Information Technology in a Global Society

Area of Interaction - Education

Telelearning/e-learning

Telelearning or the the more popular term "E-learning" is the unifying term to describe the fields of online learning, web-based training, and technology-delivered instruction.

Although I have strong opinions about where eLearning is likely to go and how quickly it may or may not get there, this page is dedicated to linking you to the myriad of e-learning resources in the e-world.

A definition of e-learning
Websites focused on e-learning issues
Organizations you might want to know about
Good articles and magazines
Interesting books
The written activity

Definition of e-learning

e-Learning. eLearning. "e"learning. However you write it, definitions abound.

The convergence of the Internet and learning, or Internet-enabled learning.
The use of network technologies to create, foster, deliver, and facilitate learning, anytime and anywhere.
The delivery of individualized, comprehensive, dynamic learning content in real time, aiding the development of communities of knowledge, linking learners and practitioners with experts.
A phenomenon delivering accountability, accessibility, and opportunity to allow people and organizations to keep up with the rapid changes that define the Internet world.
A force that gives people and organizations the competitive edge to allow them to keep ahead of the rapidly changing global economy.

With good design and delivery, e-learning does all these things. But, at its heart, it is, simply, learning. Too bad most interpretations focus on the technology (the "e") and not on the learning.

e-Learning has to keep the people it's designed for in mind. How do we learn? How do we acquire and retain skills and information to help us develop? Only when we address individual learning styles can the "e" in e-learning factor in. Then the technical side—the electronic delivery—can be adapted to the learner.

Maybe the "e" should actually follow the word "learning."

Want more? E-Learner.com explains what is e-learning, how does it work, and some of the terms you'll find when you take e-learning courses.

And more still? What is e-learning? (from HowStuffWorks.com) explains what it is and how it works.

"The effectiveness of an elearners experience is greatly enhanced through student-centered (usability) design. For example, students remember more information from a text book that is well organized, with extensive visuals, reflection/interaction points, clear headings, etc. The same concepts exist for online courses—learners learn better through use of clear headings, limited distracters, visuals, screen-friendly fonts, appropriate white space, web safe colors, etc. Basically, usability is the process of testing (through observation) how students behave with a course—what works, what doesn't, what confuses." — elearnspace.org

Websites

Find all sorts of terrific information on e-learning at Jay Cross' Internet Time website. If you're interested in e-learning, you should check out this site!

Elearners.com address many aspects of e-learning, distance education, and taking classes online.

The UK-based e-Learning Centre's eCLIPSE offers e-learning information for learning professionals in higher education, corporate training, and continuing education.

Elearnspace is intended for users, managers, developers, and facilitators of elearning. They have a mailing list and some very useful models.

Organizations

A complete list of education-related organizations on the learnativity.com site

E-Learning Forum. This is a wonderful organization no matter where you live, but if you lived in the Silicon Valley California and could attend their meetings, you would be in for a real treat.

e-Learning Guild.

US Distance Learning Association. Designed to promote the development and application of distance learning for education and training

Articles and Magazines

Learning in the New Economy Magazine featured The Whitespace Around eLearning in its Fall 2000 issue.

e-learning Magazine offers a hardcopy and an online version.

ACM publishes the online eLearn Magazine

Books

E-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age. Marc J. Rosenberg. October 2000.

Managing Web-Based Training. Alan L. Ellis, Ellen D. Wagner, Warren R. Longmire. ASTD, 1999.

Web-Based Training Cookbook. Brandon Hall. Paperback with CD-ROM. John Wiley & Sons, 1997. Learn more about Brandon.

Web-Based Training: Using Technology to Design Adult Learning Experiences. Margaret Driscoll, Larry Alexander. Hardcover with CD-ROM. Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Building a Web-Based Education System. Colin McCormack, David Jones (Contributor). Paperback with CD-ROM John Wiley & Sons, 1997

How to Design Self-Directed and Distance Learning: A Guide for Creators of Web-Based Training, Computer-based Training and Self-Study Materials. Nigel Harrison

Web-Teaching: A Guide to Designing Interactive Teaching for the World Wide Web. David W. Brooks

Distance Education Symposium: Course Design (Acsde Research Monograph Series, Vol 14). Ellen D. Wagner, Margaret A. Koble (editors). American Center for the Study of Distance Education, 1997.

"Beyond Distance Education: Distributed Learning Systems" Ellen D. Wagner in Handbook of Human Performance Technology, 2nd ed., H.D. Stolovitch & E. J. Keeps (editors). 1999.

Activity

When you've done some research on telelearning/e-learning, answer the questions below in your own words.