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Now comes the Education Revolution ! Barriers
of time and space have been eroded….Education becomes
ONLINE. Online education is internet enabled technology driven
education that allows you to study Anytime, Anywhere, as per
your convenience
In the context of rapid technological advancement and changing
global market, the impact is felt on every field including education
arena. Online Education is one of the ways of imparting effective
education to the aspiring people, residing anywhere in the world,
to pursue and advance their learning process via Internet, without
messing up their professional responsibilities and duties with
education by presenting a variety of solutions and subjects
beyond the scope of traditional education. Online learning helps
to increase the educational experiences irrespective of age
and geographical diversity.
Why eLearning?
We have to keep on learning so that we can grow personally,
professionally and economically. For hundreds of years, the
paradigm of learning was the classroom-training model. In a
time when formal learning was scarce, resources were concentrated
around, and centered on the availability of the educator, rather
than the learner. Today E Learning is the self-paced learning
methods combine advanced technology and multimedia in a format
that engages students so they learn faster, participate more
actively, and, consequently, retain information longer.
Facilitates self paced learning- It gives
the students the flexibility to go through the programme content
at the time that is most convenient to him and thereby achieve
an appropriate balance of work, family, community and educational
commitments.
Better Access- Determining
the best time to schedule a class and lure the student into
the "brick and mortar" classroom is one of the major drawbacks
of traditional training programs. E -Learning provides access
to training for students when and where they need it.
Cost Savings- A much-touted
benefit of online learning is cost savings. Lot of amount can
be saved in travel and downtime alone by using E -Learning.
Training materials can be updated for a fraction of the cost
of revising materials distributed by other means. Payback can
be seen clearly over the near and long term.
Is Learner Focused- Technology
can personalize content and anticipate learner's future information
learning needs. It also can match content with each individual's
learning style, experience and skills.
Is Measurable- Powerful Learning Management System (LMS) features make
the implementation, hosting, tracking, testing, auditing and
administration of online courses a flawless process. E Learning
provides secure and reliable systems for recording and capturing
what an individual knows and is able to do.
Better Learning Outcomes- Research
from around the world has proven that the online education results
better outcomes in terms of learning and knowledge retention
when compared with traditional methods of teaching. Faster Response
Time - time sensitive training can be delivered faster than
through traditional classroom methods. By using communication
technology to deliver training to multiple sites at the same
time, eLearning becomes a competitive advantage.
Better Use of "Experts"-
an expert presenter or trainer can be used more cost
effectively with eLearning than through traditional classrooms.
Programs that require the presence of an expert can send the
expert's message to multiple sites simultaneously - saving time
and money. And the message is consistent for every delivery
of the course.
Regular
Education Vs Online Education
| Regular
Education |
Online
Education |
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One time, One place
Learning: In regular education, students have to
attend a particular college/institute and study as per
a fixed time-table. The learners have to place their
schedule around learning and therefore the segment includes
mostly students who don’t have regular engagements
and can attend regular classes.
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Anytime, Anywhere
Learning: The students do not have to attend a college
or study as per a fixed time table. programmes have
a global target audience as people from all walks of
life can learn at their own pace and their own place.
This allows professionals to place learning around their
busy schedule.
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Local target audience
and Reach: The regular programmes have a local target
audience because generally a college in a particular
area will attract local students from that area only
owing to limited reach.
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Global target audience
and Reach: The online programmes have a global target
audience because the programmes are offered via the
internet. The students can register, make payments and
study via the Virtual Campus. The students can also
sit for end-semester written examination at a university
designated examination centre.
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Text Based Courseware:
Some universities suggest books from various authors
as part of the courseware and some get the content developed
in the form of condensed Text Based Notes which is not
self explanatory. This leads to poor retention levels
and dissatisfaction among the students and they merely
mug up the courseware for passing the exams.
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Interactive Multimedia
Courseware: Interactive Multimedia Rich Courseware
makes learning interesting and engaging. This intuitive
content integrates audio, video, graphics, pictures,
animations, visuals, demonstrations and case-studies
and is imparted via a virtual classroom. This leads
to significantly higher retention level among the students.
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No facility for Self
Assessment: In regular education, students do not
have facility for self- assessment.
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Facility for Self
Assessment: The students can do a self-evaluation
of their understanding of the topics covered by going
through a self assessment questionnaire at the
end of each chapter.
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Library Facility:
Students studying in regular colleges and universities
can avail a library facility containing a limited number
of books.
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Online Library Facility:
Students can access information from digital libraries
of colleges and universities world-wide via exhaustive
Online Library.
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Practical Work in
Labs: In regular education, students get practical
exposure in the labs.
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Practical Work through
Tasks: Here practical tasks are given to the students
by the faculty to be completed in a reputed institute
or organization of their choice and submit a certificate
of the same. The students are given projects and case-studies
to work on as may be applicable.
