Differences between E-learning and M-learning

There was a time roughly 10 years ago or so when the concept of elearning was pretty straight-forward.

Whenever someone mentioned “elearning” you generally knew what they were referring to.

Today it’s not so black and white.

Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have had a significant influence on the elearning industry – in some circles it is referred to as an entirely separate entity: mobile learning (or mlearning).

This is where there is some confusion.

There are industry professionals who recognize the existence and unique differences of mobile learning, but then they still use the term “elearning” in an all encompassing manner.

I am very much guilty of this, often changing vernacular depending on the audience. For all intents and purposes I think it’s fine to group mlearning with elearning. When you boil it down, mobile learning is technically just a form of elearning.

However, it is still important to recognize the differences of mlearning and elearning because they do in fact exist.

Mobile learning is almost always a key consideration for any elearning program. Gone are the days when you only would develop for one device (i.e. desktops or laptops).

Every course you create needs to be accessible across a multitude of devices, browsers, and operating systems.

This is one of the reasons why developing elearning takes a considerable more amount of time compared to creating in-person training programs.

Shift ELearning has developed an infographic that gives a quick “snapshot” with regards to the primary differences between elearning and mlearning.

Specifically, they identified four areas where these two forms of learning differ:

Purpose
Medium of delivery
Design
Duration
I find the last one intriguing as I have never seen duration be a defining factor between the two. It’s an interesting take.

Perhaps you can think of other defining factors between elearning and mlearning

Mobile Learning – Anytime, Anywhere and Any device

Today, e-learning has almost disrupted the traditional education sector (for good that is), and have gone way ahead than wherewithal. Now, it can seamlessly and securely deliver content to the learners without needing them to be physically present to acquire the said knowledge. No doubt, the e-learning facet gained serious ubiquity given the extensive use of mobiles, and hence, more and more courses have started becoming mobile-friendly as well. Hence, the offshoot of the neophyte mobile learning lms.

IMPORTANCE OF OFFLINE LEARNING

Absence of network connectivity in remote areas made it difficult for the learners to gain access to course content. Hence, the provision of offline learning, where the content can be set up ahead of time when access to internet connection is available. This offline learning feature became a hit for those who don’t have internet connection at home or while travelling.

LMS that exhibits offline learning capabilities can be a blessing in disguise for those who are unlikely to have continuous internet connectivity. It is true for those faculty members, especially who aren’t gadget freaks and live in far off rural areas. They value this affordance because of the efficiency it brings along. And for others, offline learning will bring along some respite from constantly being connected to the net.

OFFLINE LEARNING – GIVES A HIGHER ROI IN E-LEARNING

With reduced dependency on the traditional ways of learning like the face to face or classroom setting, the teaching/teacher’s costs get considerably reduced. Also, with offline learning, the process of learning becomes easier as the learners do not have to travel to attend the classes every day. Hence, the dropout rate reduces, while the company experiences a better return on the invested time and money, in terms of well-informed employees or students.

If companies, who engage on-field staff on a regular basis, opt for the traditional way of learning, it’d jeopardize their entire operation. The organization will have to set a time every day when the entire staff would gather at one place to learn, and that would halt productivity and ultimately revenue. However, the offline learning mode of the LMS solves this issue. It helps the learners download the courseware whenever network connectivity is available, and then engage in self-paced offline learning at their own time convenience.  

In addition, the multiple OS (operating system) and multiple browser support reduces the IT headaches the company has to go through, if this was not the case. Offline learning also translates into reduced cost of implementation. All in all, you get the best deal when you opt for the offline learning feature of the LMS.

7 Tips To Create Personal Learning Paths In eLearning

No matter what the subject matter might be or the background of your target audience, learning should be a personal endeavor. But how do you offer your online learners the key takeaways and fulfill goals and objectives while still catering to their individual needs and wants, especially if you have a large audience? In this article, I will explore how to create personal learning paths, and I’ll share 7 tips that can help you integrate personal learning paths into your eLearning course design.

A personal learning path is a learner-centered eLearning approach that emphasizes learner-specific goals and objectives, as well as preferences. It also refers to the path that a learner elects on their own, such as which eLearning activities and exercises they choose to participate in during the eLearning experience. Each eLearning activity gives them a better understanding of the topic, and gives eLearning professionals the opportunity to pinpoint the individual’s learning style and needs. Personal learning paths give learners control over their own eLearning experience, so that they can more effectively acquire and retain knowledge and skills that will help them in the real world.

