Research Paper: The Impact of Web-based Learning on Higher Education

Improving Quality in Higher Education Through E-Learning Management System (ELMS)

The Impact of Web-based Learning on Higher Education published in Quest International Multidisciplinary Referred Research Journal Vol. I, Issue I Page No. 35-41 June 2012 ISSN: 2278 - 4497   

The Impact of Web-based Learning on Higher Education

  

Yogesh Ramani

Assistant Professor

B.H. Gardi College of Engineering & Technology, Rajkot

Abstract

This paper examines the issues surrounding the performance of E-Learning into higher education, as well as the configuration and delivery of higher education. The study also reviewed the implication to both lecturers as well as students and that learning impact on the society, nation and on the entire world. The research investigated that the E-Learning introduced in a variety of context, such as online learning, distance learning, and networked learning. E-Learning is now facilitating a more flexible learning approach and therefore utilizes the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT has not only improved knowledge storing methods and learning techniques but also overcome the hindrance of inflexible schools and colleges structures. The Internet is a Technological Development. It has the potential to change the way society retains and access knowledge.  It has also to transform and restructure traditional models of higher education, particularly the delivery and interaction in and with course materials and associated resources.

Introduction:

In any society, the imparters of education have a higher moral responsibility to positively influence the student generation. Educators are beginning to realize that to teach future leaders and citizens they need to be technologically better equipped themselves. At the same time, the demand for higher education is growing annually, globally. With these thoughts in mind, and the immense opportunity in terms of potential students in the higher education, the scene has to change rapidly to shift the paradigm.

The latest concept of E-Learning is proved effective in Teaching-Learning process. E-Learning was first called "Internet-Based training" then "Web-Based Training". E-Learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. The term will still most likely be utilized to reference out-of-classroom and in-classroom educational experiences via technology, even as advances continue in regard to devices and curriculum.

E-Learning is essentially the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. E-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities, Mobile technologies such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance) MP3 Players, Tablet, etc. and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet, intranet or extranet, web sites, collaborative software, Email, blogs, wiki, computer aided assessment, educational simulations, games, learning management software, electronic voting systems, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and audio.

Definition by Expert

E-Learning is construed in a variety of contexts, such as distance learning, online learning and networked learning (Wilson 2001).

Learning that utilizes Information Communications Technology (ICT) to promote educational interaction between students, lecturers and learning communities (Holley 2002).

My Understanding: E-Learning refers to the use of internet or wireless technologies to deliver a broad range of training solutions. E-Learners access the learning from a computer via the internet or an intranet, or through a hand held device like a palm pilot. Or E-Learning is commonly referred to the intentional use of networked information and communications technology in teaching and learning.

E-Learning Overview

Each year more of the world’s people become connected to the network, its bandwidth increases, and its use becomes more integrated into all that we do. Connectivity to this network, and the ability to master it once on, has become an essential part of life in the 21 century and a key to opportunity, success, and fulfilment for the people of the world. The technology that has so dramatically changed the world outside our schools is now changing the learning and teaching environment within them. Some of the common ways of integrating technology into education include:

Teacher PC Programs provide teachers with everywhere access to tools such as tablets, interactive whiteboards, and document cameras to uplift their knowledge and skills.

PC Labs are frequently used to offer technology access when resources are severely forced. Classroom E-Learning is where PC with Internet brings to classroom to enhance learning across the curriculum.

One-to-one (1:1) E-Learning provides each teacher and student with a laptop for use at institute and at home for learning and teaching tools to get maximum learning opportunity from access to PCs, internet connectivity, and their integration into the education environment.

Research Overview: A variety of E-Learning studies show that it should be supported by holistic approaches that include appropriate policies, infrastructure, professional development, and curricula – E-Learning can help produce positive outcomes. Research also seems to indicate that a more technology-rich environment delivers greater impacts.

More than 80 percent of teachers surveyed said that students were more engaged and more actively involved in their learning and produced higher quality work.

Data Collected from faculties of M.C.A. & I.T. – Gardi Vidyapith Rajkot on February 2012.

In reviewing the research I have organized the findings around five major areas of benefit: student learning, teaching and administration, family and home, social and community, and economic development.

The Positive Impact of E-Learning

Studies have shown that there is much value for E-Learning, especially at the college level. Some say it has been underrated and that some of its techniques could be translated into uses in the traditional classroom settings. E-Learning tends to make the classes more of a shared experience. During E-Learning, things like lectures, homework, quizzes and exams are delivered almost all by online means. Most of the time, there is no real person to person interaction. It also requires that a student takes more responsibility for their actions as they have to be in charge of their own schedules for things like getting their homework done, logging in for classroom discussions, etc. E-Learning is reshaping education in all levels, even in some elementary and high school classes. It also saves money as people don’t have to travel or use gas or leave their homes. Plus, the Internet is right there, so they have access to study material, can chat with other students for information and to exchange ideas, etc. As for traditional classes, they can learn from this by putting into place more discussions, and better communication between teachers and students. With E-Learning the students and teachers have to make time to get their things done and they can just login to ask questions, to get feedback, to increase knowledge, etc.

