MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

FACULTY OF COMPUTING AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS COMPUTING
E-BUSINESS AND WEB DESIGN
BBC II
SEMESTER II, 2019/ 2020

TOPIC NINE: E-LEARNING

 Base definition of electronic learning, distance educations & blended learning
 Characteristics, benefits and drawbacks of e-Learning.
 Technologies and learning platforms used to host online courses
 How e-Learning can be evaluated

9.0 Introduction

The term "e-learning" has only been in existence since 1999, when the word was first utilized at
a CBT systems seminar. Other words also began to spring up in search of an accurate description
such as “online learning” and “virtual learning”. However, the principles behind e-learning have
been well documented throughout history, and there is even evidence which suggests that early
forms of e-learning existed as far back as the 19th century.

With the introduction of the computer and internet in the late 20th century, e-learning tools and
delivery methods expanded. The first MAC in the 1980′s enabled individuals to have computers
in their homes, making it easier for them to learn about particular subjects and develop certain
skill sets. Then, in the following decade, virtual learning environments began to truly thrive, with
people gaining access to a wealth of online information and e-learning opportunities.

By the early 90s several schools had been set up that delivered courses online only, making the
most of the internet and bringing education to people who wouldn't previously have been able to
attend a college due to geographical or time constraints. Technological advancements also
helped educational establishments reduce the costs of distance learning, a saving that would also
be passed on to the students - helping bring education to a wider audience.

In the 2000′s, businesses began using e-learning to train their employees. New and experienced
workers alike now had the opportunity to improve upon their industry knowledge base and
expand their skill sets. At home individuals were granted access to programs that offered them
the ability to earn online degrees and enrich their lives through expanded knowledge.

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9.1 What is e-learning?

“E-Learning can be defined as 'learning facilitated and supported through the use of information
and communications technology'. It can cover a spectrum of activities from the use of technology
to support learning as part of a ‘blended’ approach (a combination of traditional and e-learning
approaches), to learning that is delivered entirely online. Whatever the technology, however,
learning is the vital element.” The term ‘e-learning’ therefore essentially covers the use of
computers and technology as a vehicle for knowledge exchange within teaching and learning.

What does the ‘e’ in ‘e-learning’ represent?

We are often asked this and the answer is that the ‘e’ used to represent ‘electronic’ but nowadays
it merely signifies the use of technology. In some circles within the education sector, some refer
to the ‘e’ as ‘enhanced’.

9.1.1 Benefits of e-learning

An immediate potential benefit of considering to implement e-learning is that it can be seen as an

additional avenue with which to support teaching and learning practice. E-learning covers such a
wide sphere that it is difficult to point out any benefit as a given, so any benefits should initially
be termed ‘potential’ benefits. However, many cite the following as broad benefits that e-
learning supports:

 The ability to provide distance learning (learning not on campus)

 A blended learning/teaching approach (using face-to-face and technology)
 The use of technology to support a wide range of educational activity

9.1.2 Uses of e-learning

What ‘real-world’ uses does e-learning potentially have to offer to the practitioner? The answer
is that e-learning provides many opportunities including large scale online delivery of modules
and courses. Each practitioner will have their own goals and so providing an exhaustive list of
possibilities is difficult. However here are some uses of e-learning to get you started.

Uses of e-learning include engaging students to use the web as:

 A source of research material (whilst also building critical literacy skills) to support study
 A platform for discussion
 A resource for finding and using other people’s educational materials such as those which
you have to ensure you seek permission and/or a license to use
 creating multimedia rich resources to engage students with. This can include for example:

a. Producing interactive web pages hosted on an institution’s VLE

b. Including multimedia elements into teaching materials to add context on a
subject to help achieve the learning objective

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 c. Using the VLE to build tasks
d. Offer collaborative opportunities via the VLE
e. Online assessment