7 Tips To Create Personal Learning Paths In eLearning

1. Consider the overall learning goals.
   Even when creating personal learning paths for each individual learner, the goals and objectives of the eLearning course must still be an integral part of the eLearning experience. The key to creating a successfulpersonal learning path strategy is to develop a plan that seamlessly blends the eLearning course essentials with the needs and wants of each learner. In addition to the individualized goals and objectives they set for themselves, they must also walk away from the eLearning experience with the key subject matter.
2. Empowerment is key.
   For a personal learning path to be truly successful, online learners must feel as though they are in control of their eLearning experience. This can be achieved by allowing them to choose which eLearning activities they complete next, how they receive the eLearning content, and even which eLearning assessments they will take. For example, you can offer them the chance to test their knowledge via online scenarios, multiple choiceexams, or essay online assessments. The key is to make them feel like they have a direct say in the learning process, rather than telling them how, what, and when they are going to learn.
3. Stress the importance of online self-assessments.
   In addition to the mandatory eLearning assessments that learners must complete throughout the eLearning course, it’s also important to offer them online self-assessments that they can take on their own. Provide them with one or two quizzes or simulations that enable them to test their own progress and knowledge comprehension. Include a self-grading rubric or answer sheet that offers them the opportunity to correct their mistakes and receive the right information. Also, don’t forget to make them aware of the fact that you are there to offer support, should they need it.
4. Create periodic milestones.Periodic milestones give learners the chance to check their progress along the way and ensure that they are on the proper path. In fact, it’s a great idea to make weekly checklists that your online learners can follow in order to stay on-track and up to date. If you want to give your learners more control, simply create one list of mandatory online assignments, exercises, and assessments, and then another that features optional tasks. You can even use project management online platforms to keep them organized, or integrate the checklists right into the homepage of the eLearning course.
5. Cater to multiple different learning styles.Not all of your online learners have the same personal preferences or learning styles. This is why it’s important to integrate a wide range of online activities and exercises into your eLearning course, so that your learners have the ability to choose what works best for them. Auditory learners can listen to virtual lectures or podcasts, while visual learners can watch eLearning videos and view image-rich content. Those who prefer to read their way through an eLearning course can opt for text-based modules. Variety gives every learner the opportunity to benefit from the eLearning course and create a learning path that is ideally suited for their needs.
6. Offer immediate constructive feedback.
   Even though a personal learning path is, well, personal, learners still need some form of direction and feedback. If they complete an online assessment, you must let them know what they need to correct as soon as possible so that they do not memorize incorrect information or pick up unfavorable learning behaviors. They key is to give them theconstructive criticism they require, while still allowing them to learn from their mistakes. Likewise, you should also solicit their feedback so that you can fine tune your eLearning strategy and ensure that every learner is getting the personal support they need.
7. Learning pathways offer invaluable data.A personal learning path in eLearning offers online learners a wide range of advantages. However, eLearning professionals can also use them to discover more about their audience and eLearning course design. For example, if you closely examine the learning path of a single learner, you can find out what online activities they prefer, how they are progressing, how they like to receive their information, and if the individual eLearning exercises are successful. Thanks to the analytics and tracking abilities of modern learning management systems, you can view all of this with the click of a button. In many respects, personal learning paths in eLearning give us the rare chance to see learning behaviors, first hand, so that we can improve our eLearning strategy moving forward.

Allowing your learners to embark on their own personal learning paths can make your eLearning course even more meaningful and powerful. Use these 7 tips to successfully integrate personalized paths into your next eLearning experience and empower your audience to take control of the learning process.

5 Tips To Create eLearning For Modern Learners

How do you educate someone who has never known anything but high speed broadband and internet access, instant gratification, and quick fixes? How can you grab their attention and keep it long enough to get your message across? In this article, I will share 5 key tips to create eLearning courses for modern learners that will convince them to stay focused, absorb the information, and get the most out of their eLearning experience.

How To Create eLearning For Modern Learners: 5 Tips For eLearning Professionals

The bad news? Modern learners’ attention span and desire for in depth analysis is increasingly diminishing. You now have only a few seconds to grab their attention before they click away or their mind wanders off. The good news? The methods for grabbing learners’ attention and making the key points easily accessible and digestible are nothing new. They are called effective learning techniques.

