eLearning

Introduction and Planning

Written By,
Tushar B Kute,
Lecturer in Information Technology
(K. K. Wagh Polytechnic, Nashik – 3, Maharashtra, INDIA)
Email – tbkute@gmail.com

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 Abstract

Electronic learning or E – Learning is a general term used to refer to

computer-enhanced learning. It is used interchangeably in so many contexts that
it is critical to be clear what one means when one speaks of 'E – Learning'. In
many respects, it is commonly associated with the field of Advanced Learning
Technology (ALT), which deals with both the technologies and associated
methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies.
Classrooms are boring. Today students feel school is not challenging or
interactive enough. It has been said that there are two reasons why we learn;
some leaning is essentially forced on us while the other is what we sit back and
enjoy. E-Learning has brought back the joy in learning through its innovative and
interactive content and delivery.

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 1. Introduction
The old correspondence courses were the first Distance Learning courses
but with the advent of Internet in the eighties, E – Learning became new mantra
for delivering higher education courses over really long distances.
The Internet opened new possibilities and now any type of learning
content, be it for school, graduate or masters level, employee training, research
activity or any other type of academic offering is called E – Learning.
E – Learning has already established its credentials and its popularity can
be gauged from the fact that delivery is not restricted to just plain text but has
crossed boundaries to video creating virtual class rooms via video conferencing.
The introduction of a variety of technologies has made it possible to convert it
from impersonal to highly interactive medium of pedagogy (the art and science of
teaching). Training in key business and professional skills in today’s competitive
environment cannot be ignored if you want your employees to develop and help
drive the growth of your company.
The worldwide E – Learning industry is estimated to be worth over 38
billion euros according to conservative estimates; although in the European
Union only about 20% of E – Learning products are produced within the common
market. Developments in internet and multimedia technologies are the basic
enabler of E – Learning, with content, technologies and services being identified
as the three key sectors of the E – Learning industry.

2. Goals of E – Learning
E – Learning lessons are generally designed to guide students through
information or to help students perform in specific tasks. Information based e-
Learning content communicates information to the student. Examples include
content that distributes the history or facts related to a service, company, or
product. In information-based content, there is no specific skill to be learned. In
performance-based content, the lessons build off of a procedural skill in which the
student is expected to increase proficiency.

3. The Future
According to Market Data Retrieval (MDR) two thirds of colleges and
universities offer long distance learning courses and the number of institutions
offering accredited degrees have increased to 55%. New varieties of E –
Learning have emerged with help and push from emerging technologies. Besides
distance learning now there is distributed learning. This term describes the
educational experiences of individuals and groups that are distributed over
geographies and cultures using variety of media delivery methods. This has
moved education beyond the classroom to more interactive information by joining
learning and experience together. This is developing into learning communities
with their own focus on various branches, cultures and sub-cultures. It is a mind
boggling explosion of information that is now available with lot of imagination and
little effort. With collaborative tools E – Learning is moving into virtual classes and
virtual communities where the old methods of practice and test have melted into
new interactive teaching-learning methodologies.
Tuition on line has taken a new meaning where a varied help is now
available both free and paid for on demand on any subject instantly. This has
relieved pressure both on the teacher and the students. Future learning is now

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focusing on learning beyond the classroom and curriculum. Companies need to
upgrade employees by offering re-training programmes. These are both costly
and time consuming. By designing these programmes and content via E –
Learning methods both time and money are saved. The innovative method is also
self promoting as it increases the curiosity level of individuals for self promotion
and career enhancements.
In the technical field too doctors and other professionals are getting a fair
chance for keeping abreast of developments and discoveries and even
participation in these activities through interactive delivery processes. Looking
further, this being the global market era, the consumer is being made aware of
immense openings, opportunities and bargains through this method. Medical
tourism is one recent example of e-Learning where serious information and fun
have been mixed for delivery of marketing content.

