Benefits of e-Learning

One of the first week's activities was to post in a discussion on the benefits of e-Learning. There are loads of hypothetical benefits to e-Learning such as Return On Investment, flexible delivery, availability of access, reuse etc.

We can sometimes look at the benefits of e-Learning in such an incredibly naive way. There's almost a danger of thinking that having e-Learning is a benefit in itself. I've noticed that Distance learning (via printed material) has been around for a really long time, so why the interest with e-Learning? I ask this because I have seen and experienced some e-Learning from a number of HEIs, FE institutions and commercial organisations and am dumbfounded by the amount of 'e-Learning' content that could just as easily have been printed pages from a book. Once the pretty packaging is taken off, the surprise inside is really not that significant.

There are so many factors involved in making effective e-Learning. There's the instructional model for a programme or a module. The design and creation of the learning content in terms of learning opportunities and activities. The sequencing and contextualisation of all the sessions. There are different learning styles that need to be accommodated and this can protract the construction of online learning sessions. It can be a very expensive process and highly time demanding (though the benefits can be realised in the future). There are accessibility issues, technical issues, effective support issues (hence why I'm doing this course) and many more. I think that we need to remember that e-Learning is a method of delivery just like a lecture, book or an article in a magazine. I'm not against e-Learning or it's success; If I was I'd be out of a job.

It's easy to see the generic benefits of e-Learning without thinking of how effectively those benefits can be realised. Effective e-Learning courses are usually the ones that provide great activities and experiences for the learner. Ones that they can connect to their own experiences and goals. They normally require a fair amount of commitment and upfront effort, thats why the OU is so good at them. For some HEIs aspects of online learning aren't even considered in the workload model...