technology users who need to be trained on evolving software packages and hardware systems. A 1998 study published by International Data Corporation's Information Technology (IT) Training and Education Service projected that the worldwide IT training and education market will experience a growth rate of over 11%, surpassing $28.3 billion by 2002.

Whether these individuals are CEOs, managers, supervisors or general staff, all need to stay current in order to perform their responsibilities with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. To meet the needs of an expanding marketplace, leaders in IT training will strive to stay in touch with a basic law of teaching--take complex material and make it easy to understand. To accomplish this goal, the computer training industry needs to be aware of four escalating trends. Some of them are here already; some of them will loom larger in the coming decade. The key, however, is to recognize these trends as the foundation of standards for a rapidly changing industry.

Individualized Learning

``The initiative has shifted from the corporate structure to the student, from the trainer to the trainee,'' says Paul Swanson, president of Oasys, a corporate training firm in Toronto, Canada. ``We're talking about individualized learning for individualized applications.'' The traditional classroom setting is more expensive and less effective than self-paced training videos, CDs or intranet courses. To meet the growing demand, developers of software training packages such as Keystone Learning Systems provide convenient, cost-effective courses on video and CD-ROM which trainees can use at home or in the office.

There is still no substitute for excellence in instructional materials, nor will there be. Red Hat 6.0, an eight-part series of training videos, was especially helpful for Liz Peterson, owner of Depco Business Services in Oklahoma City. Peterson works with trainees in units of about 50 platforms each, where interactivity is essential for smooth-running sessions in a stable learning environment. Self-paced training allows the student to go as quickly or slowly through a course as the need arises. Hands-on ``see it, hear it and do it'' training solutions are the wave of the future. Peterson is an avid supporter of video-based training, especially her Keystone program, because the videos hold the attention of the trainees. She reports, ``Ordinarily, this stuff is dry, yet the Keystone videos make it interesting.''

 

The Move to the Web

The legend of the Internet is growing. On-line training will escalate in the next decade. Not that there aren't downsides here; there are. Most suppliers of training materials for hardware and software applications are moving aggressively onto the Web, trying to connect training to the world of cyberspace. The development of speedy, effective and secure Internet applications is becoming a watchword across the whole world of IT. Office applications, networking, graphics/design, finance and operating systems will be affected as companies and independent users shift en masse to the World Wide Web. Trainers and their suppliers will have to respond.

Interactivity vs. the Hierarchical Model

The computer industry practically invented the term ``hands-on''. This trend will continue. The training modules that will be in demand for effective lab work will continue to emphasize realistic configuration and administration tasks where, in effect, the learner is in the driver's seat. ``The reduction in instructional time when compared to the traditional instructor-led approach is typically in the range of 20-75%,'' wrote Verl E. Dennis in the Journal of Instruction Delivery Systems (Winter, 1994). He added: ``Interactive instruction offers a solution for minimizing training time without sacrificing desired training outcomes.''

The benefits are obvious:

·                                 no waiting for scheduled training

·                                 flexibility of access, no waiting to get to ``relevant'' bits

·                                 self-paced curricula, not at the mercy of the slowest or fastest learner

·                                 time efficiency--program stops when the trainee has mastered the skill

·                                 immediate feedback on mistakes

·                                 visual and audio aspects work together to reinforce each other

Multimedia, Voice Activation and Simulations

These three terms form a cutting-edge trend all by themselves. In IT, there is one thing that trainers and executives can reasonably expect--the unexpected. Software marketers and producers are already acting on this notion. Voice activation and recognition will begin to play a larger role in how we compute. There is also a trend in the desire for simulations. This cutting-edge technology allows the learner to ``try the job'' prior to actually ``doing the job''.

It's a matter of thinking ahead. Red Hat, Inc., which has been building the enterprise credibility of Linux for several years now, tells would-be trainers and trainees that ``staying current with technology, best practices and user communities are all essential.''