The critical difference between modern learners and the rest? Modern learners literally despise waiting for information; therefore, you shouldn’t make them wait. And here is how to create eLearning that appeals to modern learners’ personalities and learning preferences:

1. Engage them ASAPAs already mentioned, the first thing you need to have in mind when trying to capture your modern learners’ attention is this: Don’t make them wait. This means you have to make your point right away, otherwise they will get distracted and you’ll lose them. What’s your point? The learning objectives of the eLearning course. Instead of starting your eLearning course by listing them, present them in a way that make them relevant to your modern learners audience. Grab their attention by explaining exactly how the eLearning course will improve their individual performance and how it will benefit their personal or professional lives. In addition, make it brief; modern learners don’t have time to lose, so tell them what they need, and want to know and nothing more. This goes for the rest of eLearning course too; use bite sized chunks of eLearning content to get your message across, include only the most relevant data, and consider using infographics which are very popular among modern learners, as they make information very easy to grasp.
2. Motivate them to achieve performance goalsModern learners are achievement driven; thus, they are highly interested in improving their performance to achieve success. They don’t mind working hard, as long as it pays off, that is, as long as their work has a purpose. To achieve this, you need to offer them meaningful eLearning experiences that encourage them and allow them to develop and practice creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills. Make clear that the eLearning course aims to help them grow; use performance goals to provide them with opportunities to practice their newly acquired behaviors and link what they are learning to real world scenarios. And don’t forget to offer your audience gratification; use a reward and recognition system that allows them to know that they are making progress. This way they will see the value of the eLearning course and become active participants throughout the eLearning process.
3. Let them control their pace of learningNot only modern learners don’t have time to waste, but they also want things to go their way; this is why you need to allow them to decide when and where they can take the eLearning course, assigning them full control over their learning pace. Avoid creating eLearning environments that require a lot of seat time. Instead, design mobile learning courses that your learners can take on the go. Encourage a BYOD policy where each member of your audience can use their own device, whether it is a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, a phablet, etc., and learn within a familiar, comfortable environment. Furthermore, make sure that the Learning Management System you are using can accommodate a responsive web design, so your eLearning course can adapt to any screen size it’s being viewed on.
4. Make their eLearning experience informal and fun.This audience is mostly composed of people who are used to expressing themselves in Tweets of 140 characters, and read blogs to learn new things; formal language, therefore, can alienate and disengage them. Consider using a conversational tone in your eLearning courses to attract modern learners: Avoid slang, of course, but keep things simple with an informal, more personalized, style. In addition, gamification is an excellent tool when designing eLearning for modern learners, as this generation is highly competitive, thirsty for recognition and rewards, and loves to play games. Can you think of another audience to embrace more the benefits of gamification?
5. Show them, don’t tell them.Finally, forget PowerPoint if you want to attract modern learners. To engage them in your eLearning content you need to offer them interactive online activities that require them to think, act, and try out alternative solutions. Follow the “Don’t tell them, show them” approach: Use demonstration videos which allow your audience to sit back and see how things work, simulations that offer them the opportunity to practice their skills in a risk free environment, and eLearning scenarios that offer real life benefits. The more your learners are encouraged to put what they are learning into use, the more eager and motivated they will be to learn.

The traditional linear way of delivering content may not meet the exact needs of modern learners. It’s time to understand what modern learners expect from a paperless class.

5 Things Parents Need To Know About Blended Learning

With schools jumping on to blended learning classrooms and BYOD teaching culture, parents of millennial students are finding it challenging to adapt to the changing contours of education. Most parents are confused about how to react towards using technology for teaching, especially because this learning model and schooling process bear no resemblance to their own school experience. If you are a parent of a kid who is studying in a “blended classroom” that uses “education technology tools”, sit back and read our article on becoming a successful parent of a digitally-immersed student.

What Parents Need To Know About Blended Learning

Parents often complain that their children spend endless hours in front of PCs, mobile screens, tablets, and the internet. With schools jumping on to blended learning classrooms and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) teaching culture, problems seem to have multiplied. A concerned parent of a child whose school jumped on to the cyber-wagon recently told me “It has become hard for us to know whether our daughter is doing her studies online or browsing the web just for fun”. Another parent told me about their teenage son who was using the pretext of BYOD to buy new smartphones and tablets in order to flaunt. And when such stories get coupled with research news about how taking mobile phones away could improve kids’ grades, the whole thing becomes even more alarming. Most parents are confused about how to react towards using technology for teaching: Is it a good thing for studies? Is it just a passing fad? Is this a serious approach to studying?

