E-learning support

Deliver e-learning content

A successful e-learning experience will use a combination of the technologies most appropriate for the practitioner, the learner group, the course content and course assessment.

Central to e-learning success are communication technologies which are generally categorized as synchronous or asynchronous.

• Synchronous activities happen at the same time and involve the exchange of ideas and information with one or more participants. Synchronous activities occur with all participants joining in at once, as with an online chat session or a virtual classroom. Virtual classrooms (also virtual conferences or web conferences) allow practitioners and students to interact in real time from their own computer using text chat, live voice, and interactive whiteboards.

• Asynchronous activities are conducted with participants providing input at different times and use technologies such as blogs, wikis, discussion forums, and email.

A Learning Management System (LMS) is software for delivering content, tracking students and managing training. Practitioners set up a course web page to hold learning content and assessments, then track and manage their students with tools like grade books and activity reports.

Virtual Worlds provide immersive 3D environment online where multiple users can interact together or with characters or interactive environments.

M-learning or mobile learning covers learning with portable technologies like mobile phones, or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant), where the focus is on the technology (which could be in a fixed location, such as a classroom); learning across contexts, where the focus is on the mobility of the learner, interacting with portable or fixed technology; and learning in a mobile society, with a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support the learning of an increasingly mobile population that is not satisfied with existing learning methodologies.

Web 2.0 or social networking encompasses a number of tools that can be used to develop content and communication in an interrelated relationship. These tools are generally freely available to trainers and web users and include blogs, wikis, podcasting, social bookmarking, virtual conferencing as well as social network sites.