Discuss the impact of electronic learning. The pros and cons of learning and teaching electronically. Illustrate your essay with specific examples.

The Open and Distance Learning Quality Council defines electronic learning as “the effective learning process created by combining digitally delivered content with (learning) support and services.” Electronic learning can also be referred to as technology-based training, online training, web-based education or training, computer-based training or learning, technology-based leaning, media-based training, interactive learning or interactive training.
The term refers to the enhancement of learning through the use of digital media; computers and networks, handheld computers, computer-based technology, electronic whiteboards and interactive TV, to name a few. It covers many different applications and processes and has a huge implication in the design and practicality of education at all levels of schooling. This type of learning, by definition, consists of digitally delivered content and quite often needs to have some kind of support, for example, for younger generations, a CD-ROM often needs to be accompanied with teacher support to be properly effective. Education and Learning Wales believe in the delivery of this type of learning through learning in the presence of a teacher, learning from a remote location or independent learning from electronic medium with access to on-line support.
In the past two decades, electronic learning has become a significantly more important educative tool. It has had a huge impact to the way that education and learning is presented and constructed both within and outside the traditional classroom space. The degree to which the digital media is used can depend upon the generation that is being taught as well as the type of institution that is implementing it as a tool. Electronic learning can also refer to educational websites, for example, those offering worksheets and interactive exercises for children, and in the business sector, can also refer, to cost-effective online training which is becoming more and more widespread.
Although electronic learning and the use of digital media has become extremely important in education over the past two decades, Clark (2002) states that it is “Simply a medium for delivering learning and like any other medium, it has its advantages and disadvantages”
There are many pros or advantages to electronic learning. It can be an excellent tool for learners, providing anyone anywhere in the world, who has access to a computer, with the educational resources. Many may argue that it provides convenience and a great deal of flexibility for both the learner and the educator which is a huge enticement if the learner is not a full-time student or is maybe, for example, taking an educational course or degree course to improve their current employment status or social standing.
Another advantage is that electronic learning can smooth the process of communication between students on a course enabling them to converse electronically and send information digitally at their convenience rather than arranging to meet in person. In this sense, electronic learning is a medium which is able to be adapted well to a learner’s needs and desires; they have much more control over the progress of their education.
The use of multimedia and presenting teaching material in a non-verbal way, provides greater variety in learning experience, and may suit some learners much better. For example, video instruction can be an excellent way of providing audio and visual leaning, and more importantly, repetition enabling the learner to more likely remember it. This can be a significant benefit when dealing with students with special needs involving the written word because it enables them to learn visually and orally.
Perhaps the biggest advantage to electronic learning is that it often involves access to the internet as an educational tool. This provides the searcher with a whole world or research and information presented in a much more convenient form than a public or university library and enables instant access to this information from the convenience of home or even a laptop computer in a café.
Teaching electronically can also have its advantages because the teacher or lecturer can provide the information that they wish or need to converse at their convenience. In the example of university teachers, they can also spend less time providing students with information through face-to-face supervisions or tutorials, and more time researching their areas of interest and research topics; students can communicate with the teachers using email, rather than using the teacher’s time to meet face-to-face.
However, as useful a tool as electronic learning is, it could be criticised because of the lack or non-existence of human contact from the process. In some cases, this could potentially lead to a feeling of isolation, and in some cases could result in partial or complete failure because the support needed to complete the education is not in place. The removal of teacher-student interaction in some forms of electronic learning has lead to the philosophical argument that electronic learning ceases to be education because it is not being humanly imparted from one intellectual to a student. This point is argued by RS Peters, an Educational Philosopher. Others may argue that this view is completely unfounded and supporters of electronic learning such as Oblinger say that audio or video-based web-conferencing programmes or threaded discussion boards and live chats; communication technologies; online are one way of encouraging human interactions and involving human contact in the electronic learning process.
Using the internet or a CD-ROM as an electronic tool can be dangerous because the information that you are reading can be out-of-date, or with the internet especially, may not be from a reliable source. There is also the danger that people have not referenced their work appropriately so the reader is unaware of their sources and whether or not what they are writing is their own work. This becomes a problem when referencing them and makes it difficult to check on the accuracy of their ideas presented.
By allowing young children to access the internet as part of their learning, there is a risk that they can access information that is inappropriate for them to be reading or that caused them to grow up more quickly than past generations. The internet also puts them at risk through interaction with strangers and online predators.
Another disadvantage of electronic learning is its cost-effectiveness. Although still up for debate, it is often that the investment put into electronic educative tools can only be re-cooped through economies of scale. This means that costs sometimes have to be passed to the students taking online courses because these often cost more than taking the course at an institution.
With the rise of the internet as the primary research tool for the younger generations, it is possible that the skill of looking for specific information within various printed texts is becoming a lost art. This could be argued is a big disadvantage to electronic learning.
There are cons to teaching electronically too. Teaching electronically inevitably means that there is less student-teacher interaction and therefore less time spent on the core of the teacher’s occupation and purpose. By not meeting face-to-face as often, or at all, can mean misunderstandings and time wasted on confusing areas that may not have traditionally been problematic.
