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It's a new world for e-learners, instructors

Tech Talk. By Tom Savel, MD, amednews contributor. June 17, 2002.

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Electronic learning provides instructors and students with a wide variety of new features that aren't available with standard classroom instruction.

To begin with, Web-based e-learning content is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere in the world that has access to the Internet. Because of this accessibility, students can find information just when they need it, and many have described e-learning as "just-in-time" learning.

Unlike computer-based training, which required new CD-ROMs to be distributed when updates had to be made, Web-based e-learning products are quickly and easily updated.

E-learning products give instructors a level of tracking and accountability that is nearly impossible to obtain with standard instructor-led classes. Instructors can view not only how the learners have performed on tests, but also what specific lessons the students have or have not viewed.

Many users may appreciate that e-learning can be done in the privacy of their own homes. The anxiety of asking questions in front of a group or making a mistake in front of others can be a real issue for many.

In a sense, the process of e-learning can create a new level of equality, compared with education that occurs in instructor-led classrooms. In other words, in the world of e-learning, it's quite difficult for one student to demand all of the instructor's attention.

Furthermore, the focus of e-learning could be described as more learner-centered than instructor-centered. It's the student who can choose to replay parts of a lecture and skip others. [...]