E-Learning: The Social Impact of E-LearningEddie Soto MCCNM 336 Fall 2003
With the birth of the Internet many forms of information and mediums have been brought to peoples attentions. With all the advances with the Internet comes online education (e-Learning). Online education has a social impact on forms of learning and teaching. E-Learning brings both the positive and negative aspects of the quality and availability of education one may receive. There is an impact that e-learning has on education and what universities must take in to produce a good quality of education, and how a university may reject e-learning. E-Learning is the convergence of the Internet and learning. It requires the use of network technologies to create, cultivate, deliver, and assist learning at anytime and anyplace. It involves the availability to learn in real time, aiding the progress of communities of knowledge, with the linking of learners and experts. With the rapid changes in the Internet world, e-learning must deliver accountability, accessibility, and opportunity for the people and organizations. With all this, people and organizations are competitive and are able to keep up with the rapid changing global economy. Though no matter what, e-learning must have a good design and a delivery system to do all these things. The design must have excellent navigation and organization, a good layout, high quality content, and superior bandwidth capabilities (worldwidelearn, ND). The resource has to be delivered entirely online via the web, chat, email, audio, video, or tele-classes. It also has to be available for the adult learner's worldwide (worldwidelearn, ND). E-Learning can transform education at every point. It can make high-class and quality educational experiences obtainable to those whose location, economic, and personal positions have prevented them from pursuing their educational goals (Cheese, 2003). When it comes to e-learning, most interpreters focus on the “e” rather than the main focal point being learning. All designers must research how people learn and how they acquire and retain skills and information. A study done that would help produce a good e-learning website is that of How First-Year University Students Use and Regard Internet Resources, by John Lubans. The study had asked students questions such as: frequency use of the web, skill levels in web use, learning about the web, staying current with the web, view of the library as a location for web access, comparative use of print and digital resources, class room experience/outcomes in using the web sources, experiences while learning in the web environment, and finally trusting the web (Lubans, 2003). When all this is achieved then the “e” and learning could be combined. The Positive Aspects of E-Learning. There are many factors on how e-learning could benefit the student with availability, active involvement, accessibility, and affordability. As stated in Ulrich Boser's article in a U.S. News magazine, one may look for e-learning simply for the reason to get away from the distraction of empty-headed remarks one may find in the classroom. Boser stated that a student Fran McCall enrolled in the University of Maryland-University College online courses to get away from the distracted acts in the classroom. With that she found that typing brings in more mature intelligent discussions, which help her learn more effectively (Boser, ND). Availability is a huge plus in e-learning which Boser states. There are about 90 percent of colleges offering at least one class on the Internet. Enrollment has had a twenty percent increase this year with eleven percent being postsecondary students taking at least one online class (Boser, ND). It is also said that the e-learning market will top about $4 billion and continue on with congress considering removing the last hindrance preventing online students from qualifying for the similar federal financial aid as students at traditional universities (Boser, ND). Students have the opportunity to make their own schedule at their own convenience that comes from the basics of e-learning (worldwidelearn). It enables the student to access academic work from his or her own home or work place (worldwideweb). Another great benefit of e-learning is accessibility. Rules have been made at certain s chools providing that there is always a qualified person online for the students to communicate with (Boser, ND). Also the University of Maryland-University College requires that all professors complete at least five weeks of training showing them how to teach online to make it easier for the students (Boser, ND). With e-learning you are able to choose your own learning styles whether they are at a self active pace or at a pace led by instructors (worldwidelearn). Accessibility also has to do with the design of the website. Good navigation and organization methods, a good layout, high quality content, and superior bandwidth capabilities are all part of accessibility (worlwidelearn, ND). Active involvement is about when a student takes on e-learning. Online class participation requires that the students write broadly and develop their own thoughts as one article states, “You reflect on what you are writing, before you post it, Reflecting is what learning's is all about” (Boser, ND). E-learning provides an opportunity to interact with different students and learners worldwide (worldwidelearn). Affordability is an extreme benefit for all students with a wide range of pricing choices to fit your budget (worldwidelearn). As said on an Internet site “E-learning has the power to increase access to education and training, while reducing the costs” (worldwidelearn). There is a lot of free learning out there on the Internet as an article by Vicky Hallett describes, the free web-based learning opportunities are continuing to grow, especially those from museums and the educational television networks (Hallett, ND). