E-Learning: The educational advantage

As the technology era becomes more sophisticated and entrenched in our everyday lives, more people are realizing that the digital age is not simply a fad that sweeps in much like one in the fashion world – it is real and here to stay!

Particularly in the education field. This realization has led school administrators, teachers and even parents to search for better alternatives in delivering learning materials to students. Today’s techno-hungry kids are also harder to please and demand more from their schools. They expect nothing but the best that education can offer. This is where the breakthrough of e-learning comes in.

E-Learning is the use of digital media to deliver learning materials to students even while retaining the human element – presence of teachers. E-Learning’s benefits are endless, especially to educational institutions. Here are some of the more important ones:

• Minimal cost investment

E-Learning, or any technological advancement for that matter, is always presumed to be expensive. This false presumption should not, in any way, deter schools from deciding to implement e-Learning without proper validation from a respectable source. For example, for less than the daily minimum wage, a school can provide each student access to 40 hours of e-Learning courses that teach internationally accredited Basic Computer Usage.* Yapster e-Learning has, in the past, even offered the same course per semester at a cost lower than that of a Big Mac.

• No extra infrastructure cost – maximizing school’s current infrastructure

Implementing e-Learning does not require additional infrastructure, i.e. hardware and/or software. A good and sensible e-learning company should try to maximize and use an institution’s existing infrastructure to eliminate additional cost.

• E-Learning allows savings on expensive software/hardware

Since e-Learning courses simulate the actual vendor software/hardware that students are required to learn, this "learning by doing" methodology does not require schools to buy expensive software/hardware to teach their students, except in special cases. To illustrate, a Yapster e-Learning implementation installed two out of eight laboratories with Microsoft Office for special projects/assignments. The other six used Yapster e-Learning to "teach" Microsoft Office. In the end, the school was able to save more than P500,000 on annual license cost.

• E-Learning updates/upgrades curriculum as soon as needed

IT changes so fast. Approximately every six months, a new version of a popularly used software is released. For schools to remain at the forefront of IT, their curricula must always be updated, which is quite difficult if they constantly rely on teachers to convert hard copy manuals into lesson plans. With the advent of e-Learning, updating a school’s curriculum becomes more of a semestral routine than wishful thinking. E-Learning courses are upgraded almost as quickly as when a new software version comes out.

• E-Learning bridges the digital divide in the Philippines and in the world

With consistently updated curricula, all educational institutions in the country can be at par with those in other countries. Provincial schools will not be left behind by urban schools in terms of providing quality education to students. In turn, a uniform Philippine school system will be able to proudly compete worldwide, eventually closing the digital divide between Philippine regions and the rest of the world.

• E-Learning allows teachers to do what they do best – teach!

E-Learning systems automatically check test questions and calculate overall score according to the school’s grading system. The system can also provide lesson plans for teachers and online handouts/manuals for students’ reference. Everything is done real-time, allowing teachers and school administrators to concentrate on teaching, and facilitating student needs.

• Seamless integration into the school system

E-Learning seamlessly integrates into the school system with a proper implementation process. By establishing a harmonious, lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with client schools, e-Learning firms are able to provide necessary support to ensure an efficient and effective learning system. The implementation process normally begins with course-mapping, moving on to technical installation, full-scale training, and then regular semestral review. Marketing, both internal and external, is also an important aspect of a seamless e-Learning integration.

There are a lot more benefits of e-Learning than what has already been discussed. It will take numerous pages and countless days to discuss them. I’ve laid out the more significant to help educational institutions realize the potential that e-Learning holds.

Right now, the Philippine educational system has already recognized and even adopted e-Learning as an important tool in teaching and updating the skills of our future leaders. Although still not viewed as a necessity by our school system – unlike computers or the Internet – we are headed there. It simply takes the realization and, of course, the acceptance of the benefits of e-Learning to fully understand why our future generations need it as part of their daily learning "nutrition."

*Internationally accredited Basic Computer Package for 40 hours of e-Learning: Basic Parts and History of Computers, Operating System and Data Filing, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Database, Presentation and Drawing, Introduction to the Internet, and Use of Electronic Mail.

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Arlene K. Yap-Tan is CEO of Yapster e-Learning Inc., a member of Yapster e-Conglomerate Inc. You may contact her at arlene.[email protected].