What is e-learning?

The term e-learning may be trendy, but the concept itself has been around for decades. E-learning is training that takes place through a network, usually over the Internet or a company intranet. It has its roots in the world of computer-based training, which appeared in the early '80s and used CD-ROMs to teach mostly technical skills to mostly technical people. It can include text, video, audio, animation, and virtual environments. It can be a very rich learning experience that can even surpass the level of training you might experience in a crowded classroom. It is self-paced, hands-on learning. Lately, e-learning has evolved into a tool widely used in both the corporate and academic worlds.

With today's e-learning, companies can train salespeople to use a new product, even if offices are in scattered locations. On the academic front, e-learning allows people to take online classes from universities in a variety of subjects. Such heavyweights as Stanford and Harvard now offer non-degree courses over the Web; others offer entire degree programs.

How does e-learning work?
E-learning fits into two categories: synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous e-learning imitates a classroom, which means classes take place in real-time and connect instructors and students via streaming audio or video or through a chat room. Asynchronous e-learning lets a student access prepackaged training on his own time, working at his own pace, and communicating with an instructor or other students through e-mail.

How complex are the technologies related to it?
Though most e-learning packages require only a browser and an Internet connection, certain bells and whistles (like audio or video) require high bandwidth.

What are the advantages of e-learning?
Time and money. Consider how much your company spends in sending people to training—airfare, hotel bills, phone calls home. All those pricey meals on the company tab. E-learning offers more accessibility to the material and more flexibility for the learner. It allows you to learn anywhere and anytime, as long as you have a properly configured computer.

E-learning can incorporate many elements that make learning new material, a new process or a new program more fun. Making learning more fun—or interesting—is what makes it more effective. If you aren't pulled into the material, you really aren't learning as well as you could be. This is what makes e-learning so great for so many types of learning. Obviously, every type of training can't be turned into e-training, but many can with excellent results. Some of the reasons e-learning is successful include:

Varying types of content - Images, sounds, and text work together to build memory in several areas of the brain and result in better retention of the material.

Interaction that engages the attention - Games, quizzes, and even just required manipulation of something on the screen creates more interest, which in turn builds better retention.

Immediate feedback - E-learning courses can build in immediate feedback to correct misunderstood material. The more immediate the feedback the better, because each step of learning builds upon the previous step. If no feedback is given, then the next step may be building upon an incorrect interpretation.

Being motivated to learn is half the battle. Knowing the course you are taking is going to have some "fun" elements like video, audio, animation, and the "gaming" scenarios we mentioned above creates more interest and curiosity in learning.

E-learning lets you go through the course at your own pace. This helps avoid missed information in situations where you either have to leave the course for an outside emergency or you just don't catch what the instructor said.

E-learning courses offer user-controlled elements that just aren't feasible in regular training classes. For example, differentiating the sound of an irregular heart beat from that of a regular heart beat by clicking on icons on the screen allows the learner to listen at their own pace and replay the sound as often as they like. This self-paced element is one of the things that makes e-learning so effective.

E-learning courses oftentimes accomplish the training goal in less time. According to an article by Jennifer Salopek in "Training and Development Magazine," e-learning courses progress up to 50 percent faster than traditional courses. This is partly because the individualized approach allows learners to skip material they already know and understand and move onto the issues they need training on.

E-learning eliminates the problems associated with different instructors teaching slightly different material on the same subject. For company-based training, delivering a consistent message is often critical.

E-learners can go through training sessions from anywhere, usually at anytime. This Just-In-Time (JIT) benefit can make learning possible for people who never would have been able to work it into their schedules prior to the development of e-learning.

It can lead to increased retention and a stronger grasp on the subject because of the many elements that are combined in e-learning to reinforce the message, such as video, audio, quizzes, interaction, etc. There is also the ability to revisit or replay sections of the training that might not have been clear the first time around. Try that in a crowded auditorium!

Resources: Darwin Magazine, How Stuff Works.com