Importance Of E-Learning For Students

Written By: Claudia Jeffrey

The way of learning has entirely transformed to impart students. Unlike conventional methods of teaching, eLearning has made learning easier, simpler and more effective. Technological developments have accelerated people’s lifestyle on a variety of scales, including the aspects of teaching and learning. The Internet has become one of the most prominent media, opening the doors of endless opportunities for students around the world to access affordable education.
The IT booming has created unlimited possibilities for high-quality education and training offering to the comfort of your home. The easy access to information and knowledge with a fewer cost has enabled everyone to deliver and adopt every kind of skill. Also, some successes would never have been possible without the innovations offered by technology.

Proven Facts

According to a study that highlighted the effectiveness and importance of eLearning along with the satisfaction level of students with web-enhanced teaching, researchers surveyed 26 graduate and 45 undergraduate students enrolled in a course for landscape construction studio during 2011 and 2012 at Texas A&M University. Researchers made a comparative evaluation to understand the improvements and issues with a previous study conducted in 2003 and 2004. The parameters mentioned above were compared with the trends eLearning preferred vehicles among students.
Student’s learning satisfaction and effectiveness of eLearning was evaluated in an architecture course which compared the trends in learning medium preferred by students. Also, they examined the desired educational vehicle among students expecting an A, B or C grade. The study is published in the Journal of e-Learning and Higher Education concluded that the satisfaction level with eLearning is increased up to 95% between 2011 and 2012, compared to the 73% and 87% increase in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
Hence, the research indicates, students are highly satisfied with the eLearning methods of teaching in both studies, and in recent years, it has progressed to web-enhanced education than those in the past. Students may like to have a variety of interactions in eLearning including; assessments, timeouts quizzes, and explanatory videos and elaborate graphics.

Important Benefits Of eLearning For Students

In the world of browsing and login, today’s learners want self-paced, relevant, mobile and personalized content that is achieved by eLearning. Students can learn at their own requirement and comfort. Therefore, if the above study is not enough to convince you about the importance of eLearning for students, below are some practical benefits of eLearning. Let’s have a look at the advantages of eLearning.

Accommodates Everyone’s Needs

Undoubtedly, the most prominent advantage of eLearning is that it suits best for everyone. The digital revolution has remarkable applications on how content is consumed, discussed, assessed and shared. Online courses can be taken up by a variety of people including homemakers, office goers, students, professionals and entrepreneurs at their available time slot. Many people choose to learn at weekends, evenings and even nights depending upon their comfort and availability.

Unlimited Repetition of Lectures

Unlike conventional classroom teaching, eLearning gives you access to the content with an unlimited number of recaps and refreshers. The advantage can be utilized at the time of revision while preparing for a quiz, assessment or exam. In traditional learning, students cannot attend the same lecture again; hence, they have to make for the topic on their own while online education allows you to participate in the session multiple times whenever and wherever you want with ease.

Updated Content

The prime benefit of eLearning which conventional learning can never beat is that it ensures the synchronization of the content with modern learners. This enables students to access updated content with state f the art knowledge and most recent researches.

Quick Delivery Cycles

E-Learning is an ideal way to provide instant delivery of lessons to the learner. Compared to the conventional teaching method of classrooms, online learning has a quick delivery mode. Hence, the required time for learning can be reduced to 30-60% with online learning.
Moreover, in online learning, lessons started quickly and wrapped up in a single or a certain number of sessions. This makes the whole course or a training program easily roll out within a few days or weeks. Students can utilize as per their own speed of learning instead of following the pace of a whole batch.

Saves Time & Energy

Online learning saves a lot of time and energy as the students don’t need to travel to the college, university or a training venue. They can learn from the comfort of their home. Also, students can select a specific and relevant area of a provided learning material without wasting time on every chapter. Hence, they can skip a particular area which is not beneficial for them.

Scalable & Consistent

E-Learning helps in communicating, creating and modifying new concepts, policies, training and ideas on an individual or a large scale. Regardless of being formal or fun, eLearning is a reliable way of learning.
E-Learning offers a high level of coverage with a high degree of consistency of message delivered to the targeted audiences. This makes sure that every student gets the same message as a learning mode.

Cost-effective

Compared to conventional learning, eLearning is cost-effective. The reason for the price reduction is it saves the training time of trainers, travel, accommodations, and course materials. It also helps in enhancing the bottom line profits of the organization. When students are studying at their own place, they are relieved from paying accommodation, travel, meals and stationery expenses. As well.

Smart Learning

Undoubtedly, eLearning has a smart and positive impact on the organization’s revenue and student’s affordability. It makes content easy to digest and improves scores on tests, certification and evaluations. A higher number of students can achieve a satisfactory level of passing scores as it enhances the ability to learn and implement the knowledge in practical life. Also, they have high retention rates.

Eco-friendly

As online learning is a paperless way, it serves as a protective form of learning to the environment. E-Learning courses are proven to consume less power saving up to 90% of energy and generate a less amount of CO2 emissions up to 85% when compared to conventional learning system. Hence, there is no need to cut trees to make paper with eLearning as it is an eco-friendly way of learning.

Discussion

In a nutshell, eLearning is no longer an add-on feature for teaching methods, and it is a necessity. The only disadvantage of eLearning is the two-way communication and interactivity offered in a classroom session. Students who rely more on interactive learning may suffer from an eLearning strategy that is likely to lack interactive communication. While, this can be eliminated to an extent with a live question-answer session between tutor and student at the end of a course.
The use of eLearning has become inevitable for both students and teachers because online learning sessions are more needed for a quick and vast knowledge spread. Hence, there is still a need for consideration of this method as a revolutionary trend in advanced educational systems. In turn, both teachers and students need to get enough skills to help them getting benefited with the advantages offered by eLearning.

Conclusion

ELearning can be adopted by not only educational institutes for undergraduates and postgraduates; professional training firms can also utilize the way to train their employees without disturbing their work and personal routine. Lastly, opportunities and possibilities are endless with the innovations in eLearning. We all are in hope to see more of its benefits to make learning easier and accessible to everyone, everywhere.