Expert’s View:

Volery (2000) expresses that online methods facilitate more effective education and offer significant advantages over traditional teaching methods.

There is a notion that an E-Learning environment offers students an improved learning experience when compared to a more traditional learning environment. Holley (2002) found that student participants on E-Learning university courses using techniques such as virtual lectures and bulletin boards achieved better grades than students who studied in traditional learning settings.

E-Learning environments loosen the time and space restrictions associated with traditional university practices. However, although E-Learning environments overcome the traditional time and space constraints, universities must be cautious when deciding if distance learning environments should replace the traditional methods, as students recognize the benefits of the E-Learning environments but only when combined with traditional formats (Serwatka 2002).

Holley (2002) explains that the opportunities given by E-Learning, such as the removal of time and location constraints, offer all people in society the potential to be life-long learners whatever their location, age or occupation.

Lieberman (2002) explains that in higher education student participation is a primary feature of enhanced performance and in distance learning courses students are more likely to participate in class discussions and group work than in traditional lectures, as they are given more time to prepare questions and responses.

Writers such as Hemsley (2002) express the view that full time and part time students can now partake in their chosen degree courses from any location, giving people who travel or who are relocated, a transferable and easily accessible learning resource and experience. Through the use of advanced technology, students who have previously not had access to higher education now have the opportunity to study at the location that best suits their needs (Sadler-Smith 2000).

The Internet has allowed universities to expand beyond their local campuses and create global learning institutions for today’s information age (Wilson 2001). According to O’Hearn (2000), global E-Learning programs provide ‘real time’ connections between students who can share knowledge resources, such as databases libraries from anywhere in the world. This may indicate that students who are studying on a global distance learning degree may be more prepared for a global work market.

This view is supported by Hemsley (2002), who studied Jones International University (JIU), which was the first university to be founded for the delivery of degrees on line. Hemsley (2002) stated that JIU have various degrees available all focused on the global expectation of today’s work environment.

Since there’s an emphasis on more learner-centric activities than traditional lecture-based classroom learning, the teacher is more of a facilitator in an online classroom. It enhances the collaborative nature of online learning and also motivates students to be much more engaged and to take more responsibility for what they’re learning.

“Compared to the more traditional educational paradigm – the broadcast model, where knowledge is delivered from professor to student from on-high – e-learning turns teaching and learning into a shared endeavor,”

E-Learning in India

The use of E-Learning has the following Advantages: (1) Availability of more reliable and cheaper means (2) Ensure the understanding or learning process (3) Exploiting the available resources fully (4) Incorporate with traditional way of teaching and Make a conducive environment (5) Pre-services, in-services and post services training and development strengthened to (6) Cover effective use of materials and Develop a participatory program approaches (7) Easy Incorporation of commercial or private players in the field (8) Incorporation of Academics, Research Institutes, student representatives (9) Flexibility in the e-learning programs like availability of special classes, assisting and Faculty, print materials and so on.

The latest trend to capitalize these advantages is to open “virtual universities” all over the world. In India, the University of Madras opened a “Virtual University” in partnership with University of Mumbai and University of Calcutta. This Virtual University system has led to the commencement of 10 joint degree, post graduate and Ph.D Programs. Countries without university education can access universities in other countries via the web, a solution much cheaper than building university infrastructure. In underdeveloped countries, E-Learning can raise the level of education, literacy and economic development. This is especially true for countries where technical education is expensive, opportunities are limited, and economic disparities exist. However, one of the problems with E-Learning in India is the lack of course content, especially outside the mainstream focus areas of IT education, English-language content, and tutorial-like courses. There will be high demand for people who can develop multi-lingual courseware that addresses various topics. One of the top 10 positions among Global 1000 companies of the future will be that of an online learning designer. Blackboard Incorporation (www.blackboard.com) has been awarded a patent establishing its claims to some of the basic features of the software that powers online education. This is the recognition of the growing importance of the concept of e-learning all over the world and its capitalization.

Limitations of Introducing E-Learning

·       Teare’s (2000) studies suggested that some students who participated in online learning courses found the delivery of course content impractical and frustrating due to technological failures.

O’Connell (2002) proposes that, students from non-technical backgrounds or those who are more accustomed to traditional face to face learning environments, experience problems absorbing course material in E-Learning environments.

O’Connell (2002) argues that quieter students will still be excluded from virtual discussions, as there will always be students who will dominate conversations, even online Also, controlling dominant students is far more difficult in E-Learning environments when compared to face to face lectures.

There is evidence to suggest that students who learn from their most convenient location will not engage in a positive learning experience.

Students who have access to networked computers may have the opportunity to experience a more flexible learning process but students and indeed higher educational institutions could fail to benefit from this opportunity, due to students not being able to afford or gain access to a computer (Shaba 2002). Therefore, students with no computer at home are maybe disadvantaged in E-Learning environments.

