E-learning is the delivery of a learning, training or
education program by electronic means.
E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a
mobile phone) in some way to provide training,educational or learning material.
E-learning refers to the use of internet or wireless technologies to deliver a
broad array of training solutions.
E-learners access the learning from computers via the internet or an
intranet, or through a hand held device like a palm pilot.
In 2001 Marc Rosenberg suggested the following
definition of e-learning: “the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad
array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance.”
E-learning can be asynchronous (meaning learners are
experiencing the learning at different times) or synchronous (meaning learners
are experiencing the learning at the same time) or it can incorporate both
drawing on the strengths of each.
Independent learning is, by definition, asynchronous. Facilitated and collaborative can be either
asynchronous or synchronous.
E-learning includes all forms of electronically
supported learning and teaching, including Education technology: The information and communication systems,
whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the
learning process. This often involves
both out-of-classroom and in-classroom educational experiences via technology,
even as advances continue in regard to devices and curriculum. Abbreviations like CBT (Computer-Based
Training), IBT (internet-Based Training) or WBT (Web-Based Training) have been
used as synonyms to e-learning. E-learning is the computer and network-enabled
transfer of skills and knowledge.
E-learning applications and processes include Web-based learning,
computer-based learning, virtual education opportunities and digital
collaboration. Content is delivered via
the Internet, Intranet/Extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-placed or instructor-led and
includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and
audio.
Electronic journals,
also known as e-journals, and electronic serials, are scholarly journals or
intellectual magazines that can be accessed via electronic transmission. Some
journals are 'born digital' in that they are solely published on the web and in
a digital format, but most electronic journals originated as print journals,
which subsequently evolved to have an electronic version, while still
maintaining a print component. As academic research habits have changed in line
with the growth of the internet, the e-journal has come to dominate the
journals world.
An E-journal closely resembles a print journal in
structure: there is a table of contents which lists the articles, and many
electronic journals still use a volume/issue model, although some titles now
publish on a continuous basis. Online journal articles are a specialized form
of electronic document: they have the purpose of providing material for
academic research and study, and they are formatted approximately like journal
articles in traditional printed journals. Often a journal article will be
available for download in two formats - as a PDF and in HTML format, although
other electronic file types are often supported for supplementary material.
Articles are indexed in bibliographic databases, as well as by search engines.
E-journals allow new types on content to be included in journals, for example
video material, or the data sets on which research has been based.
With the growth and development of the internet, there
has been a growth in the number of new journals, especially in those that exist
as digital publications only. A subset of these journals exist as Open Access
titles, meaning that they are free to access for all, and have Creative Commons
licenses which permit the reproduction of content in different ways. High
quality open access journals are listed in Directory of Open Access Journals.
Most however continue to exist as subscription journals, for which libraries, organizations
and individuals purchase access.
Use of journals and articles to periodicals the
library subscribes in. It consists of Full-text and Bibliographic Databases.
Full- text databases contain the whole content of an article such as citation
information, text, illustrations, diagrams and tables. Bibliographic databases
only contain citation information of an article, such as author’s name, journal
title, publication date and page numbers. An e-database is an organized
collection of information. It supports flexible and in-depth searching of
different fields, e.g. journal title, article title, author, abstract, year,
etc. We can only search for journal title in the Library Catalogues, but not
the title or author of individual articles. Therefore, e-database is extremely
useful to find out the articles on particular topics, e.g. peer assessment in
classroom. A particular journal articles can retrieve from e-database, which
could not find the same information via the Library Catalogue.
Libraries have been exploring easily to cope up with
the problems of ever increasing prices of the journals, space requirements and
decreasing level of usage as the journals get older. Nevertheless, libraries
are required to maintain back the issues of the journals, usually in bound
form. Electronic Journal helps the librarians in addressing these problems to a
great extent without significantly affecting the service levels. Electronic
journals can be accessed via inter-net from any web enabled PC. Depending on
the type of subscription, one or more users can access the service
simultaneously, either directly from an independent web enabled PC or in a
local area network through a proxy server (IP addresses based access).
Electronic journals also offer benefit of full text searching and downloading
of articles. Many publishers of electronic journals offer their journals
through consortia of libraries at much lower rates. INDEST and INFLIBNET are
two such consortia operating in India. Access to articles in electronic
journals can also be made through aggregator services which offer searchable
databases of contents of e-journals from several publishers, and links to
journal site for full text. Emerald, OCLC and J-Gate are some of the example of
e-journal aggregator services. The main disadvantage of electronic journal is
that libraries cannot physically posses the journals.
Advantages of E-journals:
E-journals are becoming increasingly in demand both as
a means of rapid desktop access to current research materials and as a way to
view past volumes. E-journals offer a range of potential advantages to
libraries and end-users:
Allows remote access.
Can be used simultaneously by more than one user.
Provides timely access and at the rate of 24 X 7 X 365
formula.
Supports different searching capabilities.
Accommodates unique features (e.g. Links to related
items, reference linking)
Saves physical storage space.
Supports multimedia information.
As a result of the above advantages, libraries today
buy licenses for an ever-increasing number of Electronic Journals from a range
of different publishers and providers, and use a diverse set of technologies
for information delivery.
Categories of E-journals
Based on the
level of content e-journal can be classified as:
a. Scholarly or research e-journal.
b. Popular or general public e-journal.
c. Industry or Trade e-journals.
Based on availability and pricing e-journals may be
categorized as followings:
Free online e-journal: The journals, which are totally
free in online. Such as Fulltext Database/ service.
Free along with print subscription e-journal: The
journals, which online access are free and also provide print subscription.
i.e. Cambridge University Press, John Hopkins University Press, Oxford
University press.
Priced e-journal: The journals, which are online and
priced marginally less than the printed version. i.e. Blackwell, Blackwell
Navigator etc.
Some of the more obvious benefits of
e-Learning include consistency of content, ease of customization, learner
control, and reduction or elimination of travel costs to attend learning
events. Consistency of content is
achieved by the same learning being made available to anyone, anywhere, anytime with no degradation
to the quality or effectiveness of the content or presentation.
Learner control lets each learner
complete just the sections of the learning they need leaving them free to come
back at any time for more or to review what they have already covered. As Marc Rosenberg puts it, “E-learning can
reach an unlimited number or people virtually simultaneously… Everyone gets the
same content, presented the same way.
Yet the programs can also be customized for different learning needs or
different groups of people.”
Because of its digital nature, e-learning
can be cost and time-effectively customized to individuals or small
groups. The same content can be offered
in a multitude of formats: self-packed, facilitated. In the
classroom, blended. Also because
of its digital nature and the flexibility provided by the intranets and the
internet, travel costs are greatly reduced or eliminated since learners do not
have to congregate in one spot for a learning event. “It cuts travel expenses, reduces the time it
take to train people, and eliminates or significantly reduces the need for a
classroom/instructor infrastructure.”
A negative effect of e-learning is
that the media richness associated with face-to-face communication diminishes
when communication goes electronically.
The diminishing of media richness can be resolved by using multimedia
such as adding visuals to text. Another
negative effect of interactive multimedia in e-learning are the technical
issues involved. Learners need to be
able to access computers with exact software capabilities to view and play the
multimedia. Computer capabilities
including bandwidth that affect online speeds may prevent many learners from
accessing multimedia efficiently or reliably.
Comments
Post a Comment