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Blog entry by Lanka Academy

Advantages of E-Learning

Advantages of E-Learning

The benefits of utilizing e-learning technologies are plentiful.

"We need to bring learning to people instead of people to learning."

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The benefits of e-learning are numerous, and despite all my best efforts, one article was not enough to highlight all of them. That’s why I decided to selectively pick out the most important advantages of E-Learning. These are the benefits which set e-learning apart from other learning methods, and which I consider to be the most important of all.

These are the 10 most important advantages of E-Learning:

  • Online learning is self-paced
  • E-Learning is student-centered
  • E-Learning is cost-effective
  • Individual learning styles
  • Customizable learning environments
  • E-Learning fully utilizes analytics
  • Online learning could solve teacher scarcity
  • E-Learning is environmentally friendly
  • No need for textbooks
  • Online learning is time-efficient

Online learning is self-paced

Students who study online can plan their own time schedule, without having to make personal sacrifices in order to meet the class attendance requirements of teachers and traditional universities. The research has demonstrated that self-paced learning leads to increased student satisfaction and reduced stress, resulting in improved learning outcomes for everyone involved. Some of the advantages of self-paced learning include efficiency, effectiveness, convenience, scalability, and reusability.

E-Learning is student-centered

Student-centered learning (SCL), also referred to as learner-centered education, is a modern learning method which aims to put the students in the center of focus, rather than the teachers. The reason why I listed it as an advantage of E-Learning is that student-centered learning goes hand in hand with E-Learning. Online learning is fundamentally student-centered, due to the easy implementation of student discussion boards and peer grading systems. 

In fact, many of the 10 types of E-Learning largely revolve around the idea of student-centeredness. Both collaborative E-Learning and synchronous online learning promote student-to-student interaction. Being able to plan and design fully student-centered online learning environments is one of the greatest advantages that E-Learning has. The value of student-centeredness must not be understated.

E-Learning is cost-effective

Due to simplified logistics and lowered travel costs, among other factors, learning institutions who utilize E-Learning can expect to save 50% to 70% on overall training costs. How, exactly?

Let’s bring some real-life examples of e-learning to the table.

The University of North Carolina in Charlotte (UNC) is an excellent example of cost-efficiency. UNC claims that they managed to save US$5,000,000 in 2010 by focusing on e-learning rather than traditional classroom-based learning. Additionally, they saw an increased number of total students in their faculties. These savings came from the simple fact that they did not have to make investments into business premises to facilitate learning. Virtual classrooms have no need for physical lecture halls, which tend to get very costly.

Another example of advantageous cost-efficiency in e-learning would have to be the Wisconsin-Madison University, which saved US$172,000 solely due to savings in professors’ time. E-Learning reduced the amount of overall time professors had to spend on learning sessions, and these time savingsled to reduced monetary spending for the university.

For educational institutions, the cost-effectiveness of E-Learning can also be advantageous when used together with classroom-based learning. This is known as blended learning, and it’s an excellent alternative to those organizations who are not yet ready to fully move over to E-Learning.

Cost-efficiency in E-Learning applies not only to educational instituions, but it also similarly applies to the students. For instance, E-Learning reduces all the costs associated with commuting, textbooks, and childcare. I will cover some of these points later in this article.

Individual learning styles

E-Learning takes into consideration the differences of individual learners, and it allows students to practice their own individual learning styles. In other words, students are not always required to pass all unwanted courses in a curriculum and they can choose specific topics of interest to them. All students have different learning styles and there will never be a one-size-fits-all type of solution which will match all students at once. That is why individualistic learning methods are some of the greatest advantages of E-Learning. 

For instance, one of the most innovative types of E-Learning, adaptive E-Learning, has the potential to be the most individualistic learning method ever made if implemented correctly. To recap, adaptive E-Learning materials are designed to automatically change and adapt according to the knowledge, skills, and needs of each individual student. 

Customizable learning environments

Researchers found that employees working in environments without pictures, plants, souvenirs and other  were 15% less productive than those working with said “distractions”. This also applies to the educational context – students who don’t have a desirable learning environment will feel its effects on their learning performance and mental health.

This is where the problem arises – in traditional classrooms, the learning environments are predetermined by the educational institutions according to their preferences. In other words, the students rarely have any say in what their learning environment looks like.

On the other hand, in the case of E-Learning, the students have total control of their learning environment. Those students who feel the benefits of a plant-filled environment can customize their E-Learning environment accordingly. And, those students who feel better in a minimalistic learning environment without any distractions can reap the benefits of such an E-Learning environment. 

E-Learning fully utilizes analytics

Data is the new oil, and E-Learning makes use of student data much more effectively than any other form of learning in history. That is because of E-Learning Analytics. E-Learning Analytics is the extraction of valuable information from online learning management systems, and it’s another one of the greatest benefits of E-Learning. 

With student data gained through E-Learning Analytics, educational institutions can improve their training materials and boost learning outcomes in various ways. For example, if we have data on student dropout rates, we can identify potential pitfalls in our learning materials and eliminate them. Afterward, we can gather new data and analyze whether our change was beneficial to our E-Learning outcomes or not. The value of data in education is immense, and its full potential is yet to be realized.

Online learning could solve teacher scarcity

In 2019, the EPI (Economic Policy Institute) educational economists wrote in their report that the shortage of experienced teachers is “real, large, growing, and worse than we thought”. Moreover, the LPI (Learning Policy Institute) has also identified the problem of teacher scarcity on numerous occasions, describing it as “one of the most pressing issues facing policymakers”.

The issue of teacher shortage will undoubtedly be difficult to solve, but the benefits of E-Learning in combating teacher scarcity could be vastly underestimated. To clarify, let’s make a comparison. Regular universities have an average of 16.5 students per staff member, while E-Learning courses compiled by one or two qualified and experienced teachers can be served to thousands, if not millions, of students. E-Learning could potentially eliminate the need for retaining the massive 3-million person teaching workforce used in the U.S today. Instead of focusing our efforts on recruiting more teachers, perhaps we should instead focus on enabling our highest quality teachers to deliver their materials to a broader range of students through E-Learning.

E-Learning is environmentally friendly

On average, distance learning courses consume 90% less energy and emitted 85% fewer CO2 emissions than traditional university courses. In addition, as E-Learning is a paperless learning method, it does not contribute to many of the environmental issues associated with paper production. For example, there is no need to cut down trees for paper or to create paper-cellulose production factories which are known to cause atmospheric pollution in surrounding areas.

No need for textbooks

The total value of the textbook industry is $7-$10 billion, and the average college student spends close to $1,200 per year on textbooks alone. Many students finance their textbook purchases from their student loans, and students who graduate with student loans are known to experience increased stress and depression.

One big advantage of E-Learning is that it requires absolutely no textbooks from its students. All the learning materials can be accessed online, without restriction. Online learning materials can be retaken and updated an infinite amount of times, unlike textbooks which need to be reissued and rebought once again when they become obsolete. 

Online learning is time-efficient

Online learning cuts the learning time down by 25% to 60% compared to traditional classroom learning. Coupled with the advantages of self-paced E-Learning, this results in a highly time-efficient learning solution both for the students and the teachers.

In traditional learning institutions, making changes to school curriculums is a long and complicated process which is often avoided due to its complexity. However, in the case of E-Learning, lessons can be delivered and updated quickly and efficiently – sometimes within days. When used in conjunction with data-oriented E-Learning Analytics, these changes to the learning materials are not only based on theory but real evidence.


Source : e-student.org

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