eLearning and eTraining: Is there an option for me?

So far here we've covered some of the details of eLearning and eTraining. With this particular post, though, I’d like to take a step back and cover what specifically eLearning is and which eLearning options are currently available in the educational marketplace. If you’re like me you’re likely to be surprised at what is available and how broad our eLearning options really are.

To begin with, when you see or hear the term eLearning, the first thing that probably pops into your mind is perhaps something along the lines of online education. While online education does makeup a significant portion of what the term ‘eLearning’ represents, there’s certainly much more to it than that. For starters, the letter “e” in eLearning (as we've discussed in class) means electronic, and many technological devices are encompassed in that one simple character and term. For instance, long before online education developed through applications like Moodle or Black Board, institutions were using things like video cameras, VCRs, and telephones to help facilitate instruction. The first electronic instruction I remember receiving was when I was in elementary school. We had a Spanish teacher that loved to use video tapes (VCRs seem so dated) to aid her instruction, and I also had a few teachers that liked to use Laser discs to break the monotony of regular lecture. Given that telephones, VCRs, and Laser Discs aren't extremely modern technologies, eLearning and eTraining isn't some new concept. Newer, more widely used technologies like the internet and video communication applications have, however, helped make eLearning and eTraining more adaptable to time, distance, location, and availability and because of that eLearning has really evolved greatly over a relatively short period of time.

With that in mind, there are currently a wide range of options out there as to where and how one can receive instruction on either an expansive or limited, free or costly basis. Currently, teachers are using web applications that some of us use on a social level, like Skype and YouTube, to integrate with devices like white boards and programs like Power Point or Prezy in efforts to conduct a simplistic yet unconventional learning environment. Don’t take my word for it, just take a little time to search around for videos that are out there on YouTube that can and have been answering a wide array of questions pertaining to whatever you can think of. Just last spring I had an economics teacher use some YouTube videos as supplemental instruction to help “sink in” some concepts that were a little harder to grasp in one lecture. At the same time, instructors are also finding more ways to use email to communicate lessons: an eLearning tool I’m sure you probably forget about when thinking on what eLearning or eTraining is about.

Comparatively you probably aren't aware of just what all is out there and available and the different methods of teaching used by instructors all across the globe. For instance, I bet you weren’t aware that currently in just about every state in the U.S. you can receive a kindergarten through 12^th grade education completely online (from the comfort of wherever you chose) through an educational software company entitled K12. K12 plays host to both public (free) and private (pay) accredited education avenues where, much like home schooling, kids can advance at their own pace.

Similarly, there are applications and software out there like Coursera, edX, and Udacity that offer online courses through high ranking universities like MIT, Stanford, Harvard, the University of Michigan, Princeton, and a few others. The one drawback to the majority of the courses offered through these educational mediums, however, is that completion of said courses cannot be substituted for college credit for a comparative course at most traditional colleges and universities in the U.S. As a matter of fact, some states are fighting against online education altogether. Instead, what you’ll receive upon completion of one of these courses is a certificate presented by the instructor and the mere value that you've received from taking elite courses from some of the most elite universities in the nation. Perhaps that doesn't sound like much incentive, but close to 3 million registered users of these programs seem to think that being given the option to take these courses, at their own leisure might I add, from such prestigious institutions for free presents just enough value to garner their participation in this growing educational market.

By and large, eLearning and eTraining is growing at a rapid rate, and much of that is to be contributed to the advances in technology that have enabled distance learning and online education in general. Still yet many pundits are adamant in their beliefs that even though eLearning has become a huge aid to educators at every level, it could never completely take the place of the conventional, classroom setting. Perhaps they’re right; maybe they’re wrong. Whatever may be the case, it still should be very interesting to see what such a growing industry will look like when my kids (who have not even been conceived yet) are where I am now. Given that Coursera, edX, and Udacity all three are in their infant stages with neither having been in existence more than 3 years, there’s definitely much to be expected in the future.

So, what are your thoughts? Could you see the conventional classroom fading into non-existence? Why or why not?

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K12_(company)

http://www.k12.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELearning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera

http://www.coursera.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EdX

http://www.edx.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udacity

http://www.udacity.com