E-learning And Its Most Popular Forms

By Author: Manish Jain
Total Articles: 35
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The benefit of e-learning to companies is that students can take a class anytime form anywhere. Companies can ensure that the material delivered is up-to-the minute, since the content is served from a central location. Serving training to employee's desktops can be a very efficient use of resources, saving a company time and money while increasing employee skills.
E-learning can be used by human resources, traditional trainers, marketing, and sales. Specifically, marketing can use e-learning to train salespeople, distributors, and customers, while support can provide e-learning courses to lower support costs by better educating customers.
New technologies such as the Internet and changing business practices such as the use of more consultants are modifying the way we work. Our current low unemployment rate is making hiring a challenge at every level. Companies, especially those in competitive sectors, will need to use training as one of their most powerful tools. Training increases employee productivity, builds stronger and more effective relationships with business partners, and creates greater brand awareness/preference ...
... with customers. Training has moved to a critical role because companies need to maintain their competitive edge.

Training needs in the corporate world are definitely growing, and companies need to find ways to make their training more efficient. Traiditional classroom training is still a very effective method, primarily because it is interactive and it provides a structured environment that encourages students to complete the courses. However, classroom training has several drawbacks: high cost and difficulty of student access. Arranging for employees located in different facilities to be in the same room at the same time can be very difficult and expensive.

To get around these negatives, companies have provided employees with books and CD-based courses. Books are easy to use, but it is nearly impossible to keep buys employees focused on learning from them - books do not provide any interactivity or methods to force the student to complete the course. It is also very difficult to maintain a book's timeliness. CD-based courses are better because they can include interactive exercises. However, just like books, they are difficult to keep current and provide low impetus for course completion. Both CDs and books are also expensive to distribute. These limitations force companies to look for methods that are low cost, effective, interactive, accessible, and motivational. E-learning has stepped in as the latest approach to solve the employee training problem.

E-learning is best defined as the category that consists of training and learning over the web. E-learning is training that can be delivered over an Intranet, extranet, or the Internet. Since courses can be centrally administrated, it is easy to track students (thereby providing motivation to complete courses), control content (for easy updates as material changes), and keep costs down (since distribution of media is not an issue). Students can access training from their desktop.

There are two popular forms of e-learning: asynchronous and synchronous learning. Asynchronous consists of learning that is stand-alone. Asynchronous e-learning can be delivered through the web, via an Intranet, or by way of an extranet. The main feature is that the student takes courses when it is convenient for her. In contrast, synchronous e-learning is carried out at designated dates and times. Delivery is through the web, so that an instructor can take advantage of new technologies such as electronic presentation delivery, chat sessions, and collaborative electronic blackboards. Essentially, the concept of classroom training is extended to distance learning through the use of technology.

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