E-learning (or e-Learning) is
the use of electronic educational technology in learning and teaching.
E-Learning requires different types of engagement, categorized in the framework
of key practices or skills. There are two types of learning practices with each
has six learning practices for learners, they are for assisting learners to
assimilate new knowledge and understanding (searching, selecting, exploring,
testing, analyze and synthesize) and to exhorts them to follow through sharing
and using their knowledge gains (collaborate, discuss, understand, apply, create
and promote ).
To assimilate new knowledge and understanding
Searching and Selecting
Usually in some combination,
search and select activities are the ‘bread and butter’ of learners’ collation
of information; the one identifying where the sources of information might be
(searching), the other choosing the most relevant sources according to the
criteria established by their learning needs(selection). Saving and keeping
track of the information, and any new knowledge, are skills that will be
challenged persistently by the sheer volume of material available. Bookmarking
or saving favorite websites will make it easier to conduct subsequent searches,
but personal annotated databases will be increasingly needed to hold all
relevant electronic sources. There was a time when each family was lucky to
have a few texts or perhaps only a Bible; today in the developed world we are
literally drowning in information! The skills of criterion-searching and
selecting by relevance are staples in the set of basic Internet literacy tools.
Exploring
Similar to searching, exploring
implies a more relaxed browsing, looking for information that might match our
interests or meet our needs. It is an almost everyday activity, as we scan a
magazine or newspaper, for example, for items that interest us.
Testing
Related to exploring is the
discovery mode of e-Learning, in which learners try out ideas, test hypotheses,
and so on. Web-based information comes in many forms and simulations, and games
are examples in which the full potential of interactive engagement is used.
Rather than simply reading new information, such activities enable the learner
to avail him or herself of a type of information-cum-knowledge creation that
requires them to explore and manipulate virtual circumstances and conditions
relevant to the focus of their studies.
Analyze and Synthesize
These activities often go
together as learners deconstruct the complexity of a set of
information (analyze) and rebuild it as their own knowledge (synthesize). When we
analyze a set of information, be it train timetables or quotations for holiday
insurance for example, we attempt to reduce it to different categories,
distinguished by the importance we attach to each of them. Once we have looked
at several versions of the information, the risks covered by each of several
insurance policy proposals for example, we begin to synthesize it to make sure
that what we eventually choose fits our needs and at a competitive cost within
the options we have. Learning is no different. Whatever the context, the
analysis of relevant information from different case studies, examples of
scientific phenomena, periods of architecture or whatever, and the synthesis or
pulling together of this information to suit our specific learning needs, are
key learning skills necessary not only for constructing the new knowledge for
ourselves, but for beginning to contribute new understandings for others.
To share and use their knowledge gains
Collaborate and Discuss
The cycle might begin with the
learners seeking to share the information and new knowledge with others
(collaboration and discussion); a process that is well known to consolidate and
improve understanding through the action of being obliged to explain
(externalize) what has begun to be internalized. Very often we tell others
about something we have read and a discussion ensues. One of the most powerful
factors in promoting learning is this contribution to discussion and
collaboration with others who are working towards the same goal. By
articulating the ideas to others and hearing their inputs, by repeating them
and teasing out the implications of theories or sets of conditions, such
discussion will assist in formulating and consolidating new knowledge. In this
way, connected learners can move each other beyond the level of superficial
understandings.
Understand and Apply
During this consolidation and
sharing phase, it is likely that the learners will be faced with the challenges
(or opportunities) to demonstrate their grasp of the new knowledge
(understanding) by using it in context (applying it). This demonstration of
understanding might be for the benefit of others but the major benefit accrues
to the learners themselves. It is possible to apply knowledge blindly of
course, with little understanding of the concepts and reasons for actions and
outcomes. For example, the ‘natural’ snooker player may never reflect upon and
understand the mathematical niceties of spin or cue-to-ball contact that make
them champions. However, most people will benefit from training that explains
and then practices the skills necessary to optimize these features of play. In
many areas of life and work, action informed by understanding is generally more
focused, efficient and, hopefully, successful. Taking basic information such as
lecture notes or a literature review, and developing understanding through
discussion, analysis and synthesis, will generally enable better and more
purposeful application of the newly gained knowledge in solving problems or
making decisions.
Create and Promote
Once they are comfortable with
their grasp of a learning context, learners may fashion their new knowledge in
transferable forms (creating ‘learning objects’) to make it available to other
learners in a communal learning resource space (promoting the learning objects
they have created). e-Learning offers unique opportunities to create new
knowledge and to promote its use by others through the ease of communication
and dissemination of the new knowledge, within a community of learners context.
Indeed, this process is an explicit difference between the learning made
possible with new technologies and the older, traditional models of learning,
whether these might be the restrictive didacticism of teacher-led learning or
the greater freedom of teacher-facilitated learning.
SOURCES
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E-Learning Concepts and Practice
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