Today, there are many online universities and institutions that have no physical learning centre, and who provide courses via correspondence and the internet so the student has limited or no human interaction for the entirety of their course. In this sense, electronic learning and digital media has had an incredible impact on distance learning. Educational courses and universities can also offer elements of electronic learning within the traditional context of lectures. For example, many university lecturers now put their lecture and course notes online so that students can access the information without attending the lecture in person. This can work well if a student is unable to attend a lecture, or alternatively, if a lecturer is unable to attend due to illness. In order to present information this way, however, staff members need to fully understand the content of what they are writing, be able to communicate it in written form and to be highly trained in the use of the computer and internet.
According to Oblinger (2003) there is currently a generational technology gap between the generation of people running the educational institutions and the individuals within the generations attending them. As more and more adult learners enter into the field of electronic learning, this gap will begin to close. By 2003, more than 1.9 million students were participating in online learning at institutions of higher education in the US according to the Sloan Consortium.
The use of electronic learning is not limited to older students at university however. It will take on different levels and need to be presented in different forms for different generations. It needs to take into account learners’ needs and abilities, as well as the capabilities of the teachers and educators. These learners, teachers and educators include both new and old IT users, with new IT users defined as anyone who is new to the information technology sphere, encompassing a very wide variety of new students who all need to be catered for, sometimes in different ways.
Rapid technological change has meant that generation and life experience difference between decision makers in education and most of the new IT users makes understanding each other a challenge. The National Center for Education Statistics discusses the change in demographic of the majority of undergraduate students today. They state that three-quarters of undergraduates delayed enrollment, attend their course part-time, work full-time, are financially independent, have dependents, are single parents or lack a high school diploma. The article “Boomers Gen-Xers Millennial: Understanding the New Students” by Diana Oblinger discusses the emergence of a new generation into higher education; the “Millennial Generation”. This new generation has different values, life experiences and attitudes to generation X and other past generations, including a big fascination with new technologies. The article states that the younger the age group studied, the more is the influence of technology in their life and the higher the use of internet for schoolwork and leisure time. This increased use of the internet and other digital media for educational and leisure purposes means that new IT users, especially Millennials need to be able to use technology in their education because it is a fundamental tool in their daily lives. By using electronic learning, students are more likely to take an interest in what they are learning because the way in which they are learning is familiar to them. Many in this generation own a computer themselves or live in a household with access to a personal computer and internet access, and therefore choose to use email to communicate more often than they use the phone or write letters.
Jason Frand lists several characteristics of the millennial generation. This includes the idea that the distinction between owner, creator and consumer of education is not always clear. This seems to be a very interesting comment and is definitely something that needs to be considered when implementing digital media into education. Another characteristic of this generation is that information technology has been a significant influence in their lives, so much so, that many do not consider a computer as technology. This information technology includes the internet, instant messaging as a form of communication, and the use of the web cam to communicate with other people visually over the internet.
Using digital media and electronic learning as an educational tool is all about making information readily available to people when and where they need it. Learners in the millennial generation need to be able to access the information they want when they want it; it is about the rapidity of the spread of information. This has implications for colleges and universities, who have therefore finding a variety of ways to accommodate and satisfy these needs. This includes communicating by email and providing a wealth of information on web pages which are available either to the general public or to a smaller group of users with, for example, a university intranet e.g. The University of Cambridge website.
Institutions need to cater for the demands of both new and old IT users. To meet the demands of the millennial generation, Reponses to email need to be fast, they need to provide information online in websites so that much information can be discovered for oneself. This will satisfy their demand for information fast and for good customer service but can only be done successfully by bridging the generational information gap.
Carrington (2004) states that literacy is one of the binding threads of modern society. She argues that “in the shift to new digital technologies, changing sociocultural landscapes and new theoretical frames, the growing difficulty in defining and delineating literacy is one of the core discussions of contemporary literacy politics.” She also argues that being literate “is a core prerequisite for participation in the social, economic and political life in first-world nations”. This used to center around pen and paper, but now has moved into a digital sphere. She specifically studies the use of web logs by young people to express themselves and communicate with the world. Young people have realised and learnt that internet web logs are an excellent way to reach a large scope of people across the world, of different ages and cultures.
She also discusses the impact that the rise of young people using digital technologies has on literacy, spelling and the use of different formality levels of language. Many young people, in writing an online web log or when instant messaging their friends, develop their own language, or use the language socially excepted by their peers, i.e. using capital letters and punctuation to convey various emotions or importance of words, ignoring punctuation and sentence structure to make the content of their work very informal but understandable to people in the same generation. Carrington states that the “production and circulation of, access to and analysis of information have been missing components of early literacy”. If the generation information gap is to be bridged, then digital technologies and electronic learning needs to be incorporated into all levels of schooling, from early education at the age of 4 up to higher and further education.
If the information gap between generations is to be bridged, then the governments and educational institutions around the world need to realise the importance of including electronic learning in education. From the beginning of schooling right up to further and higher education and beyond, electronic learning has implications to both sides of education; the learners and the educators. Learning through the use of digital media involves the whole scope of education from the introduction of new information and the encouragement to research and learn for one self, to completing an online course through an internet university, and assessment methods such as automated multiple choice tests. In today’s digital world, where people of all ages and cultures are in constant communication or have the continuous ability to communicate via instant messaging, email, hand-held internet devices and mobile phone, electronic learning is extremely important and does not look set to decrease in importance as we approach the end of the first decade of the 21^st Century.