Not so long ago, Price-Waterhouse introduced a CBT (computer-based training) Multimedia program as a prerequisite for a week-long classroom course. The program reduced by 50% the time needed for users to get up to speed. The cost per learner was $760 for traditional instructor-led training, versus $106 per learner for multimedia training. Price-Waterhouse estimated that sustained use of such multimedia instruction could amount to a savings of some $10 million US.

Top Trainers

Content is important with any course, but high-quality, competent instructors are also a must. You don't send a boy to do a man's job, and you don't send an actor to represent the challenging world of network training. Along with experts in knowledge, you need expert teachers. It helps if trainers are tops in their field.

Paul D. Sheriff, a past president of the Orange County Visual Basic User Group, has more than 14 years of experience in programming business applications. ``I like to teach people real-world concepts, not just how to use the syntax of the language,'' he says. ``I stress good programming standards, how to approach problems, and give real examples that I take right from my consulting business.''

Dr. Hany Greiss works as a Senior Technical Instructor for PEAC, Inc., in Ottawa, Ontario. His teaching philosophy shows why he is a sought-after teacher and trainer. ``I say to all those I teach, do not become encyclopedias, but rather understand concepts, and when you're on the job, you can look things up.'' In hiring trainers, he says to look for people with a passion for their product, people with an eye for conveying the big picture. Small details can always be tended to in the field.

Self-Pacing a Plus

Everyone likes to learn at his or her own speed. Taking time away from an already-crammed schedule to attend a one-week seminar in a far-flung city requires lots of time and manpower. Here is where video technology comes to the rescue. For organizations that prefer quality training at a fraction of the cost of traditional classroom and web-based training or distance-learning applications, videos and CD-ROMS are an effective and creative alternative. Students are able to start, view, stop, review and start again at their own speed. Even better, there's no one in the front row dominating the lecture or asking all the questions.

Individualized learning means the freedom, if not the necessity, of learning when and where you want. ``On-line users and students need specific, detailed and often repetitive instruction,'' says Paul Swanson. One of the most valuable advantages of self-paced training over a classroom setting is that while the classroom instruction will be over in an hour or two, the videos will still be around. The material is always there if the trainee forgets a concept or application.

The Certification Equation

A 1998 study by PC Computing Business Labs found that training increases employee performance by nearly 20% and pays for itself within weeks. The Gartner Group of Stamford, Connecticut, surveyed 250 enterprise managers in 1997 and found that 93% of companies surveyed pay for certification and 89% pay for training. Alert executives are closely scrutinizing trends in certification and testing.

It's good to be realistic. Training, too, is affected by the old law of diminishing returns. Red Hat's web site puts it this way: ``Training alone is not enough to become a competent user, operator, system administrator or engineer. Good training can provide a foundation; the participant must do the rest.''

Realistic Training

Some challenges of the 20th century will remain to test 21st-century trainers. Gwen Wakal, president of the Edmonton-based Active Computer Service, a pioneer in computer training in Canada, says: ``It's still not as easy as it seems out there for one network to talk to another, even with Intranet and CD-ROM going for you.'' Training for bridge-building platforms and cross-supporting technologies will be called for more and more as software packages try to find the middle of the road between greater complexity and a call for standardization. This means that at least as far into the future as we can see, affordable, high-quality, self-paced computer training products and trainees will be a mainstay as IT enters the new millennium. ``On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate training as a 10,'' says Liz Peterson. ``Training will always be necessary,'' concludes Wakal. ``Make sure you get the best you can.''

The age of the laptop learner and the cyber-student is here. As the 1990s dawned, America's Secretary of Education warned that traditional learning methods were in a time warp when measured against the mushrooming explosion in technology. This warning has specific application for the technology training industry. Too often, the chalkboard or out-of-town seminars are still the norm. Yet in this fast-moving world of intranet and Internet education, it is vital to sort out the glitz from the gold. What's needed is a holistic and realistic look at the trends affecting technology training today and in the future.