A great deal of technology has already been in use in everyday activities, including (but not limited to) sales and purchases, communication, entertainment, transportation, and most importantly, in education. While being innovative encourages the human population to stay up to date about current trends and preferences, it has already been an acceptable practice to employ E-learning in the academic community. E-learning, or electronic learning, is a form of teaching process that uses computer technology in delivering education to students in a way that enables students to learn at any time and place. However, access to the internet and knowledge in computer applications are some of important tools for one to engage in E-learning.
E-learning benefits the school in a variety of ways. First of all, the physical presence of students and teachers are not required. This has the effect of addressing the problem of classroom shortage. It has to be understood that student population is increasing in number in any educational institution. A university that lacks sufficient funding to construct additional building to cater the increase in its students can opt to engage in E-learning. Not only will this give cost reductions while increasing revenue, the implementation of E-learning in the school will give competitive advantage and will attract more enrollees.
This also allows the school to reach to students in far-away locations, which increases publicity and helps in promoting the school to new areas, thereby expanding its target market. In addition to reduced costs of classroom construction is the decrease in expense for instructional supplies and materials, since most of the activities are taught and learned in the so-called “virtual classroom”. Large expenditures for school supplies such as papers, pens, markers, projectors, etc. will then be substantially prevented, however, not totally eliminated.
Another benefit that can be realized by educational institutions is the further development of its faculty members. Knowledgeable and skillful employees can always be perceived as an asset of the institution, more so, if these employees are adaptive to changes in the environment and technology, giving them larger exposure to higher quality teaching process. This way, faculty members, are being developed to deliver lessons using a new platform, giving them confidence to face and teach the new generation of learners.
For a faculty member, added skills in computer technology is an advantage to increase one’s self worth. Educators nowadays must be adaptive in order to address the changes in education system, especially in terms of information technology. New teaching methodologies to cater the needs of the students are already available. They just need to apply and implement these in their own careers.
Moreover, one of those who benefit the most are the students themselves. E-learning, as mentioned, gives them the opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge anytime, anywhere. This means that a person, while having to attend to other responsibilities, still, can be able to enroll in an education system that provides meaningful learning and information. Also, the problem of being away from the school is being addressed since geographical gap is bridged by the use of these tools that make them feel as if they are in the real classroom. Their computer skills are also being enhanced with the use of instructional materials that are provided by their teachers. These materials are electronic files (most of the time) and can be shared, downloaded, and stored for future use and reference. This gives the students a more advantage to learning and sustainable development and growth. Thus, E-learning provides the learners with the ability to fit learning around their lifestyles, effectively allowing even the busiest person to further a career and gain new qualifications.
Overall, with comparison to traditional paper and pencil learning, e-learning offers an alternative that is faster, cheaper and potentially better.
By: Diane Mari Ilaya Wagan | Teacher II | Bataan National High School | Balanga, Bataan