4. E – Learning tools
E – Learning is a concept of learning electronically using the internet. This
type of learning is particularly successful for higher studies or corporations. There
are many tools used in the E – Learning procedure. They are:

Web Blog
A blog short for ‘web log’, is a user-generated website where entries are
made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. The term
"blog" is a mingling of the words web and log. Blogs provide comments or news
on a particular subject, some function as more personal online diaries. The
modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running
account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists,
journalists. Blogs can be hosted by dedicated blog hosting services, or they can
be run using blog software, such as WordPress, Movable Type, blogger or
LiveJournal, or on regular web hosting services, such as DreamHost.
Social book-marking
Social book-marking is a web-based service to share Internet bookmarks.
The Social book-marking sites are a popular way to store, classify, share and
search links through the practice of folksonomies techniques on the Internet.
In a social book-marking system, users store lists of Internet resources
that they find useful. These lists are accessible to the public or a specific network,
and other people with similar interests can view the links by category, tags, or
even randomly. Some allow for privacy on a per-bookmark basis.

Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, edit and change
content, without the need for registration. It also allows for linking among any
number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an
effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.
A wiki enables documents to be written very collaboratively, in a simple
markup language using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a
“wiki page”, whiles the entire body of pages, which are usually highly
interconnected via hyperlinks, and is "the wiki". A wiki is an uncomplicated, easy-
to-use user-maintained database for creating, browsing and searching
information. In a wiki pages can be created and updated easily.

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RSS
RSS is a web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital
content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts, vodcasts etc. Users of RSS
content use software programs called "feed readers" or "feed aggregators". The
user subscribes to a feed by entering a link to the feed into the reader program.
The reader can then check the user's subscribed feeds to see if any of those
feeds have new content since the last time it checked and if so, retrieve that
content and present it to the user.

Podcasting
Podcasting is a fusion of two words: iPod, Apple’s popular digital music
player, and broadcasting. Podcasts are basically digital audio programs that can
be subscribed to and downloaded by listeners by RSS (Really Simple
Syndication). It can be accessed on an array of digital audio devices, like MP3
players, desktop computer, laptops, mobiles etc. They can be easily produced
with any computer having a soundcard, microphone, recording software and an
Internet connection. Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download
or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media
formats by its ability to be downloaded automatically.

Instant Messaging
An instant messaging application allows one to communicate with another
person over a network in relative privacy. There are many options like Google
Talk, Skype, Meetro, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and AOL for
instant messaging. You can add associates to a contact list or buddy list, by
entering their email address or messenger ID.

Text chat
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and other online chat technologies allow users
to join chat rooms and communicate with many people at once, publicly. Users
may join a pre-existing chat room or create a chat room about any topic. Whether
you are in another person's chat room, or one you've created yourself, you are
generally free to invite others online to join you. This facilitates both one-to-one
communication and many-to-many interaction.

Internet forums
Originally modeled after the real-world paradigm of electronic bulletin
boards of the world before Internet was born, internet forums allow users to post
a "topic" for others to review. Other users can view the topic and post their own
comments in a linear fashion, one after the other. Most forums are public,
allowing anybody to sign up at any time. A few are private, gated communities
where new members must pay a small fee to join for example, the Something
Awful Forums.
These E – Learning tools are a practical, inexpensive and uncomplicated
method for learning online. They are available to one and all and are great for
propagating E – Learning.

5. Need for e-learning

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 New values: In the old days, corporate value and value creation were
defined principally through material and financial assets. Nowadays a premium is
put on intellectual capital. To retain their competitive edge, organizations have
started to investigate which training techniques and delivery methods enhance
motivation, performance, collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to life-long
learning.

New technologies: The life of knowledge and human skills today is

shorter than ever, mounting the pressure to remain up to date with ones
education and training throughout a career. In the age of globalization and
technological revolution, four-year degrees are just the start of a forty-year
continuing education. Life-long learning is quickly becoming an imperative in
today’s world.

Competitive Edge Corporations: view learning as a competitive weapon

rather than a bothersome cost factor. Business success depends increasingly on
top-quality employee performance, which in turn requires top-quality training.
Corporate executives now understand that developing employee skills is the key
to creating a sustainable competitive lead.

Cost Effective: In the run to remain competitive in today’s labor-tight

market, companies are exploiting advances in technology to train employees
rapidly, effectively, and at less expense.

