E-Learning:

Advantages & Disadvantages

Mohammad Hussein Kaveh

PHD in Health Education
 Why e-Learning?

“There are two great equalisers in life - the internet and education.
By combining the two, e-learning will be the great equaliser in the
next century. By eliminating barriers of time, distance, and socio-
economic status, individuals can now take charge of their own
lifelong learning.”

John Chambers CEO of CISCO systems

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 Advantages of e-Learning
• E-learning is more cost saving & cost effective
than traditional learning;

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 Comparison of Relative Costs

140
120
100
80 eLearning
Relative costs

60 Traditional

40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Years

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 Comparison of Relative Costs

140
120
100
Relative costs

80 eLearning
60 Traditional

40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Years

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 Relative Costs

800
700
600 Per Capita Relative Costs
500
400 eLearning
300 Traditional

200
100
0
<50 c.200 >500

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 Relative Costs

800
700
600 Per Capita Relative Costs
500
400 eLearning
300 Traditional

200
100
0
<50 c.200 >500

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• Diminishes problems related to in-classroom

teaching of audiences
• Learning times reduced, an average of 40 to
60 percent,
• Increased retention and application to the
job averages an increase of 25 percent over
traditional methods,

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• Expert knowledge is communicated, but

more importantly captured, with good e-
learning and knowledge management
systems.
• Access by learners to teachers and
resources, worldwide
• Aiding equal opportunities
• Immediate access to information

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 Advantages of e-learning

• Self-pacing
• Users learn at their own pace;Learner can
control What to learn, When, Where, and
How.
• It reduces stress and increases
satisfaction.
• You can revise a topic as many times, fast
or slow, as you like, until you understand
it.

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• On-demand availability
• Enables students to complete training
conveniently at off-hours or from home.
• Interactivity
• engages users, pushing them rather than pulling
them through training.

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• E-learning encourages students to take

personal responsibility for their own
learning.
• Empower students to be accountable for
their own study
• Helps students develop skills for self-
directed learning.

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• Training occurs in small parcels; a

programmed instruction approach
• When learners succeed, it builds self-
knowledge and self-confidence in them.
• Developing skills and confidence in handling
difficult tasks and problem solving

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• Flexibility
• E-learning has the advantage of taking
class anytime anywhere.
• E-learning delivers teaching material and
learning activities in a flexible format.
• Potential to develop tailored
personalised learning resources (the
adaptive curriculum).

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• E-learning offers individualized instruction,

which print media cannot provide, and
instructor-led courses allow clumsily and at
great cost.
• In conjunction with assessing needs, e-
learning can target specific needs.
• Information can be displayed on a need to
know basis.

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 Advantages of e-Learning
• Proof of completion and certification, essential
elements of training initiatives, can be
automated.
• By E-learning measurable assessments can
be created
• Users get certificate for their learning, not
for their attendance in the training session

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• Collaboration and teamwork

• Making Learning Communities;
• Efficiency gains through shared
endeavour

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• It accommodates different types of

learning styles.
• By using learning style tests, e-learning
can locate and target individual learning
preferences.

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 Advantages of e-Learning

• More efficient training of a globally

dispersed audience, by e-learning.

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 Disadvantages

• Technology issues of the learners

• Technophobia
• Unavailability of required technologies.
• Limited access to a computer as well as
the Internet.
• Required computer skills especially for
beginners;

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 Disadvantages

• For beginners, it has been reported that

confronting computer technology was
more stressful and consumed more time at
the beginning of a course.

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 Disadvantages

• Feeling isolated and missing social contact

• Feeling that they communicate largely with
a machine rather than other human beings
• Possible inadequate opportunity to discuss
and interact with teachers

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 Disadvantages

• Portability of training has become a

strength of e-learning, but still does not
rival that of printed workbooks or
reference material.

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