9.1.3 Potential drawbacks of e-learning

 Technology dependent: learners will need access to a machine of minimum

specification as dictated by the elearning supplier or access to a service with a high
bandwidth to transfer the course materials in a timely way.
 Material Incompatibility: some materials designed for one particular system will not
function properly on another (for example, the Apple Macintosh and the Windows PC).
Standards will help in the area.
 Unsuitable for Certain Types of Training: any skill that relies heavily on inter-personal
contact although these courses could be supplemented by elearning.
 Unsuitable for Certain Types of Learners: elearning requires a high-level of self-
discipline and personal time management. eLearners need to be highly self-motivated to
take full advantage of the medium as often the online learning experience can be
impersonal. Working through 'packaged' programmes can be irritating.
 Reliant of the Quality of the Content: it is too easy for some institutions to defer the
photocopying costs onto the learner by placing all lecture notes and course handouts
online. Such practices often mean that the course materials are in an inappropriate format
for online learning. Course providers need to develop new technical skills and course
design skills to suit the new medium.
 Expensive: start-up cost of an elearning service is expensive and the cost of production
of online training materials is very high. Teachers must be confident that the extra costs
are balance with the benefits of delivering a course online. Significant time needs to be
invested in course set-up and in ongoing maintenance (checking links, updating course
content etc.).
 Reliant on Human Support: elearning is still dependent on help on either the course
materials or the software.
 Social/economic disadvantage: can limit or prevent access by some student groups (for
example, cost of equipment, online access and printing).
 No Match for Face-to-Face Teaching: Electronic communication does not necessarily
provide a good match for face-to-face communication and is more linear than face-to-
face discussion.
 Too Reliant on IT Skills: learners may have limited IT skills, or be uncomfortable with
electronic communication and need to learn how to use the medium effectively.
 Disabilities: Students with visual or physical impairments may be disadvantaged.
 Inflexible: Flexibility may be lost as adjustments to the course in response to student
reaction are not easy to make once the course is underway.
 Pedagogically Unsound: The electronic environment does not per se offer a
pedagogically enhancing learning environment.

9.2 Common e-learning technologies and trends

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There are countless tools, techniques, people, acronyms and resources associated with e-learning.
Below are some of the ones we you as a student you are likely to come across.

Tool / Term Description

Virtual learning An online space provided by the institution to support e-learning. All
environment (VLE) forms of digital media can be delivered using its various tools. There is
a wide range of VLEs on the market.

Personal learning A concept of understanding that individuals utilise a range of networks

environment (PLE) – combining both institutional and personal networks and devices to
learn.

Blackboard Example of a VLE that is commonly used in the UK.

Mubsep An Open Source VLE that is used in the MUBS.

Podcast, either video A method of delivering multimedia content. The video podcasts are
or audio sometimes called vodcasts/vidcasts.

RSS A method used to push and pull content across the Internet.
Particularly useful for subscribing to a podcast

Face-to-face teaching A method of delivering teaching and learning that is normally used to
distinguish between the classroom teaching environment and online.

Learning object An object such as an audio file. Courses are typically made of many
learning objects

Blended learning A method of delivering teaching and learning that involves both face-
to-face teaching and the use of technology together at the same time.
For example the internet may be used to support a session that includes
interactive tasks for the learner.

Distance learning Delivering teaching and learning remotely, typically using technology
and the internet Multimedia resource are often incorporated to provide
context to text-based resources.

Discussion forum A communication tool for posting messages/work/comments/opinions.

Often text-based but some do offer the ability to use multimedia.

Blog A way of posting educational material online, normally organized by

date and topic category. Images, video and audio can be shared in this
manner. Blogs typically allow commenting, which can be a useful
feature for teaching and learning.

Wiki An editable tool for working with others that has a trackable history of
changes (wikipedia is the most popular example).

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 Much like a blog, its strength is that can be used to share multimedia
resource.

Web 2.0 Essentially leveraging some of the more recent developments to support
better interaction including social features.
Many of these web 2.0 services provide community tools for sharing
and commenting on resources, such as video.

Web service A web delivered service that can be used for many types of activity
including the storage and delivery of multimedia. Examples of web
services include YouTube and web storage.

Netbook A laptop that is very lightweight, portable and is often cheaper than
most laptops. In order to achieve this, typically size and power are
sacrificed. They can be used to create, use, manage and deliver
multimedia.

e-book reader Used to read digital e-books. Many of these readers can play audio
books and/or read text out loud.

Flash player A plug-in piece of software that adds functionality to the browser.
Many e-learning resources have been created using Flash and most web
videos at present use this technology.

Mobile learning (use Using mobile devices including mobile phones to facilitate teaching
of mobile phones and and learning.
other handheld
devices)

Open-source Software that is provided under a license that permits the user to have
software access to the source code.

Open source software can be used to create, consume and delivery

multimedia. An example is the audio editing tool ‘audacity’ which is
very popular for creating and editing audio podcasts.

Creative Commons A way to share copyrighted work within a documented license scheme.
licensing Creative Commons licenses are increasingly applied to teaching
resources that are typically made available using the internet.

