Consumers Designers Of Multimedia Learning: E-Learning Experiences, Advantages, And Disadvantages

Discuss About The Consumers Designers Of Multimedia Learning?

The learning process has seen many upgrades in the past years. It shifted from classroom teaching to online learning. E-Learning is the process of learning that can be conducted through electronic media (Clark & Mayer, 2016). E-Learning has the potential to be the most widely used process for learning. To successfully implement and develop E-Learning industry however, a large investment is required. The users must have access to a working computer to successfully utilize the benefits of E-Learning. The purpose of this report is to study the E-Learning process and analyze the uses of this process through personal learning experiences. This report comprises of different learning experiences that was encountered while using the E-Learning system. The advantages and disadvantages of using the past and the present system are also included along with a successful E-Learning strategy that can be used for growth.

The process of learning through digital media is called E-Learning (Liebowitz & Frank, 2016). In contrast to a traditional classroom where the students must be physically present, in e-learning the students can access the learning process from any place anytime. They can freely select the courses that they want to study. Each course can be paid for individually and thus the courses are affordable for many people (Gaebel et al., 2014).

E-learning courses available at Lynda.com and Coursera.org are example of e-learning systems available on the Internet. The variety of courses range from business process to information technology. These courses aid in personal and professional development.

I have used various e-learning systems in the last couple of years. I have registered for a course on Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense at Coursera. The online tutorials and courses are very easy to understand. Virtual classrooms are easy to attend as these classes can be accessed from any place. The learning materials consisting of documents and videos provide detailed information on the topic. The study materials are created by experts and thus the learning experience is quite rich. E-learning is suitable for theoretical courses where the students do not require any practical or application classes (Fallon & Brown, 2016).

I have used different functions during e-learning such as virtual classrooms, tutorial videos and presentations. I have used different communication tools like Skype for real-time communication and Dropbox for file sharing (Janghorban, Roudsari & Taghipour, 2014) (Ko & Zaw, 2015). These tools assist in communicating with the course lecturers. The file sharing system is needed for project submissions for evaluations.

E-Learning Experiences

I spend five to six hours on an average per week using this system. That means I spend almost one hour per day. I log in and study for an hour everyday as I find it very difficult to complete the entire week’s work during the weekends.

I log in everyday and study whenever I get some free time.  

After I log into the system, I view the tutorial videos available for that week. I study the available literature recommended for the courses. During assessment day at the end of every week, I complete the entire assessment in the scheduled time. This routine then continues at the start of next week to cover the next week’s learning outcome.

The following are the advantages that I have encountered while using the e-learning system:

I need content that is relevant to the course, personalized to match my requirements so that I can learn at my own pace and the content must be accessible from any device. I use my smartphone a lot and mobile access would thus be beneficial for me. I can access the content at any point of time (Davies, Powell & Nutley, 2015). Thus, the content is accessible whenever I need it. This means that I can apply the learning outcomes as soon as I the course ends.

In comparison to traditional classes, the e-learning classes I have undertaken have provided me with faster knowledge delivery. I was able to learn at a higher rate that traditional classes. There is no commute time in online classrooms and thus I can safely say I have saved a lot of time in the past years while undertaking e-learning courses.

E-learning has helped me to save cost on learning. Courses can be very expensive when the cost of trainers, travel, accommodation and course materials are added. E-learning courses can thus be very beneficial to save all these costs. I did not incur any travelling or accommodation costs while taking these courses.

E-learning has helped to develop a deeper knowledge of the courses with well organized and easy to access to content. I have retained the knowledge from every single e-learning system as the content was visually rich and easy to absorb. My attitude towards e-learning is positive as I have improved my skills and enhanced my knowledge base by using these courses (Parkay, Anctil & Hass, 2014).

I have always considered the reduction of carbon footprint by using e-learning systems. Traditional classrooms use a lot of paper for study materials as well as for tests. Taking these online courses by using e-learning systems. No such physical classroom is needed and thus e-learning is very efficient.

E-Learning Analysis

Self-paced content means that there is no self-discipline during the learning process. I can take a break whenever I want and thus I tend to get distracted from the study many times. I feel asserting self-discipline while using e-learning is very important. Some of my days are so tightly scheduled that I find it very tough to study that day’s course material. This increases the study load on my other days (De-Marcos et al., 2014). Many times, I have also felt that I could have learnt some skills in a better manner if I was physically present in a classroom.

