What is eLearning?

What is e-learning? Is it important in education?

When it comes to online learning in education, the model has been pretty straightforward – up until the early 2000s education was in a classroom of students with a teacher who led the process. Physical presence was a no-brainer, and any other type of learning was questionable at best. Then the internet happened, and the rest is history.

It’s likely that anyone who uses eLearning will tell you how impactful and convenient it is. In today’s “always-on” world, eLearning offers many benefits to both learners and organizations. But what is eLearning, exactly? Whether you’re an eLearning expert or beginner, there’s no denying its popularity has skyrocketed over the past decade. For employers, it offers an affordable, time-efficient way to train employees. In return, employees benefit from convenient training that enhances their skills and knowledge. It’s also used by organizations to train their partners and customers to increase adoption, retention, and ultimately, revenue.

E-learning is a structured course or learning experience delivered electronically; it can also include performance support content. There are also many different elements that can make up an e-learning program, such as live or pre-recorded lecture content, video, quizzes, simulations, games, activities, and other interactive elements.

Keep in mind that you may also see the term e-learning more broadly as a catchall for any learning content delivered electronically. While ATD style uses a hyphen in the spelling, you may also see it spelled elearning or eLearning. E-learning courses are typically managed and administered via a learning management system (LMS). As author, Steven D. Foreman notes in his book, The LMS Guidebook, an learning management system is “a multiuser software application, usually accessed through a web browser. It helps organizations manage training events, self-paced courses, and blended learning programs. It provides automation that replaces rigorous and expensive manual work, saves time, and enables you to organize your content, data, and learners. It tracks andreports on training activity and results.”

Today, when people say “eLearning”, they’re referring to training on any digital device. Watching an educational video, reading an interesting article, or taking a quiz — all that is eLearning.

Comparing eLearning to traditional education methods is like comparing e-book formats to paper books. Just like digital texts can’t replace the authenticity of a real book, eLearning can’t replace full-scale education. However, it is always available as long as you have your digital device with you, and thus, it’s more convenient.

Convenience is one of the main reasons people love eLearning. Another reason is that you can customize your learning experience with other novelties, like augmented reality and virtual reality (people love new technologies!). For example, with VR courses, warehouse and construction site workers receive safety training, and medical students learn how to locate bones and blood vessels.

We use eLearning daily to develop ourselves as individuals. We read articles, watch YouTube videos, and play games to exercise our brains on our smartphones. Businesses, from small startups to enterprises, also utilize eLearning to train employees and help with internal processes. But wouldn’t you like to know how it all started?

E-Learning consist of teaching can be based in or out of the Classrooms, the use of computers and the Internet.

E-learning definition is defined as providing Training and development to the Students/Employees through various Electronic media such as the Internet, audio, video etc.

Web-based learning is meant by e-learning which commonly referred to as electronic learning or Virtual learningFele.

Today people first search for their queries on the internet rather than looking for books or asking someone. Hence, this has led to the Importance of E-Learning in Education.

There are interactive classes and courses on different topics or program or degree that are delivered completely on the net.

Emails live lectures, and video conferencing are some of the mediums that enable the participants to give their views on a particular topic and then discuss them further.

Through video conferencing or live chat, there is a great possibility of discussing different subjects. Static pages like course materials printed for the benefit of all the participants are also made available.