Learning Objectives

When you have completed this session, you should be able to

• to categorize e-learning solutions,
• select appropriate pedagogical solutions for your own work.

Reading

E-learning can unfortunately be made to appear to be very complex. This was true of educational CDs, and it is also the case with video conferences all the way up to broad education networks. However e-learning has different meanings for elementary schools, secondary schools, distance education, adult education, upper education, and for supporting disadvantaged students.

In many examples of computers and e-learning, we do not talk about education tools but of technology. This technology is really the entirety of tools and procedures developed for solving complex tasks. The complexity of e-learning innovation originates from the fact that even simple pedagogical and didactic goals seem be have to be realized in sophisticated technological environments

Online/offline e-learning

The concept of on-line e-learning can be determined as learning while connected to the Internet. Interactive CDs used for independent study are solutions appropriate to off-line e-learning. Another off-line solution is to install certain educational software onto an individual computer. If lessons are received via Internet even more on-line/off-line classifications are possible. When electronic content can only be accessed while being constantly on the web we can call it on-line e-learning. Streamed video presentations are typical examples of on-line e-learning, watchable only while on-line since they cannot be downloaded.

Synchronous/asynchronous solutions

This is a fairly important, and differentiating, concept in distance education.
In terms of synchronous solution; teachers and students are present in one (real or virtual) space and time. Synchronous teaching methods are when the participants are taking part in a presentation (face to face), or in classroom lessons or video conferences in virtual space, or chatting at the same time. Asynchronous solutions include, for example, consultations through Internet forums, where the message-oriented conversations can be read at different times.

Multimedia

"Multimedia excites eyes, ears, fingerstips, and most importantly the head" Tay Vaughan

Multimedia plays a significant role in e-learning due to the possible simultaneous application of several (time dependent and time independent) media - images, texts, voices, animations. Multimedia is able to integrate many learning tools (VCR, tape recorders, audio disks, etc.), and with the appropriate software, multimedia can be used to create interactive lessons from given knowledge.
Technology advances means that there are increasingly fewer limitations in respect of creativity for multimedia applications. The only question is: are we able to make the technology serve educational goals and can it be used appropriately?
Multimedia has stood at the center of e-learning solutions for the past decade. Interactivity is much enhanced with multimedia, and in the era of e-learning 2.0 the concept of interactivity has become even broader. It is also becoming easier to use and is no longer the its early privileged status among other educational mediums.

Exercises

1. The online multimedia “storyteller” was made for British children on the www.mrsp.com/ portal. Books selected from this shelf are read by a famous British actress. This is not strictly real "multi-media”, as children really just listen to the voice. The long reading passages are only interrupted with a few pictorial presentations. In addition to listening to fables, children can choose from a number of little games. Browse this site. Are any of the resources appropriate to be used in English language teaching and, if so, in what way? Visit the page and write a few words about it in your learning diary!

2. Teachers spend time with children all day long at school. Would it make sense if teachers met them on the Internet too with the aim of teaching/learning (synchronous way)? As a teacher, do you sometimes use asynchronous e-learning methods? For example, do you point to interesting YouTube videos and ask for views to be submitted by e-mail? Write down some of your ideas in your diary!