E-learning courses are very interactive by using video chats and video conferences. However, a lack of human interaction often produces problems during the courses. Some content is understood better while sitting in classrooms. I feel that classrooms provide a moral support while studying.

In some scenarios, I have experienced that e-learning does not provide the same level of flexibility as it is supposed to. The content on these courses are designed to be applied universally. However, some skills are more complex to be taught online. Such skills must be imparted in classrooms where the students learn as the course progresses by asking questions and solving problems on their own (Fallon & Brown, 2016).

Online training and e-learning systems can successfully impart the knowledge designed for the course. However, there is more to training than the learning process. Interaction with people and various learning games impart management and team building skills, which is important for the business and the corporate world. It fosters and deepens the relationship between the employees that is far more important for improving the work culture than just gaining knowledge.

E-Learning strategies are tough to develop as any change in the market would completely render the courses useless. However, while developing e-learning solutions, an analyst can be employed to investigate the market and provide a projection. This projection can then be used to develop the best courses that is currently required in the market. These courses can be tailored by making some content readily available and some information must be imparted through online classroom training. These courses must be created based on the understanding level of each person. Every person is unique and thus the online classrooms must cater to those needs. The e-learning system must have easy to use and fluent interfaces (Truong, 2016). The users must be able to understand what each content is about. The content must be informational and graphic. It is highly recommended that visual aids are imparted into the courses as it helps to better impart the intended knowledge. The content must also have a variety of ranges at cheap costs so that everyone can afford these courses. E-learning is favored by people as the knowledge is cheap to attain. Thus, these courses must have abundant knowledge output. The marketing strategy must include digital as well as physical marketing skills. Marketing is an important part of branding the courses and these courses must be marketed to get as many learners as possible. This would decrease the operation cost by increasing the sales volume (Calisir et al., 2014). Most of the people are unaware of the online courses as they do not know which website provides what courses and what courses must be undertaken. A free online courses counselling can be implemented that can be used by the learners to understand the courses that is needed in the market and invest accordingly. Imparting such advice would also increase the trust of the learners towards the companies and they might book other courses as well.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that e-learning is a solution for learning different courses for and gaining knowledge. This knowledge will help to gain advantages over others in the corporate as well as the business world. E-learning systems has many advantages and disadvantages. However, learners residing allover the globe will try to use this system as a mean for cheap source of quality knowledge.

Reference List

Calisir, F., Altin Gumussoy, C., Bayraktaroglu, A. E., & Karaali, D. (2014). Predicting the intention to use a web?based learning system: Perceived content quality, anxiety, perceived system quality, image, and the technology acceptance model. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 24(5), 515-531.

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2016). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Davies, H. T., Powell, A. E., & Nutley, S. M. (2015). Mobilising knowledge to improve UK health care: learning from other countries and other sectors–a multimethod mapping study.

De-Marcos, L., Domínguez, A., Saenz-de-Navarrete, J., & Pagés, C. (2014). An empirical study comparing gamification and social networking on e-learning. Computers & Education, 75, 82-91.

Fallon, C., & Brown, S. (2016). E-learning standards: a guide to purchasing, developing, and deploying standards-conformant e-learning. CRC Press.

Fallon, C., & Brown, S. (2016). E-learning standards: a guide to purchasing, developing, and deploying standards-conformant e-learning. CRC Press.

Gaebel, M., Kupriyanova, V., Morais, R., & Colucci, E. (2014). E-Learning in European Higher Education Institutions. Results of a Mapping Survey Conducted in October-December 2013. European University Association.

Janghorban, R., Roudsari, R. L., & Taghipour, A. (2014). Skype interviewing: The new generation of online synchronous interview in qualitative research. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 9(1), 24152.

Ko, A. C., & Zaw, W. T. (2015). Digital Forensic Investigation of Dropbox Cloud Storage Service. Network Security and Communication Engineering (Ed: Kennis Chan), CRC Press: ?ngiltere, 147-15

Liebowitz, J., & Frank, M. (Eds.). (2016). Knowledge management and e-learning. CRC press.

Parkay, F. W., Anctil, E. J., & Hass, G. (2014). Curriculum leadership: Readings for developing quality educational programs. Prentice Hall.

Truong, H. M. (2016). Integrating learning styles and adaptive e-learning system: Current developments, problems and opportunities. Computers in human behavior, 55, 1185-1193.