You know when you were in elementary school, when teacher used television to show some documentary or even used old fashion “projector” to show some of slides on to a wall or blackboard. Sounds familiar?
Discover E-learning with us
Those were first steps into e-Learning methodology.
When the internet arrived, most of the academics looked at the internet, as a great massive worldwide learning tool for students, and beyond.
In the early days, e-Learning received bad reputation because many people thought bringing computers into the classroom would eliminate human elements that some of the learners need.
But we’re all witnesses, how technology is expanding, and now we’re embracing smartphones and tablets in the classroom.
Many faculties, colleges around the world are using e-Learning systems called “distance learning”. So you can attend your classes at home. Imagine that, happening 40 years ago!
Many companies are using the same approach to motivate their employees to learn more and to be better at work.
When we talk about e-Learning now, we’re talking about “virtual classroom” that you can attend anywhere on Earth, the only requirement for that is to have an internet connection.
The best “virtual classrooms” platforms used today are Coursera, edX, Udacity, Khan Academy, Stanford Online, Classpert.com, and many more.
Virtual classrooms are part of MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), MOOC is one of the most popular learning tool currently in use.
To attend some of the courses, you need to pay for it, because some of MOOC providers are commercially oriented. About 80% of the courses are presented in the English language, but you can found courses in more than 14 languages.
Today, I’ll be focusing on Coursera, and edX because they’re providing most courses online, and they have the most market share of all MOOC providers.
Coursera, edX combined together are providing more than 1000 courses, online.
We have two types of courses, courses that are determined by a deadline, and you have self- paced courses. The main difference is that on-demand courses you can pause, and continue whenever you want.
If you managed to finish a course, you receive a statement of accomplishment for free, you can link it to your LinkedIn profile, or save it as evidence that you have finished all assignments.
To receive state of accomplishment you need to pass at least 50% of assignments. Also, there is a verified statement of accomplishment that is verified by the course provider and University. But to receive verified statements of accomplishment you need to pay for it.
Course assignments are divided by a week’s tasks. So each week you need to pass assignments, at the end cumulative score will be stated and you will receive your certificate if you pass a marginal score of 50%, as stated above.
So, MOOC is really getting powerful out there. Over 400 universities are involved, over 2500 different courses, and a mass of 18 million online students, worldwide. MOOC is so strong, that some course providers are offering ETSC credits for students that finish the course.
Check some of the MOOC providers below;
The author of this text is using the e-Learning platform for the past 3 years actively, maybe even more. It all began back in 2012 when the MOOC platform expanded massively through the internet.
When talking about e-Learning, there aren’t any real drawbacks, you can say that there isn’t real human face to face interaction, but you can interact with your colleges all the time, through google hangout, webinars, class forums and much more.
Some of the benefits, using e-Learning are;
- It’s free, you can find any course on the topic that you love. There are hundreds of free courses on the web.
- Learning 24/7, you can learn and attend the course from your home. Whenever you want, any time you want. There are courses that are self-paced, so you’re the boss, you can pause or continue at any pace you want.
- Expand your knowledge, using e-Learning you can interact with your colleges around the world, exchange your ideas, meet new friends, and much more.
- You can use knowledge from e-Learning, and use it to gain a better understanding of your school and college classes.
So next time, when you’re sitting at home, bored. Scrolling 9GAG, or checking news feed on your social media sites. Just remember that free knowledge is just a few clicks away.
Till the next time, may the force of knowledge be with you!
Learn more here.
Pros And Cons: YT Review Of The Most Popular Online Learning Platforms
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