HTML The structural code that makes websites. Multimedia is typically

delivered from websites that are built from HTML.
Websites in turn allow us to produce e-learning for teaching and
learning.

Scripts Bits of code that add additional functionality to a website or service.

Scripts can be created to support teaching and learning.

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 For example, JavaScript is used to increase the functionality of the
browser which can be used to create interactive based activity.

Web browser A browser is a piece of software that allows us to interact with the web
via a computer. Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are two popular
examples of web browsers that provide access to e-learning material
and multimedia resources

Social media Social media tools are used to communicate between people on the web
and can be used to support teaching and learning. For example it is
often desirable to use social media tools to facilitate online community
opportunities including learner collaboration.

9.3 More on Methods of eLearning

eLearning resources within the eLearningNC.gov site are related to online, delivery and
interaction over the Internet, using classroom management systems (CMS) such as Blackboard,
Moodle, Vista or Angle. Using a CMS (and a web browser), students can log in from anywhere
in the world to access their class materials and interact with one another. Each institution uses a
specific system, but they are all similar in their ability to present course material including class
syllabus, assignments, quizzes, and provide video and audio plus a whiteboard screen where the
lesson is presented just like it would be on a classroom’s video screen or blackboard. You can
interact with instructors, access course materials and stimulate debate among your fellow
students when it fits your schedule. In most courses, you must keep up with the scheduled course
work. Courses are instructor led and in most instances, follow the same semester schedule as
traditional courses. All specific course information such as how to reach the instructor, what
work is expected, and deadlines to turn in assignments and take tests will be found within your
course site.

9.4 How to evaluate e-learning

Instructional design. The first area to consider is the instructional design of the content.
Regardless of delivery method, a good learning initiative prescribes to some instructional process
or model. Look at the learning objectives and evaluate them. What does this e-learning program
claim it will do for the learners? Is it viable to truly measure the objectives that the online
learning sets out to instruct against, or are the learning objectives weak (using phrases such as
"Learners will know ..." or "Participants will learn ...")? A surefire way to know if an
instructional design model has been followed is to evaluate the strength of the learning
objectives.

Level of interactivity. Another factor in determining an online learning module's perceived level
of good is its level of interactivity (at least for the asynchronous online learning). One way to
interpret interactivity is in the combination of ways in which the learner engages in the content,
from passive page turning to the much more engaging situation-based scenario. While there's no
set formula or minimum threshold, a good online learning program should incorporate many of
these instructional delivery strategies. The more strategies that are used, the better the

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interactivity is for the learner. And the more the learner is engaged with the content, the better
the learning experience and, potentially, the higher the retention. Using more interactive
strategies caters to more learning preferences, but it also means more development time and
higher costs, too.

Visual impact. In training (whether online or instructor led), if visuals look bad, the learner has
a higher chance to disengage, even if the content has a great message. Examine the look and feel
of the learning and determine if they are engaging and professional. In addition, even if the
graphics are engaging, ask yourself if they are right for the audience. Do they reflect the brand of
the learning program or the module overall? Are the graphics and text relevant?

Language. Like any learning, clear language is key, but in a face-to-face situation a good
facilitator can see when students don't understand a word or are confused by a concept and then
can elaborate as needed for comprehension. A simple "does that make sense?" by the facilitator
can immediately identify and clarify the learners' needs. This is not the case with asynchronous
online learning, so clarity of message and the semantics used have to be selected with great care.
Approach the online learning's language and tone from two different perspectives: target
learners' knowledge and target learners' demographics.

Target learners' knowledge; If jargon is used then it should be appropriate for the target
audience. Are the examples and scenarios used universal to the group or are they too specific to
the experiences of some?

Target learners' demographics; The tone used in the learning should be in conjunction with the
age of the learners. The perceived language proficiency of the learner in relationship to the
content should be noted. For example, if English is the language used, what is the perceived
comprehension level of the learner? Are the examples used universal to this audience or exclude
some? For instance, if sports analogies are used, is that appropriate for the audience? Finally, if
humor is used in the learning is it appropriate or could it be misinterpreted by some audiences?
Humor is a great strategy for keeping audience attention, but if used incorrectly it can greatly
distance a learner from the learning.

Technical functions. If you break down the technology facet of the learning it can be
approached in five areas.