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Education offers free learning and hopes to encourage other schools to join in the free education (Hallett, ND). No matter where you look on the Internet there are a whole lot of free educational sources out there. The Negative Aspects of E-Learning. There are many negative aspects of e-learning. Some of the biggest concerns are: the quality of education coming from e-learning, the motivation one finds in e-learning, and finally the lack of a professor's presence when there is always the need for a human touch for anything to be productive. There are always concerns when it comes to the quality of education out on the web. As John Lubans found, “there are too many invalidated, unconventional and unstable sites on the Internet for academic purposes and that students lack the ability to discern what is good and bad on the cyber frontier” (Lubans, 2003). Lubans has found that statistics show there are too many students settling for the minority of “good enough” Internet resources, rather than performing a thorough search of resources on a specific topic (Lubans, 2003). There have been questions brought forward on what has happened to books and journals when it comes to researching. Too many students are settling with Internet resources that could present disapproving information rather than the high quality of information found in books and journals. In an article in the Boston News, a lab chief had apologized for an online doctorate that had only cost him $499 dollars in seventy-two hours, and was actually bestowed by an online university that requires no dissertation (Kocian, 2003). Many other people plan to take this route but is this the route to take when it comes to the quality of the education. Motivation is a key issue when it comes to a student taking on e-learning. A survey released last month by the Sloan Consortium dedicated to improving the quality of online education, found that online student dropout rates are still higher than those for the classroom position (Boser, ND). Respected schools ended up pulling the shutters on their e-learning shops, while newer online schools went bankrupt (Boser, ND). It is stating that students need to be active in the class room rather than on their own because they may encounter distracting disturbances. Also in the Boser article it is said, “sometimes just the contents of books plunked onto Websites posted dropout rates as high as sixty percent” (Boser, ND). Highly disciplined and motivated students may be able to thrive in e-learning or any other system, but many learners may not, leaving e-learning a poor initiative. Many universities still prefer the student to take courses in the classroom rather than outside of the classroom, making the student actually take part in what's going on. No matter what, there is always the need for a human touch for anything to be productive. Without a professor around to enlighten the finer points or classmates to put in a sense of community, students might as well just read a textbook to get an education rather than taking the angle of e-learning (Boser, ND). Yes, rules have been made by universities requiring that there be a qualified person around to answer questions, but are they always there? This is in connection with motivation; the student needs to be involved in the classroom rather than on his own. There will always be questions to be answered and that is when you need a professor around. This whole idea can be related back in history in the era of the industrial revolution with machines taking the place of human labor. What if history repeats itself and computers take the role of teachers. The impact of e-learning is huge but in the higher education level as in universities there is resistance. As found in the article by Peter Cheese in LTI Magazine, “universities have a proud tradition of combining learning, research, teaching, and professional development” (Cheese, 2003). One reason to resist e-learning are to keep the long-established tradition of the teacher or professor rather than the Internet being the professor. Another impact is that what would teachers or professors do if everyone were to go about e-learning? Many jobs would be lost and the value of the professor or teacher would weaken creating a weak market for teachers. Universities are attempting e-learning initiatives, but on a limited degree so that educators can preserve the tradition of an in class setting (Cheese, 2003). ConclusionOnline education has a social impact on forms of learning and teaching. E-Learning can transform education at every point. It can make high-class and quality educational experiences obtainable to those whose location, economic, and personal positions have prevented them from pursuing their educational goals (Cheese, 2003). As one can see after reading the paper e-learning brings both the positive and negative aspects of education. The positives are that of availability, active involvement, and accessibility. The negative aspects are that of the quality of education on the web, the motivation it takes to pursuing e-learning, and the lack of a professor's presence when it comes to e-learning. There are a lot of researches and procedures a university must take in when building an effective online class. A university must focus both on the technology and the learning to produce an efficient online class. Though universities must preserve the traditional in class setting so history does not repeat itself with machines replacing human labor. Teachers and professors are needed to get the paramount quality of education out there. There are there to answer questions and give some insight knowledge that can not be found in books. Students need to know what are the “good” resources rather than settling with the “good enough” resources. So it all comes down to the question, is e-learning the best position? And after reading the paper one would have to answer no. Boser, U. (ND), E-Learning: Working on What Works Best. U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved on October 28, 2003, from: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/articles/03good.htm Cheese, P. (2003). What Keeps Universities from Embracing E-Learning?. LTI Magazine. Retrieved on December 1, 2003: http://www.ltimagazine.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=74867 Hallett, V. (ND). E-Learning: There's a lot you can learn free on the Internet--if you know where to look. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved on November 6, 2003, from: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/articles/03free.htm Kocian, L. (2003). Lab chief apologizes over online doctorate. The Boston.com News. Retrieved on December 1, 2003: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/11/13/lab_chief_apologizes_over_online_doctorate/ Lubans, J, J. (1998). How First-Year University Students Use and Regard Internet Resources. The Duke University Library. Retrieved on October 19, 2003: http://www.lubans.org/docs/1styear/firstyear.html World Wide Learn: The world's directory of online courses, online learning and online education. Retrieved October 28, 2003, from: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/about.htm |