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| Minimal Use of Latest
Technologies: Majority of the regular colleges in
India still follow the traditional blackboard-chalk method
of imparting education. |
Extensive Use of
Latest technologies: Inorder to improve the quality
of education, some universities are now starting to
use Synchronous Learning technologies like VSAT to provide
live lectures from the university to the study centre.
This facility can help students that are globally dispersed
to view the lectures from faculty and subject experts
in real-time.
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Limited Interactivity:
The chief advantage of the regular education is
that student can interact and ask questions to the faculty.
However, many students still feel shy to ask questions
in a classroom as most of them hesitate in front of
the faculty owing to varying knowledge levels.
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Unlimited Interactivity:
Students can ask any number of questions in both real-time
through Chat and Whiteboard and Offline through Discussion
Forum, Email, Ask Doubt facility. As faculty is not
physically present, the students can easily post their
queries without any hesitation.
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No facility to review
a lecture: The lectures given by a faculty in a
classroom cannot be archived and are lost as soon as
the faculty walks out of the classroom. The students
have no option but to memorize the concepts discussed-
if possible!
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Lectures/Chat sessions
can be reviewed multiple times: As the chat sessions
between student and faculty are archived, the students
can review the sessions as many times as required to
understand the topics.
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No interaction with
University: The student does not have any interaction
with the university. Hence, the university is unable
to get proper feedback from the students regarding the
various academic, administrative and technical problems
the students may be facing.
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Direct interaction
with University: The student shares a direct relationship
with the university through university website. Hence,
the university officials can understand the student
problems in a much better way and apply suitable amendments
to their existing system.
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Access to information
is not so easy: University processes are cumbersome
and are generally not easily accessible. Students have
to contact the college or university by post, telephone
or personally visit the campus to find proper information.
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Easy Access to information
24/7: Student can access the website for any information
24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Ease of Use and user friendliness
is of prime consideration. This allows learners from
all walks of life to easily join a programme of their
choice. University website is well equipped with all
the latest information. This allows easy access to information.
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Manually Driven:
Most of the processes right from registration to certification
and manually driven. This makes the system more error
prone.
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Electronically Driven:
As almost the entire system is electronically driven,
the chances of errors and data being lost are much less.
Not only this, as all the student specific data is maintained
digitally in a database, it allows immediate access
to information even years after a student registration.
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Target
Segment for Online Education
Students- The primary advantage of online
education for a student is that it cuts the physical presence
for the study program or course he/she chooses. It is often
a lesser cost when compared to the cost a student spends on
boarding, traveling, etc., to attend regular classes physically.
It equips student with more emphasis on global interaction
and latest expansion of knowledge.
Professionals- Professionals are at the
convenience to advance their education online without taking
leave or cuts in your salary. And after they complete their
degree, they can get promotion, increments, and higher-responsibility
position in decision making. So online education integrates
the profession with studies.
Businessmen- Businessmen have
lots of company responsibilities and extensive workforce to
look after so their absence from their workplace may mess
up the business affairs. So the online education is helps
the business men to acquire a degree or an advanced course
in their interested field without any blockade in business
affairs.
Employers- The need for survival and
to match the competition from the rival companies enforced
the employers to train their work force so that they perform
better Online Education increase productivity of the employees.
Researches have shown that productivity growth is approximately
five times as much as would be generated by compensation incentives.
House wives, Retired Personnel-
House wives and retired personnel may not be able to travel
to the university or institute due to certain circumstances
such as domestic responsibilities that demand greater attention.
But they have the zeal to continue your education. So, in
such circumstances they can rely on online education.
Trends and Predictions for eLearning
IT eLearning will contribute significantly to the
overall eLearning spending as governments across the region
look to eLearning as a means to bridge the digital divide.
By 2005-2006, IDC expects non-IT eLearning (vertical industry
specific, function-specific and softskills) in the more matured
Australian eLearning industry to be on par with IT eLearning.
IDC expects eLearning adoption in the Asia/Pacific region
to experience the greatest growth from 2004-2005. This is
when the market has reached a stage of maturity where the
benefits of eLearning are understood and eLearning is found
to be a major part of the corporation's long-term strategic
objectives, as opposed to being an isolated human resource
function or a lofty concept.
Corporate eLearning market is expected to be worth almost
US$233 million by 2005, growing at a CAGR of 25%.
The corporate elearning market for Singapore is expected to
be valued at US$27.56M, growing at a CAGR of 18%. For the
India, this is expected to reach US$22M, growing at a CAGR
of 32%.
The corporate elearning market for Korea is expected to be
worth US$51M, growing at a CAGR of 31% while for Australia,
this is anticipated to be worth US$65M, growing at a CAGR
of 22.
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