Electric and Blended learning

Electronic learning

Electronic learning or E-learning is a type of distance learning, a flexible way to join classes and different minors without demands of your location. E-learning is often referred to some use of computer and use of different networks and multimedia technologies.

Communication technologies used in E-learning

Communication technologies can be divided in two categorizes, asynchronous and synchronous. Blogs, open forums, emails and digital papers are examples when the participants work by their own, without dependency of other participants involvement at the same time. Synchronous are the opposite to asynchronous, here is the idea to involve more participants in the same “work” during the same period of time. Face to face is one general action within synchronous communication but program as “Google docs” has made it possible to work online at the same document during the same period of time, which include many new opportunities and effectiveness of work. This can be compared with a virtual classroom, their participants joining the same task and can also have a spontaneous communication with each other.

This virtual classrooms and meetings can often use a mix of communication technologies and can also be called blended learning.

Blended learning

A simple definition of blended learning is when e-learning and traditional face-to-face learning in a normal classroom is mixed to perform a learning technology, which can be used for “normal” students and distance students. A good example is when teachers use online forums for their course material and also as a meeting point for students to discuss.

I have many different experiences about E-learning and blended learning and I won’t say it’s something is better then the other or some off them is not good to use, because it depending on how developed the connection tools are. I like to go to normal classes and have a teacher into the front of the classroom, that force me to school to have my classes, which can be hard to motivate if I will be home and try to focus on a recorded lecture for example. There is often many other “more important” things to do then. However, I think by encouraging the students to use computers, tablets and mobiles in the right purpose to lectures, I think a more effective learning can be created.