E-learing/online learning

I just read an interesting book "E-learning " by Mona Engvig. She is Norwegian, but lives in California and has her work there. She has written several books about e-learning or online learning as we may also call it.

In the book, she takes several pedagogical aspects of e-learning and discusses the interaction as a basic aspect of a course using ICT.

I am a student of the e-learning for the first time and it is a big difference from the traditional classroom teaching. When I read the book by Mona Engvig I also thought about my experience as an e-learning student. I will not go into what are advantages and disadvantages of e-learning, but rather present some facts about e-learning.



There is no doubt that those involved with e-learning are adults. Being an e-learning student you must be good to organize your own life. You need to be structured and good to plan your own time. Most people who take this training have family and / or work as well and that is why they take the course as e-learning. Not everyone has the opportunity to travel to a campus to study, but with e-learning they have the opportunity to study.

E-learning using information technology removes the barriers of time and space so that communication across geographic and temporal difference is possible. In the traditional classroom the hours is often finished just when the discussion starts to get really interesting. This problem does not exist in e-learning that is delivered to a group that uses asynchronous communication methods (such as e-mail and forum). The discussion continues throughout the week since students at any time can log in and post their comments. The students can be in touch after the course is completed, and the learning process continues. The philosophical starting point is a socio-cultural learning perspective. We have on this course, including students from Spain and Poland. The opportunity to become familiar with their culture and what they are concerned about are present. But you must take and show initiative.

The network offers unique opportunities for spontaneous communication such as an idea, a link or a quick comment can be posted at any time. The idea that you got, do not go into oblivion because there are six days until the next time the class meets. It can be shared with everyone, right then and there and be a spontaneous contribution to the learning process. Online discussions on course topics can take place anytime, anywhere and through a variety of media. This way of working is particularly important in relation to a constructivist model in which increased knowledge of their own knowledge through interaction and discussion with other important elements. The understanding and knowledge is extended through discussions and interactions, which is much easier to implement online than in a crowded classroom where often a few dominate. Those who choose to participate in a traditional classroom is also often viewed as distractions that draw out the time when the teacher is about to introduce the "important issues". And the student who never opened his mouth in a regular classroom, have the opportunity to participate in this class and no one will see the stuttering or blush in his face. In this way these more shy students can bring in a new and important perspective for the benefit too all of us.

Meaningful student teamwork is about much more than discussion of issues on information and links to interesting websites. Community-building, common generation of knowledge and process-management are fundamental aspects of interaction in e-learning. In Norway, our social attitudes and cultural focus on cooperation rather than competition are important drivers in this context. I do not know what kind of attitudes they have, for example in Spain and Poland, but I believe (and hope) that they have a similar attitude to the cooperation as we have in Norway.

Being a teacher (or can we call them a guide, an inspirator or maybe a supervisor) in this study is otherwise than being a classroom teacher. Mona Engvig says that there is great interest in online teaching among educators that focuses on cooperative learning and a flat, distributed power structure between teacher and pupil. The teacher must also balance between work and private life. They can sacrifice leisure time because they want to help the students as best as they can and therefore want to be available all the time. Then they easily can become burned out. We as students naturally want to get answer to our questions as quickly as possible, but we must have respect for the free time to our teachers.

It is also important that the teachers show the students respect. Encouragement and advice to improve is important. This is just as important for adult students as it is for children. We who study "ICT and learning" have portfolio assessment. We get feedback from our teachers about what is good and what can be better in the tasks we have delivered. It allows us to work more with our tasks and (hopefully) provide better tasks.