Globalization: As trade borders become less significant, global

competition intensifies. International expansion has led to larger and more
complex corporations. Today’s businesses have more locations in different
countries and employ larger numbers of workers with diverse backgrounds and
educational levels.

Abundance of information: More information has to be delivered in

increasingly bigger organizations, testing internal planning, logistics, and
distribution. Corporations worldwide are now in search of more innovative and
competent ways to deliver training to their geographically dispersed workforce.

6. Types of E – Learning

There are fundamentally two types of e-learning: synchronous training and

asynchronous training.
Synchronous, means "at the same time," involves interaction of participants with
an instructor via the Web in real time.

Asynchronous, which means "not at the same time," allows the participant to
complete the WBT at his own pace, without live interaction with the instructor. A
new form of learning known as blended learning is emerging. As the name
suggests it is an amalgamation of synchronous and asynchronous learning
methods.

Asynchronous Methods

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Embedded learning: Embedded learning is information that is accessible on a
self-help basis, 24/7. It can be delivered to the place of work, or to mobile
learners. Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) is a type of embedded
learning. The advantage is that embedded learning offers learners the
information they need whenever they need it.

Courses: The clear advantage of a self-paced course is convenience.

Participants can get the training they need at any time. This can include just-in-
time training where a participant gets exactly the training he or she needs to
perform a task.

Discussion groups: A discussion group is a gathering of conversations that

occur over time. They are also called message boards, bulletin boards and
discussion forums. Discussion groups can be used to support a group of
participants taking the same class or can be used to support participants
performing related tasks. A discussion group is a very competent way to supply
expert answers to a large group people. A single answer to a common question
can help many.

Synchronous Methods

Virtual classroom: Virtual classroom duplicates the features of a real classroom

online. Participants interact with each other and instructors online .instant
messaging, chat, audio and video conferencing etc.
Blended Method: Most companies prefer to use a mix of both synchronous and
asynchronous e-learning methods according to their requirement.

7. Effective E – learning

E-learning consumers expect programs that include the same inventive

tools and techniques used in the computer gaming industry (like graphics,
interface, and skill-building challenges) to deliver a learning experience that's
gripping, informative, and fun. Games have a lot to teach us about creating
effective learning. One must use the rules and parameters of authentic situations
to test the learner in actual tasks in virtual situations. Give the learner "game
situations" in which the learner must apply specific knowledge to a specific
situation. The learning content should be designed with a lucid story line and
interactive drills that are appealing and relevant to course aims. Ideally, a
computer game and game based e-learning experiences should leave the
participant free to make choices that directly impact the conclusion of the story
line.
For instance, an E – Learning program might establish the following set-
up--Your Company is at a turning point, and you must choose a strategy that will
help distinguish it in the marketplace. The strategy you choose will recommend
the investments you need, the employees you hire, and the clientele you pursue.
As events unfurl, you may alter your strategy, suffer the penalty of poor
decisions, and reap the rewards of good decisions. Despite the result, the story
line provides familiar frames of reference for all players and can make possible
individual or group learning at any scale.

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 Another important factor is to offer the same learning without the game
format to anyone who wants it, so that no one is obligated to play a game they do
not like. If trainees can switch in and out of the game format at will and still
continue the learning path, many will start with the game and later switch out,
while some will start without the game, investigating it only after they get jaded
with the non-game learning approach.

Benefits
Research shows that people learn better when they are comfortable and
having fun. Excellent teachers, all through the ages have known this and used
fun, play and games as part of their teaching strategies. It is possible to teach not
only facts, but judgment, logic, behavior, skills, safety, ethics, etc. through well-
designed games.
The key is to coalesce the engagement power of games with the content
we want people to know at the conclusion - designing games which are fun, but
unlike many commercial games, not frivolous.
Making something enjoyable does not make it frivolous, and can make it
much more memorable. Bankers Trust uses a Doom-style game (with the
aggression removed) for policy training. PricewaterhouseCoopers uses a game
for tricky and serious product training. The Boston Consulting Group uses a
game to connect clients in the business development process. Games are part of
important medical and legal training. . Gaming develops temperament of play,
flexible attitudes and innovative thoughts. Today the importance of games in
teaching is well realized and respected in the E – Learning industry.