The following 5 tips may help parents of kids studying in digitally-enhanced classrooms to swim the currents of uncertainty:

1. Know that technology in classroom is to support learning (and not all cool tech toys support learning).Number one tip for becoming a “careful” parent of a cyber-school child is to never be fooled by a kid telling you he/she needs that new gadget to study better. The major goal of educational technology is to facilitate the educational goals and learning outcomes of a classroom. Every new cool gadget or tech toy does not automatically become an edTech tool. Education technology tools are carefully selected by schools and educators to enhance learning outcomes. It does not work the other way round. That is, you cannot simply buy a newly available gadget and be sure that your kid will study when using it. Even when a school introduces a new edTech / eLearning tool, software program, and a learning interface, or in fact asks your child to bring their own device for studying, parents need to freely discuss this with the teachers and school authorities and get information about how this will enhance their child’s learning, as well as what the interaction and assessment process will be. On the other hand, of course, parents themselves can encourage their children to understand the educational purpose of technology and of the entertainment gadgets they already own. For instance, an iPad lying at home can easily become a programming interface to teach your kids coding with robotics. Or a smartphone is not just for texting, but can be used to learn and create useful content through various app features.
2. Distinguish trusted online learning sources from non-trusted sources.As much as it is a school’s prerogative to ensure children’s safety online, digital media literacy and credible, ethical internet research is a skill that parents can easily teach their kids at home. When the school gives certain blended learning based homework tasks and online assignments, or assigns any other online learning activity, parents must sit down with their children to guide them on credible learning platforms and ethical use of internet for learning. Assist your children in completing their online assignments by directing them how to look up for information online without getting lost in the pool of web-links. Teach them how to choose between trusted learning sources and unsupported claims and theories. Make them aware of cyber security norms, malware, and phishing. Never let a child make unsupervised purchases of apps, software, eBooks, or any other “learning material”. Not only does this make the task of online learning and research simpler, more directed, and engaging for your child, but also makes it much safer.
3. Stay connected with your child’s school and teachers.Most parents are cautious with cyber security threats and supervise their child’s web activities. But when it comes to eLearning platforms, parents may in fact be baffled by the inclusion of technology resources in education. The easiest way to deal with this is to connect with your child’s teacher/school. Ask the school and/or teacher to handover a resource guide that will direct you about the essentials of eLearning and educational technology resources. Also, know beforehand about any kind of gadgets, software, or other edTech tools that your child will need to bring to the classroom. Without the teacher’s saying, do not invest money in cool gadgets. Digital literacy among parents is another important skill to be able to judge the credibility of academic resources and the effectiveness of edTech tools and eLearning platforms that your children’s school is using. Always maintain a direct contact with their teachers about your children’s learning progress in the online learning environment. Keep yourself aware of the curriculum and assessment instruction strategies that the school is employing. Also, understand the measures that the school is taking to ensure your child’s safety online. If you initially find it hard to learn and understand about the technology incorporation, do not hesitate to approach the teachers or to learn about them through various online edTech educators and blogs.
4. Know that “blended” is not equal to “online”.Life has become so much simpler post internet and search engines. Ranging from books, book reports, study notes, answers to every other piece of information students might need for their grades, knowledge or learning is readily available on the internet. However, this is also axing the sheen of books and other offline learning materials. Most students do not want to bother with reading long drawn books when chapter summaries are easily available on the internet. So much so, I recently found one student using Reddit to seek answers to his entire homework set. Parents need to inculcate the spirit of blended learning in the right format in kids. It is about utilizing both offline and online learning technology and resources to deliver learning outcomes. This in no way means using only the internet for studying. Parents must set rules and limits to the use of technology even for studying. Talk to your child’s teachers and understand the proportion of time the child needs to divide between online and offline resources. Encourage book reading practices in children right from the start. Make frequent visits to public libraries and teach your kids the art of researching and reading in offline format as well. Encourage your kids’ school to recommend a heavy mix of offline reading resources in the curriculum as well, instead of solely depending on edTech and eLearning solutions.
5. Beware of self-paced and flexible learning schedules.One of the major benefits of eLearning platforms, especially those involving asynchronous instructions, is the flexibility to schedule your lesson at any time and to set your own pace of study. But most students can take this too literally and understand “as and when they feel like it”. As a result, there can be heaps of procrastinated lessons and pending worksheets in the end, defeating the overall purpose of learning and knowledge gain. As a parent, it is your duty to set up a flexible study schedule for your child but not an overly relaxed one. Make sure that the study schedule is followed, the deadlines for submissions are met, and the learning goals are right on track. While the study pace must be tailored to your kid’s learning abilities, it is best to connect with their classmates and their parents to know whether your child is falling far behind the rest of the class.

In the end, it is most important for parents to remember that while the instructional mediums and techniques may change, the end goal is to enable learning and enhance your child’s knowledge. New educational technologies and eLearning platforms will keep coming up, but this in no way diminishes a parent’s role in their child’s education and development. If anything, it might just change the way it is done. By simply being fully aware of the pros and cons of blended learning and education technology, parents will be able to truly utilize the benefits of technology in education as well as to help their children do the same.

E-learning initiatives in Malaysia in 2010(5 years ago)

Based on study from UM..


http://www.slideshare.net/davidasirvatham/elearning-in-malaysia

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