E-learning means electronic learning is not a new way to learn, people used to learn from youtube, google search, by pdf files, etc. but nowadays, after COVID 19 pandemic it is becoming the new normal of the learning process.
In this article, you will go to see what e-learning in detail, its types, its advantages, its resources, and the impact of it after COVID 19.
E-Learning
To understand electronic learning first you have to understand the word learning. Learning means to gain any kind of knowledge from any type of source such as books, by your teacher, by your parents, by youtube, by any organism, it could be anything by which you can gain knowledge.
Learning is an ongoing process and you go on learning throughout your life.
Definition of e-learning: Gaining any kind of knowledge particularly from the electronic medium is termed as e-learning or electronic learning. Examples of it are virtual classes, learning by seeing videos, learning by reading a website, etc.
The following are some types of e-learning.
A. Synchronous online e-learning: In this type of e-learning there is a real-time interaction that takes place between the student (or group of students) and the teacher. This is a facility for the student to gain knowledge from anywhere without going to school.
There are many ways to do Synchronous e-learning for example by virtual classes, by conducting online webinars, by audio-video conferencing, by online chats, etc.
B. Asynchronous online e-learning: In this type of online electronic learning students and teachers are not committed to engaging with teachers at a particular time.
Study material, assignments, etc. are provided to students by any website or by any application to the student and the student can go through the website or application by his/her time and pace.
This type of e-learning is done by eBooks, CDs, DVDs, blogs, etc.
C. Linear e-learning: This type of electronic learning in which information is provided to the student by electronic medium and there is no interaction takes place between teacher and student. Students only receive the desired information and are not able to interact with teachers.
The information is provided in one direction that is linearly therefore this type of electronic learning is called linear e-learning.
D. Collaborative online e-learning: This is a method of electronic learning which is similar to group study. In this type of electronic learning, students make an online group on any platform and start a discussion about any topic which they want to study.
In this method there is teamwork to understand any topic, each person participates in the group discussion and tries to explain the topic and other persons improve his/her knowledge by telling more about that topic.
Benefits of e-learning
Following are some advantages of e-Learning:
1. E-Learning saves time: Electronic learning saves time of a learner, as there is no need to go to any particular place (like school, coaching centre etc.) to gain any knowledge.
2. E-Learning saves money: As we know today’s educational system is very expensive, to gain quality of knowledge a student has to take admission in a private institute which is very expensive and has very high fees which are not affordable by everyone.
But electronic learning is very cheap in comparison to taking education by private institutions. The e-learning can be done by using a smartphone and an internet subscription which is quite cheap as compared to fees of the private institute.
3. E-Learning is Environmental friendly: Since e-learning is all about learning by electronic devices therefore there is no need to buy any book to study therefore no need to print the book (or study material) which saves paper and ultimately saves trees which give a boost to the environment.
4. Reduce inequality: The e-learning reduces inequality in many ways
a) Firstly, as we know that there are some teachers who do not treat every student equally and do the favour of some of his/her favourite students so in online classes (e-learning) teachers can’t do that.
b) Secondly, there is inequality in society and not everybody can afford the fees of private school and colleges so e-learning provides same study material to all especially the material provided by internet on different sites, youtube etc can be accessible by everyone irrespective to their caste, creed, colour, gender etc
c) Catalysis the process of gender equality: As we know that there many girls who are not allowed to go to the school by their parents (due to many social, economic and other reasons) so by e-learning we convince those parents to make their daughter study at home and can speed up the process of gender equality.
5. It stops school bunking by students: As we know many naughty students bunk the school and harm their study. But by E-learning especially by online classes conducted by the school, the student can’t bunk the school.
6. It stops the mischievous activity done by the student: We know that some student is very mischievous and do very naughty things in the class, such student is very tough to handle by the teachers so e-learning helps the teachers to handle them because during an online class, most of the time their parents are watching them, and in front of their parents they can’t do such mischievous activity.
Resources of E-Learning
Following are some online e-learning resources
1. Youtube: Youtube is one of the best e-learning resources where you can find many videos for a particular topic you are looking for and if you are not satisfied by one video you can go through the other.
Youtube is a free electronic learning resource(not a premium one) and you only need a suitable device and internet connection on it.
2. Khan academy: Khan academy is also a good e-learning resource. It is one of the best resources for school student
3. Udemy: This is also a very good electronic learning app by which you can learn many things.
4.Coursera: It is one of the largest online platforms for everyone. Here you can study more than 1000 courses from one of the best results in the world.
Impact of e-learning after COVID-19
After the COVID-19 pandemic, electronic learning has a great impact on the education system of the world.
Following are some example that how e-learning has the education system of the world:
1) After COVID-19 nobody can go out from home for a long time but we can’t wait for a longer time to educate the children because children are the future of the world so e-learning has become a great way to teach the student without providing any risk of COVID-19 virus to the students.
2) After COVID-19 many teachers lost their jobs especially those who do not teach in school and teach only in their home or in any coaching class but due to e-learning facility, they got their job of teaching through online medium.
3) After COVID-19 many online platforms are providing their online course as free to manage the education of the student which helped many students who were not able to purchase the online course by them.
4) After COVID-19 many new courses and now available online like robotics, coding etc.
These courses were not available (or very less available) online before COVID-19 and now every student can learn these courses if he/she wants by e-learning.
Conclusion: In the above article I have explained all about e-learning, benefits of e-learning, the impact of e-learning after COVID-19 pandemic. I hope that you have understood all the points of my article.