E benefits in Corporations
E – Learning is very effective in industries such as financial services,
entertainment, health care, government, and education. E – Learning provides
communication, delivery of information, and efficiency of business practices
which have tremendous and long-term benefits.
• E-learning can be a highly-effective delivery mechanism for training
courses, where:
• There are a number of students spread over a large geographical area.
• Qualification is global in nature.
• A corporate client requires confidential discussion among learners.
• Managers want to track (and record) effectively the progress of individual
learners.
• It is cost and time saving.

E-learning helps in optimizing

E – Learning is great for optimizing.
• Optimizing sales channel – Increase in tempo of sales force development.
Getting channel partners up to speed on new products, learning to sell
solutions instead products.
• Optimizing customer relationships – helping and educating customers to
learn and teaching them how to use products.
• Optimizing the workforce –learning new business models, up gradation,
instant product information, learning new techniques and better
communication.

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 • Optimization of learning- You can use the same software for 10 people as
well as for 1000 people. It can be customized and paced according to the
learners need.

Effective Corporate E – Learning Program or LMS

LMS or learning management systems is a software package that enables

the management delivery of online content to learners. There are many corporate
LMS, but an effective LMS must incorporate features such as
• Auto enrollment of learners in courses according to predefined criteria,
such as job title or work location.
• Manager enrollment and approval
• Boolean definitions for prerequisites or equivalencies
• Integration of performance tracking and management systems
• Planning tools to identify skill gaps at departmental and individual level
• Curriculum, required and elective training requirements at an individual
and organizational level
• Assigning and grouping learners according to geographic region, product
line, business size.
• Assign corporate and partner employees to more than one job title at more
than one demographic unit
If a corporate wants to succeed in today’s rat race it will need an army of
well-informed, sharp and educated workers. To create this army the best and
most cost effective and time saving tool is E – Learning. In the era of information,
learning is the ultimate survival tool. So to make your workers proficient achievers
E – Learning is the only solution.

8. Accrediting Organizations for E – Learning

The evolution of the Internet and other technologies has led to incredible
growth in opportunities to teach and learn, away from the traditional classrooms.
The Internet has brought E- learning that offers many advantages: it is
convenient, accessible at any time and can be used from nearly anywhere in the
world. E- Learning created a number of programs and platforms, but only a few
have gained accreditation. The importance of Accreditation is that it sets certain
standards by which students, professionals, government bodies, and the general
public know that a program or institution provides a quality education. The four
main accreditations are AICC, IEEE, ADL and IMS Global Consortium.

AICC
The Aviation Industry CBT (Computer-Based Training) Committee –AICC,
is an international organization that trains technology-based professionals. The
AICC develops guidelines for aviation industry in the development, delivery, and
evaluation of Computer-Based Training and web based training technologies
9WBT). AICC has developed guidelines to enable interoperability and provide an
open forum for the discussion of CBT and WBT other technologies. These
technologies are the basis for many e-learning programs. Its computer-managed
instruction (CMI) guidelines have had a great influence on shaping e-learning.

IEEE

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 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), is an international
organization that develops technical standards and recommendations for
electrical, electronic, computer and communication systems. The Learning
Technology Standards Committee (LTSC) of IEEE provides specifications that
address best practices. The most widely accepted is the specification of the
Learning Object Metadata (LOM). LOM defines element groups and elements
that describe learning resources.

ADL
Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative was formed as a developer
and implementer of learning technologies across the Department of Defense
(DoD). ADL encourages the implementation and advancement of E – Learning, to
develop the standards, tools and learning content for the learning environment of
the future. The most widely established ADL publication is the ADL Shareable
Content Object Reference Model (SCORM).

IMS Global Consortium

IMS GLC is a global, nonprofit, association that provides in the shaping
and growing of learning and educational technology industries through
collaborative support of standards, innovation, best practice and recognition of
superior learning impact. IMS GLC focuses on the use of metadata to address
content packaging; this is used to define how an LMS communicates with back-
end applications and content objects. Since it is a non-profit organization many of
its standards are made available on its website at no fee.

