E-Learning in small town cities of India

By Ms. Shruti D. Nilegaonkar Matoshri Pratishthans Group of Institutes, Nanded. Email: shruti.nilegaonkar@gmail.com

Abstract

This article is about E-learning services being used in modern time in education field. In this article it is pointed out that there is a trend to move towards blended learning services, where computer-based activities are integrated with practical or classroom-based situations. This article throws light on SWOT analysis of e-learning techniques being used in tier-III cities of India. In this article it is suggested that a blended e-learning approach is more suitable for Tier-III cities. A sample opinion poll of students in a tier-III Nanded city is done to strengthen this point.

Introduction Learning is the process of Acquiring New Facts, Skills and Attitude. E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. On-line classes are offered by many higher educations commercial institutions. Private institutions may become more involved with on-line presentations as the cost of instituting such a system decreases. Online education is rapidly increasing, and online doctoral programs have even developed at leading research universities. In higher education particularly, the increasing tendency is to produce a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in which all aspects of a course are handled through a consistent user interface standard throughout the institution.

A budding number of physical universities, as well as newer online-only colleges, have begun to offer a select set of academic degree and certificate programs via the Internet at a wide range of levels and in a wide range of disciplines. While some programs require students to attend some campus classes or orientations, many are delivered completely online. In addition, several universities offer online student support services, such as online advising and registration, e-counseling, online textbook purchase, student governments and student newspapers. Tend towards Blended E-learning E-learning services have evolved since computers were first used in education. There is a trend to move towards blended learning services, where computer-based activities are integrated with practical or classroom-based situations. The Sloan report, based on a poll of academic leaders, indicated that students generally appear to be at least as satisfied with their on-line classes as they are with traditional ones. The decision to implement e-learning largely depends on the specific needs of each organization. However, many organizations have a variety of instructional and training objectives. E-learning might serve some of these objectives, but not others. For this reason, many organizations have chosen to adopt a blended learning approach. Blended learning combines e-learning and classroom based instruction into one learning experience. Blended learning grants greater freedom to incorporate the advantages of both e-learning and classroom based instruction. There are no hard and fast rules on how to most effectively blend e-learning and classroom based instruction. Individual organizations must assess their individual needs. Classroom time can be used to engage students in advanced interactive experiences, while the e-learning portion of the training offers students multimedia-rich content any time of day.

Granting learners greater autonomy has been shown to increase learners motivation. An interesting context or scenario can add important meaning to a learning activity. When learners are able to easily use e-learning, they are much more likely to focus on the material being instructed.

Effective e-learning has the potential to make more personalized instruction accessible to more participants. However, achieving these results requires strong e-learning design. All aspects of effective e-learning must center on the instructional needs of participants, and how to optimize

their online experience to meet those needs. Thank you for taking the time to learn about Effective E-learning.

E-learning is naturally suited to distance learning and flexible learning, but can also be used in conjunction with face-to-face teaching, in which case the term Blended learning is commonly used. E-Learning pioneer Bernard Luskin argues that the "E" must be understood to have broad meaning if e-Learning is to be effective. Luskin says that the "e" should be interpreted to mean exciting, energetic, enthusiastic, emotional, extended, excellent, and educational in addition to "electronic" that is a traditional national interpretation. This broader interpretation allows for 21st century applications and brings learning and media psychology into the equation. Traditional learning methods are quiet expensive and e-learning sometimes proves to be ineffective, so the solution is Blended Learning, it effectively solves both these problems. In fact Blended Learning is the natural evolution of e-learning and traditional learning providing an integrated program of multiple media types, which has proven successful in corporate training. Different types or forms of e-learning can be considered as a continuum, from no elearning, i.e. no use of computers and/or the Internet for teaching and learning, through classroom aids, such as making classroom lecture Powerpoint slides available to students through a course web site or learning management system, to laptop programs, where students are required to bring laptops to class and use them as part of a face-to-face class, to hybrid learning, where classroom time is reduced but not eliminated, with more time devoted to online learning, through to fully online learning, which is a form of distance education. This classification is somewhat similar to that of the Sloan Commission reports on the status of e-learning, which refer to web enhanced, web supplemented and web dependent to reflect increasing intensity of technology use. Blended learning can cover classroom aids, laptops and hybrid learning, while 'distributed learning' can incorporate either hybrid or fully online learning. Virtual classrooms and meetings can often use a mix of communication technologies. Participants in a virtual classroom use icons called emoticons to communicate feelings and responses to questions or statements. Other communication technologies available in a virtual classroom include text notes, microphone rights, and breakout sessions. Breakout sessions allow the participants to work collaboratively in a small group setting to accomplish a task.

