Challenges and Solutions of eLearning
The Platform
The platform should be easy to use and understand. Great visual design might be nice looking but if it’s not user friendly it won’t work. The less specific instructions needed the better for students. Quick access also with mobile helps the usage. It's important to be able use the platform with different devices (PC, MAC, tablet and mobile).
Student Motivation
Students motivation to eLearning varies very much from people to people. Some maybe more familiar with traditional learning in classrooms and find digital world strange learning environment. People are generally more motivated by things that they feel are useful. Students need to have good introduction to the system so they feel more comfortable using it. In the beginning of the training students should be informed about the strategy of the eLearning. This includes: introducing the learning tools (for example materials, videos, discussion boards, quizzes/tests and games) and explaining how these tools will enhance their learning experience.
The feeling of success creates motivation. This could be achieved when the eLearning platform includes a tool(s) where students can follow their own progress and therefore feel they have achieved results. Teacher can also use the tool to follow students learning.
Connecting with Other Students
In my experience one of the most common goal for adult students participating in training is networking and sharing experience. We have used these more commonly f2f. The challenge for eLearning is finding the methods to do this through internet. Many times you can study by eLearning in any place at any time but this might isolate students.
The course design and active teacher can make the difference. Discussions should be activated and moderated. Teacher should give assignments, ask questions and give information through discussion boards. Students can get to know each other better through live conferences and chats. F2f interaction is then possible from any place with internet connection. This of course eliminates possibility to learn at any time but used specifically it will benefit the students because they can get to know other students, make connections and share knowledge. I would recommend using live conferences especially in the start of long term studies. If it’s not possible students and teachers to meet “live”, everyone could post a video to introduce themselves.
eLearning can create new possibilities to collaborate and share knowledge. Teacher can use as a tool for example shared document creation. With this students can make documents in a group and therefore interact together and share information. Discussion groups can be used for problem solving. Important for the teacher or moderator is to keep conversation active.
Thank you for your response to my article. Finally, I got the time to comment. Course targets definitely has to be determined and they have to be presented to the students as early as possible. Most of these can be stated before the actual course starts even at the point of registration. This should include content, study goals, timetable and requirements (devices, programs etc). eLearning requires more self-leadership from the students. Some students may think that eLearning is easier and gives them more freedom because the studying is done in own time (or some part of it). This however is false. eLearning demands the student to control their time more than f2f learning. The students tend to under estimate the time that is required for the studying. To help this problem the overall estimated time the course requires from the student should be stated to the students as well. Motivation is very tricky because people are motivated by different things. One might want money, other recognition and other a holiday. It’s directors’ and supervisors’ role to take these in consideration in every aspect not just studying and employees’ self-development. In eLearning the platform can have tools where student can see their own progress. Teacher is definitely more a coach in eLearning. They should support and guide the learning of the individuals and groups. It’s very interesting how social media has come to studying as a significant part to help getting to know study friends, networking and sharing knowledge. How can we as study providers use this more and maybe connect social media directly to study platforms? Solutions might come to this question in the future.
Good points on eLearning. The past six ears I have worked with B2B adult language eLearning, and wanted to share few thoughts: - regarding motivation, the course target needs to be very clear to attendees (what KPIs to follow-up) and what is required to achieve it (time, devices, connections, or additional tools -especially if eLearning is provided to remote locations around the world). - organizations should be aware what motivates people, and consider how to use the eLearning platform to acknowledge individuals' training success. - role of teacher has changed in eLearning. At one point teachers were hidden in platforms, where as now platforms are designed to support the teacher student connection. Teachers continue teaching groups, but "coach" and connect more with individual students. - other platforms (LinkedIn, Whassup, FB...) are actively used to support student teacher connection. Same platforms are also used for sharing knowledge among other students, and creating that feeling of belonging to a group, even though people would never meet F2F.
Please share your experiences and thoughts on the subject