Online and e-Learning

Issues and Benefits

Advantages and disadvantages of online learning. This lists below can assist in enabling course developers to assess the pros and cons of Web-based education and help to decide if online learning can improve education delivery and assist students.

All that glitters is not gold: Online delivery of education and training
This report sets out to examine contentious issues in online learning, such as perceived threats to the teaching profession, the extent to which alleged advantages for students and teachers can be justified, pedagogical questions, teacher professional development, and so on, and identifies a set of preconditions necessary for the effective use of ICTs in the learning environment.

The changing faces of virtual education
This article from the Commonwealth of Learning is a detailed report on changing trends and developments within the field of online learning. It particularly examines the implications of these changes for the developing world.

e-Learning growth and promise for the developing world
The author of this article describes the growth in online education, citing the US military online degree programme as an example of how pervasive e-learning has become. The article then offers data supporting the effectiveness of such courses, data that bodes well for the urgent educational reform needed by much of the developing world.

Leapfrogging over the status quo: e-Learning and the challenge of adult literacy
It is worth signing up for free to be a member of this site; once logged on, paste the above title into the search field. This report examines the potential of e-learning to respond to the shortcomings in a. basic adult literacy and b. the systems in place to prepare workers for the demands of the modern work place.

Real Cases/Examples

China: Lifelong learning and the use of new technology
This article describes the responses in China to the growing demands for education for the elderly. The author outlines the emergence of the University of the Third Age, with centres springing up all over China, and their use of new technologies, specifically the Internet and TV.

Open and distance learning in the Gobi desert: non-formal education for nomadic women
Mongolia provides an interesting case study of online and distance education in a country undergoing rapid economic and political transition. This paper describes the country’s first open and distance learning project specifically for non-formal education, and considers the lessons of the project for future programme developers and policy makers.

SchoolNet India.com
SchoolNet India is a rich learning resource centre, with a range of projects, lesson ideas, free downloads and collaborations. There are separate portals for teachers, parents, students and principals, and it also links to Nalanda, a not-for-profit trust that is devoted to online education especially for students with learning disabilities.

Connecting, learning and collaborating globally — the Singapore scenarios
This overview of the state of the online learning environment in Singapore looks to the future to suggest two possible scenarios for future developments, broadly described under the headings ‘government initiated’ and ‘enterprising Singaporean’ approaches.

Korea: Virtual education at the tertiary level
Korea recently embarked on a pilot project to explore the possibilities of online education and to identify standards and policies for running a virtual university. This article describes the findings of that study, noting that the emerging online institutions are not competing with traditional universities but offering lifelong vocational education schemes.

Online community for researchers and students of Asynchronous Learning Networks
The focus of this site is online courses which emphasise class discussions. It aims to increase the quality, quantity, and dissemination of results of research on the effectiveness of Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN).

Pillars in online curriculum projects
This paper outlines research and good practice in the management and delivery of online curriculum projects at the school level, based on a case study of a large national project in Australia.

Skills development through distance education
This book, containing case studies on delivering online training courses from Africa, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, India and the United Kingdom, can be downloaded entirely in Acrobat. Articles include ideas for traditional on-site only institutions to develop online and distance learning programmes.

Students’ distress with a Web-based distance education course
By focusing on specific cases of student anxiety due to communication and technical difficulties during online courses, this study aims to isolate and remove potential pitfalls, to improve the online learning experience.

Virtual training suite
This site contains a set of free online tutorials for students, lecturers and researchers wishing to improve their Internet literacy and IT skills. Courses include tutorials in using the Internet for all major subjects, from humanities, life and social sciences to business, law and engineering.

Distance-Learning

Some examples of sites that provide useful information on e-learning for teachers and educators:

www.aft.org
www.dlrn.org
www.edutools.info
www.futured.com
www.govhs.org
www.nacol.org
www.ncrel.org
www.nea.org
www.prelonline.org
www.rtec.org
www.wascweb.org