9. Converting to E – Learning
When moving to e learning, you must judge how to adapt classroom
material to successful e learning experiences. Assets such as: slides, lectures,
handouts, exercises, and motivational stories must be converted. Converting
resources online can be challenging. Some conversion may involve simply
switching to a file format; others may call for you to reconstruct the asset in a
completely new form.

Tools to Convert Assets

To decide which tools to use when, start at a common beginning: judge
your training objectives, including what degree of performance you're looking for
and how you'll evaluate achievement. Always select a delivery technique that will
allow you to evaluate the achievement of the objectives. If you cannot evaluate
performance with a particular delivery technique, then it's the wrong one for you.

Video
The easiest way to convert lectures is to videotape the trainer, digitize and
compress the film, and post the clip onto a streaming-media server. This method
is suited to very simple learning needs.

Audio
Audio has some advantages over full video. High-quality audio files are
smaller and need less bandwidth than even poor-quality video. Try out with
various settings to produce a file that the trainee can download and play easily.

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Inserting the sound into a multimedia program, like Macromedia Flash, will take
care of the compression.

Slides
Slide presentations have been the support of most training classes. Before
altering classroom slide presentations for use in an online lesson, assess the
complexity of slides, such as animation, transition, sounds, and other special
effects. If you’re using PowerPoint slides, the simplest solution is to use the Save
as HTML command. This selection creates a linked series of Web pages
analogous to the slides and lets developers target certain browsers. You may
want to add features. For example, to include voice narration, use the Record
Narration command.
Handouts

Courses normally use handouts, textbooks, and assign library readings. All
reading can be converted to electronic form. Adobe Acrobat PDF permits users to
distribute copies of any document that can be printed. Creating PDF documents
necessitate Acrobat publishing software, and trainee must have the free Acrobat
Reader program. Acrobat documents can be simple imitations of their paper
equivalent, or you can add hypertext links, thumbnail images of pages, sounds,
and other multimedia.

Interaction
This includes Tests. Macromedia Authorware and CourseBuilder for
Macromedia Dreamweaver offer regular test templates, including true-or-false,
multiple choice, drag-and-drop, and text entry.

Practice exercises
Many courses include laboratory sessions or other practical activities.
Remember that online versions need to exercise the decision-making processes
rather than imitate the classroom activity. This kind of activity needs no
technology other than plain HTML and a Web browser.

Simulated tasks
Sometimes it's too complex or expensive to have trainee interact with the
actual system. Essentially, a fundamental simulator is a linked series of image
maps of the various dialog boxes. Correctly performing a step, such as clicking
on a tab or button, displays the next panel or dialog box in the procedure.
Simulation uses Dynamic HTML and JavaScript programming. Tools as
Macromedia Director, Authorware, and Flash help developers to build excellent
interaction by automatic scripting.
Discussion forums
The majority of Internet server packages include a component to sustain
discussion groups, and similar software is often included in browsers or email
readers.
New software programs have made life much easier for developers and
facilitators of e learning! Interactive exercises, testing, collaboration, and content
development are significantly simplified. What used to take days/weeks can now
be done more quickly - with modest or no coding/programming skills required.

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 10. Indian angle of E – Learning

Till last decade, India was known as the rich country of poor peoples. But,
this Indian image has now been changed due to emergence of Information
Technology in India. Though, India is one of the giant in IT industry, this
technology has not reached to the common people effectively. We have not
changed our mind to use Information Technology as the learning media. Several
organizations are trying to introduce Information Technology in learning. But, this
process is not that much fast. Engineering education institutes, boards and
councils has taken initiative to learn via process of E – Learning. Due to the
growing population of India, there is a vast scope for E – Learning
methodologies. They can be implemented effectively. In several states, E –
Literacy is also made one of the factors of education. Youth population of India is
growing fast as compared to rest of the world. They are expected to increase the
effective use of E – Learning methods in education. It seems that India is moving
from Gurukul to Macaulay’s education system to the world of E – Learning.

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