eLearning - Part 2: Re-attempt to define

We have focused on 'e' of eLearning but where's learning? It's the same thing that Dr. Srivathsan says - we have had lot of 'T' of IT but where's 'I'?

As we saw in Part 1, most of the definitions have been trying to tackle the technological part of the systm.

eLearning does all those things provided the system has good design and delivery. However, it should be kept in mind that at the heart of it just pure learning, and not technology, which drives all system. e-Learning has to keep in mind the people it is designed for.

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.

Just passive reading, automating assessment, creating forums et al won't suffice. We should make use of technology to actually try and capture the thought process, or at least provoke it in the correct direction.

One crutial part of any eLearning application / system should be to create (at least attempt to) an aura similar to classroom or study-table.

In next article on eLearning, we shall see how can the aura be created and what it takes to create this environment.