eLEARNING

eLearning has had a huge impact on classroom learning and has changed student learning. The World Wide Web and other technologies have created endless means of learning methods, tools and resources that enhance student learning. Students born in the early 1990s till now “never now life without the internet or connected devices (Handal, B., 2012). Through their education using technologies is second nature to them as it has slowly been implemented into their lives both inside and outside of school.

This video will demonstrate eLearning in a classroom:
 

Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP-mg_Ets1w

Successful eLearning developments are:

–          IWBs
White boards that allow for maximum interaction and a number of technologies can be used through this as it has access to the World Wide Web

–          Webquests
Dodge (1995) defines a webquest as, ‘an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing.’ It involves students answering a specific question rather than just a broad internet search.

–          Learning Objects
Interactive learning activities/games. Here is an example of one:
–          Weblogs
Websites where students can post information for all users to see.

–          Mobile Phones

–          World Wide Web

–          iPads and mobile tablets

These are used as cognitive tools in the classroom.
These eLearning methods are effective in engaging the bodily- kinaesthetic learners in the classroom as they are being interactive with their learning. Not only is maximum engagement a given, but learning can also be fun, challenging and efficient. Creativity is also supported as students can use innovative and creative methods of sourcing and presenting information and solving problems.

I believe eLearning has played a pivotal role in communication. Teachers can set works, answer questions or provide feedback without actually coming in contact with the child. Class pages such as moodle allow students to work at home as they can view what the teacher has scaffolded for them. GoogleDocs is another method of sharing work between students so each student can add to one anothers work which automatically saves. The teacher can also have access to this.

As much as there are numerous benefits of elearning, there are also disadvantages. Students can lose focus of the task at hand with the media they are using. Students are often tempted to plagiarise works by copying and pasting anything and everything off the internet that is not their original ideas. It is important that the teacher stresses to the students to create and present their own ideas.

Retreived from: http://econtent.thelearningfederation.edu.au/ec/viewing/L25/index.html?key=xHZiTkmI

REFERENCES:

Dodge, B. (1995). Some Thoughts About WebQuests http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html

Handal, B. (2012). Mobile Learning. PowerPoint presented at The University of Notre Dame Sydney. Lecture 2 in ED4134.