Let us bust the myths

E-learning A learning system based on formalized teaching but with the help of electronic resources is known as E-learning. While teaching can be based in or out of the classrooms, the use of computers and the Internet forms the major component of E-learning.

E-learning has become a very important topic with Covid-19. Educational activities in many countries stopped, hundreds or even thousands of companies started working remotely. This situation made education impossible with classical methods.

Few advantages of E-learning

Having fun
There is no time and space limitation
Results can be measured
Effective
Supports traditional education
Efficient and saves money

When it comes to eLearning, there are a lot of myths going around about it and why it may not be a great delivery method for training. Well, we’re here to bust those myths and show you why eLearning is fantastic and could be a great option to deliver training to your students, whether you run a training company or offer internal training from a training department!

It Doesn’t Work for all Learner Types

When it comes to teaching for different learning styles, you may not think that eLearning will work for all your students, because obviously, your students will represent lots of different learning styles in one group.

However, because eLearning gives you the ability to customize it with lots of different types of course content, it can be easy to make sure there is something for everyone or personalize eLearning courses completely to suit certain learning styles.

There’s No Interaction with Fellow Students

E-Learning does usually mean sitting at your computer and working through a class at your own pace, but that doesn’t mean that students won’t be able to interact with each other during the learning process.

You can set up study groups either in person, via instant messenger, or through video conferencing to ensure that students can still talk to and support each other.

There’s No Interaction with Teaching Staff

Another interaction worry with eLearning can be that students will have no interaction with teaching staff, and therefore if they have a problem or are struggling with something, they will have no support.

As with student interaction, it is really easy to set up and support student and teacher interaction. The easiest way to do this is to ensure that all students are given the instructor’s contact details, so they can get in touch with them whenever they need help.

As listed above, you could also use instant messenger or video conferencing to allow students some direct contact with the teaching staff. Or you could even set up a virtual instructor-led training (VILT) session periodically so the students will get some ‘face-to-face’ time with their teacher and get the chance to ask them any questions they might have.

It’s Hard to Measure Student Interaction

If your students don’t spend any time in the classroom, and therefore no or limited time with instructors, you may think it will be hard to measure how students are interacting with the course content or how well they are doing.

Well if you have a powerful reporting system hooked up to your learning management system (LMS), then it’s really easy to pull any of the vital data you need to look at in just a few clicks!

E-Learning is Complicated

E-Learning has the potential to come across as more complicated than classroom-based sessions because there is technology involved, and students may assume you need to be super familiar with that technology to complete the course.

However, the truth is eLearning and using an LMS isn’t any more complicated than browsing the web, so if your students signed up to your eLearning course in the first place, they would be more than equipped to handle the eLearning itself.

E-Learning is Expensive

You may think that eLearning is a more expensive option than traditional classroom-based learning simply because you will need to invest in technology and purchase the content for your courses. However, eLearning can actually save your training business money in a number of different ways!

No need to pay for instructors.
No need to pay for classrooms, travel, food, or any other associated costs.
Once an eLearning course is set up, you can have as many students on it as you like, rather than classroom sessions which would have a size limit. This may mean you would have to run classroom sessions multiple times to accommodate all the additional students, thus increasing the cost.

Creating eLearning Content is Complex

If you choose to offer eLearning to your students, the thought of creating your own eLearning content may be the thing that puts you off. While you can create your own content, you can also buy off-the-shelf content to provide your students with all the information they need!

You may wish to move to custom content in the future, or for some specific courses, but if not, then off-the-shelf content is the perfect solution.

eLearning will Replace Instructors

eLearning is a great solution for a lot of different types of learning, but there are some sessions that you will feel will always work better as a classroom-based session. This could be things like practical sessions such as first aid training.

Instructors also still have a place in the eLearning world as well, as they can be there to provide student support and assist with assessments.

It’s Easier to Cheat

There is always the thought that if a teacher isn’t present at all times, then it can be easy for students to cheat on their assessments and examinations, so this may be a worry when it comes to eLearning.

To help combat this, you can do things like mix up the questions in your assessments, so they are not the same every time, and this will make it harder to prepare for final assessments. You could also ensure the final assessment is held under exam conditions by having everyone attend a shared location to complete it if this is possible.