Course interface and navigation. Do the buttons take the learner where they're supposed to and
function as intended? Are icons clear and used consistently? Is the e-learning intuitive to use for
learners who are new to online learning? If not, does it include a how-to section on maneuvering
through the online learning?

Content display and sound. Do the font, text, and images look as intended? If content isn't
displayed correctly, is it due to a plug-in and are the needed plug-ins available for easy download
and updating? Does audio sound as it should through the institution’s infrastructure, or does it
sound distorted or jumbled?

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Accessibility. Learning needs to meet the criteria of "accessibility which mandates that learners
with differing abilities are able to access the content in an equitable way. In addition, is the
online learning technically accessible by all potential learners? What if a learner can't access the
Internet? Can he still take the learning somehow?

Hyperlinks and files. Do the links take the learner to where they're supposed to? If there's a link
to a file, is that file (such as a PDF) there? Do external hyperlinks work as expected?

LMS and help. If the online learning connects to an institution's learning management system, is
it sharing the data like it's supposed to? Are help screens available to learners? Does the learning
identify where learners can turn should they run into technical or content-related issues? In some
cases, the above areas overlap. For example the LMS functionality may be because of an
institution's intranet capabilities, or the audio of the learning may sound terrible because of the
sound capabilities of the computers in the institution. The point here is to determine whether the
learning isn't providing the expected experience because of the limitations of the institution or
the limitations of the learning module itself. In either case, if it doesn't work well for you as an
evaluator it won't work well for your learners, either.

Time. Another area of focus should be related to the length of the learning module. First, how
long does it take a learner to complete the learning? Some experts look at attention span to
determine a "good" length of time for an online module; research suggests between 15 and 30
minutes for each topic or module as a good guideline. Putting the attention span and our time
concept aside for a moment, answer this question: Does the learning meet the stated learning
objectives? If so, the overall length of the learning program should be as long as it takes to meet
the overall learning objectives.

Cost. If the online learning scores brilliantly in all the above-noted criteria, what if it's too costly
to purchase or maintain? There are many ways to examine the costs of running any training
program, but the best way to think about it is to be consistent. First, determine the costs of
running an existing program by determining all the costs for developing the course (instructional
designer costs, time, travel costs, purchasing cost, and any annual fees for maintaining the course
such as an LMS, conference center rental, or annual licenses). Then divide this number by the
number of learners who have or will experience the course in the calendar year. Now you have
your annual cost-per-learner metric. Once you calculate the cost per learner for existing
programs, calculate it for the online program you are evaluating. You probably will have to
estimate some of the figures in the formula (for example, how many learners will go through the
program during the first year). Where does the online program fall with the distribution of all
your programs? This gives you a good way to compare this potential program with existing ones
based on operational costs. Any e-learning endeavor does have some nonfiscal benefits that also
could be considered as part of its value, mainly reusability. While upfront development costs (or
purchase costs, if it's off-the-shelf) can be seen as higher than creating instructor-led training, as
the learning is reused the return-on-investment increases. Conversely, instructor-led training
costs tend to remain the same or increase over time. So when discussing value, consider the cost
and management annually but also determine whether its reusability, the consistency of message,
and other advantages of the online learning are worth the investment by your organization.

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Rankings. The final factor to consider when determining whether an online program is good is
to revisit the previous seven areas of focus and ask, "Out of these seven areas, which one(s) are
the most important to me and my institution/organization?" This helps to clarify and prioritize
focus since putting a weight on the areas that are most important helps to determine which of the
scales matter most. For example, if the graphic design and look and feel of the learning is critical
to your learners and the learning is ranked high, then there's a potential for a good fit for that
initiative.

Team effort. This is just one approach to evaluating the quality of an online learning program—
seven areas plus a look at a weighted average of importance. You may know another or develop
a different approach for your Institution/organization. Regardless of the methodology you use it's
best to use a team-based approach to evaluation. Get a team together and compare notes using
the same criteria:

 Determine what was important to each reviewer (ranking 1-5 on level of importance for
each of the seven scales).
 Independently review the online learning in question, ranking the learning on the seven
areas of focus noted above.
 What were the top scoring areas of the seven scales? Compare and contrast and talk. Find
out what your team thought of the learning and if it's worth it to your learners.

By taking a group approach you help to minimize rater bias and get a better holistic view of the
impact and potential effectiveness of the online learning for your organization. Aristotle said,
"Quality is not an act, it is a habit." Instill and evaluate quality in your learning—whether it's
delivered online or off.

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