The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) propose that the introduction of Global E-Learning courses would prove unsuccessful from both an educational and financial perspective

Solution:

Blended Learning is a hybrid of traditional face to face and online learning so that instruction occurs both in the classroom and online, and where the online component becomes a natural extension of traditional classroom learning (Colis and Moonen 2001).

Educator’s Role in Introducing E-Learning Concept

Lecturers in higher educational institutions must accept and embrace technological advancements offered by E-Learning.

Holley (2002) explains that lecturers have to adopt new educational approaches in order to maintain the quality of courses. Collectively, the evidence offered on the role of lecturing staff in contemporary E-Learning courses suggests that online learning should not be regarded as an alternative to a traditional tutor.

In addition, the lecturer is not only the knowledge source but is also a knowledge navigator using the Internet as a teaching tool. This enables lecturers to transfer their skills in other business areas such as developing training and corporate courses (Ribiero 2002).

Conclusion:

E-Learning could have potentially major effects on the way higher education is designed, implemented and delivered. Until now, universities have been static in their structure and delivery of higher education courses. However, demand for learning has never been so high, and this in conjunction with the need to geographically broaden learning may prompt universities to introduce E-Learning initiatives. The same demands for learning and the increased revenue of independent educational providers, has produced a real threat to the very existence of the traditional university. E-Learning may provide universities with a means of exceeding the newly formed competition, by taking full advantage of their traditional, already established reputations.

For students, E-Learning can provide an educationally-superior alternative to traditional lectures, in which learning can take place outside the lecture hall. E-Learning can also provide a model for students on how to become self directed independent learners, which may assist them to become ‘life-long learners’.

For lecturers, networked learning may cause changes in work patterns and even change their professional role, but in addition, E-Learning provides them with the opportunity to test students in real business situations and new methods to evaluate each student’s learning.  The role of the lecturer is predominant in the successful delivery of networked learning initiatives, as lecturers have the influence to eliminate students technical frustrations, make students feel empowered and encourage students to interact with one another. For lecturers, E-Learning programs represent a change in teaching style. The precise nature of the change is difficult to quantify, however allocation of sufficient time and resources, combined with managerial support, will help staff through the period of transition. Effective management can also help institutions to deal with any increase in lecturer workload by ensuring efficient use of resources.

The last decade has seen a phenomenal growth in the use of the Web in university education, with various factors influencing the adoption of Web-based technology. The reduction of government funding in the higher education sector has forced universities to seek technological solutions to provide courses for a growing and increasingly diverse and distributed student population. Another impetus has been a shift in focus from teacher-centered to learner-centered education, encouraging educators to provide courses which enable students to manage their own learning (Sheard and Lynch 2003).

When considering the implementation of E-Learning, educational institutions must be structurally flexible and be able to embrace the capabilities of distance learning as a tool to support overall learning. To utilize these capabilities successfully, higher education institutions must determine the most suitable environments and courses for E-Learning delivery; indeed a successful E-Learning course may be one that is blended with other more traditional face to face delivery methods. Pedagogical approaches have not radically changed over the last 25 years (Nabeth et al, 2004). So the concept of developing a holistic learning organization which empowers the learner and moves away from the didactic delivery model located within the traditional lecture hall is a relatively threatening anathema to a number of staff and institutions. Granting more autonomy to the learner and at the same time adapting to systems which are less stringently controlled or supervised will create potential internal conflicts (Wolters 2003). These may not all be at the academic interface. The integration of numerous internal procedures and processes as well as multiple IT systems will all mitigate against the successful implementation of a cohesive and supportive E-Learning context or environment. E-Learning has a fundamental impact on the structure of higher education. Whilst the growth in demand can be accommodated by its implementation, the diversity of the new student population requires that institutions carefully develop programs that will satisfy a broad range of learning requirements. This challenge is intensified by changes to the competitive environment where, in the wake of lifelong learning, traditional institutions are competing with corporate and virtual universities particularly for the mature student population. (O’Neill, Singh and O’Donoghue, 2004).

There is a need to acknowledge that active learning within a technologically-based environment necessitates the establishment of a theoretical framework as part of the learning process, (Manning, Cohen & DeMichiell, 2003). This realization will mean that the use of technology is not about replacing learner process, but enhancement and extension of such. This is most important if we are not too simply ‘cut and paste’ content, which may have worked in the lecture theatre, in virtual and technology-based learning environments.

Works Cited

Horton, William. E-Learning by Design (Second Edition). (2011) San Francisco: Pfeiffer. 615 pages.

Horton, William. & Horton, Katherine. E-Learning Tools and Technologies: A consumer's guide for trainers, teachers, educators, and instructional designers. Wiley, 2003

www.teachingstylesonline.com & www.midterm.us

Article on E-Learning in Higher Education – Issues, Challenges, Benefits & Future: Brief Outline: e-Learning in Continuing Learning and Education by Prof. Malathi Sriram

Som Niadu. E-Learning – A Guidebook of Principles, Procedures and Practices. Commonwealth Education Media Center for Asia. New Delhi.

A study into the effects of E-Learning on higher education by Gurmak singh, John O’Donoghue, Harvey Worton. University of Wolverhampton.