Mixing e-learning with other types of training deliveries, but it is in actuality a careful mix of training methods combined or blended to create a perfect learning solution. Reading this you may realize that this is nothing new, and in part you are right. Its not new but by providing blended learning with structure and guidelines, it has become a powerful learning solution, which can be adapted to individual corporate needs. Blended learning is flexible; it uses the most effective training delivery combination for each phase of learning. It is more effective than any single form of learning. Self-study, job aids, videos, mastery cards, computer-based training (CBT), role-plays, workshops, and web based training (WBT) are all combined to get the maximum learning benefits. E-learning in Tier-III cities Tier-III cities are less urbanized as compare to Tier-I and Tier-II cities. Though not compulsory but generally it is found that there is less industrial area, less quality education, low financial status, less opportunities resulting into low development and lack of modernization. Peoples tendency is more towards traditional approach and they are less adaptive towards modernized changes. These are the reasons which make effective implementation of e-learning challenging in small cities.

SWOT Analysis of e-learning in Tier-III Cities With the help of some interviews and study SWOT analysis of e-learning in small cities was done. Strengths: Due to fast development in technology e-learning is reached effectively not only in Tier-I and Tier-II cities but also in Tier-III cities. Positive approach of people towards e-learning is increasing. Nowadays people are aware of technology. Maximum youth who is the principal user of e-learning is having basic technical skills to avail it. Due to decrease in cost of technology e-learning has become reachable for mass people.

Opportunities:

With the help of e-learning, Tier-III cities are now able to have access to a huge amount of knowledge with effective aids. Various courses which were the monopoly of metro cities are now being availed by people in Tier-III cities. People are getting connected with modern knowledge available worldwide. This trend indicates that e-learning can also capture rural area if appropriate efforts taken.

Weaknesses: Unlike in Tier-I and Tier-II cities reach of modern technologies such as internet and other tools is comparatively weak in Tier-III cities. Expertise level is comparatively low. Some problems like power cut, unavailability of coverage for internet are frequently faced. People are not much aware of modern e-learning techniques.

Threats: Due to these weaknesses people are less motivated towards e-learning. If these weaknesses are not detached people may lose their interest in e-learning.

Effectiveness of Blended E-learning in Tier-III Cities

The above mentioned SWOT analysis suggests that for now it is a better idea to put blended e-learning into operation in Tier-III cities as the complete e-learning may be affected by its weaknesses and craft a negative propensity of people towards e-learning. So it is more effective if a mix of e-learning techniques and traditional learning methodologies is used. To strengthen this point an opinion poll of 70 MBA students of age group 22 to 25 years in Nanded city was conducted.

Results:

It was observed that 10 % students were interested in complete e-leaning like an online course or online training. Out of these 10 % students, 5% preferred this kind of learning as a value addition course, not as regular education. In remaining 90 % only 5 % were interested in traditional learning i.e. no use of modern teaching tool. Remaining 85 % were interested in blended e-learning i.e. mix of traditional and modern teaching techniques of elearning. Students wanted their teachers to be present in the classroom and conducting lectures but they wanted these teachers making use of electronic tools such as power point presentation, videos, animations etc. Instead of using electronics tools they were more comfortable with human being but electronics tools were more attention catching for them.