E-Learning:  The Future

Or A Big Waste Of Time?

Want to learn something new right now?  O.K.  What do Circuit City, The Army, Brigham Young University, The Physician's Desk Reference, and your kid's cell phone games have in common?

They all use a technology to deliver their message called E-Learning.  Wikipedia describes E-Learning as computer enhanced learning and there are too many variations on that description to count.

Who Uses E-Learning?

Is nearly everyone enough?  Here are a few examples you might recognize.

Circuit City trained thousands of their employees using e-learning, so did the Army and nearly every school and university in the country.  If you use a computer, a video game, I Pod, or i Phone, you can use it for E-Learning. 

Bookstores like Barnes and Noble, have an online university where authors can train readers. Even the courses in schools use E-Learning delivery  methods – so you can see how quickly E-Learning is encompassing nearly every aspect of our lives.

Want an accredited online college or advanced degree?  Get it online using E-Learning.  Impressed? 

I took simple VHS tapes and turned them into streaming video courses  so teachers could learn strategies online, to raise student grades and test scores, then practice those strategies in the classroom and measure the results. 

Now, instead of me in just one room, teachers from all over the world can learn how to teach kids strategies for a lifetime of learning success.  

What Is E-Learning Really?

Think of it like this.  You want to learn anything, from success skills, self improvement to a foreign language.  It' s available through E-Learning. 

It's simply an electronic delivery system. Your child can even attend an accredited virtual school and graduate – using only E-Learning.  

Texting, real time navigation systems, intelligence in cars that parallel park for you, can quickly offer e-learning opportunities. 

Alone, these things are not e-learning, but you can learn from texting, or learn about alternate routes to the places your are driving (electronically delivered via a dashboard screen).

Plus, I have no idea what I'd do without my nav system - it makes traveling a piece of cake.   

You've seen the T.V. and movies, where government leaders from throughout the world are holding on screen, face to face meetings?  They are getting all the E-Learning they want in real time.  Plus, you have to admit, it's pretty cool to watch.   

E-Learning can run on nearly any electronic platform from CD's, DVD's, internet, computers, ipods, cell phones, web seminar (webinar) screens, or even just your regular telephone.  And that's just the beginning. 

Thanks to the power of the internet, and e-learning technology, authors are able to do "virtual" book tours without ever leaving home. 

Books can even be delivered in pdf format so you can read them online and not have to wait for shipping, etc.

A friend of mine paraphrased a quote the other day that said, " We're either having fun or learning."  With e-learning, it can be both.

Here's a quick E-Learning benefit:  Recently, the Washington Post did a print and online article on testing in schools.  

The writers scheduled on online discussion about that article, and people throughout the world participated.  How's that for interaction, building a community and real time learning, let alone the new information it gave the writers?  They practically had their next article written for them by the people online. 

In that same Washington Post article, thanks to that e-learning and discussion, a one sentence quote sent my Learning vs Testing book to number one on Amazon in just a few hours. Thank you E-Learning.

(Any authors out there -- this e-learning thing is something you may want to investigate!) 

What Are The Benefits of E-Learning:

The benefits for companies:  keeping budgets and travel in check, networking, team building, brainstorming, hiring and keeping employees, easy sharing of documents and tracking progress of projects – to name a few.

A prediction by Dr. Sylvia Sharp, Editor-In-Chief of T.H.E. Journal, that corporate e-training alone will grow from a mere $2.2 billion to double digit billions in 2005, has close to doubled that today.  And, that's just in the U.S. alone.

The benefits for you:  It's faster and you can connect with any expert throughout the world. 

I just used my telephone, computer, e-mail and an old fashioned paper manual (delivered on line of course) to teach a large group of kids a course called, HowTo Win The School Game. 

Kids from all over the world learned strategies to  raise reading scores, pass those pesky standardized tests, and how to raise their grades.

Next stop, teaching teachers.  Using E-Learning platforms like Blackboard.com, teachers can learn at home and practice the information in the classroom. 

Gone are the days of driving, parking and sitting for hours listening to someone at the front of the room drone on and on… 

This is E-Learning in real time with authentic practice showing kids how to learn faster and easier.

Gamers:  Are They E-Learning or Just Playing Around? 

Ever sat on an airplane and watched people play video games for hours?  You may not have thunk it – but the experts say gamers are actually learning leadership skills, how to adapt, and how to create.  Who knew?

Gamers take heart:  the research says you are "re-shaping the business world forever."

Why? 

Authors and researchers, John Beck and Mitchell Wade, who wrote Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever, say video gaming is the training ground for teaching business skills.

"Huh", you manage you get across your lips?

Think about this next time your 10 year old wants to game his or her way across the country on a plane.

According to Beck and Wade, their learning abilities include leadership, taking measured risks, multi-tasking, and knowing that failure is not the end of the world. It's only a step to success. 

Remember the creation of the light bulb and the post-it notes.  Same thing.

Kids are learning what they can do better the next time, and stay with the game until they master it. 

As the authors of Got Game  say, kids are self-educating and learning to make quick, but intelligent decisions.

Yeah, yeah, you and I say.  But what about homework and seat sitting in school?

We'd better wake up. 

Virtual schools, are worldwide, and E-Learning in the brick and mortar schools is on the rise too. 

The electronic and online learning tools are limitless. 

Ever heard of E-Sylvan, E-Phonics, podcasting, online video learning, and instruction delivered electronically that's not only tailored to a student's interests, but lets the teacher see the learning progress in an instant?

Special needs E-Learning tools are reshaping how kids learn too.  Reading scores can zip straight up with the right E-Learning tools.

Business leaders?  You may want to ask yourself, "How do you think the world got so many young billionaires?"

I have a very strong feeling it wasn't seat sitting and doing the cookie-cutter school work.

It may be that their inventions are due to the creative qualities that E-Learning and gaming taught them.

As an employer, how'd you like the gamer traits listed above in your employee or a member of your R & D board?  Imagine the cost savings, long-term retention, and creativity to name just a few. 

And for a long time, I thought E-Learning and gaming involved a group of disengaged, socially isolated folks. 

Fooled me big time and thank you. I just learned something to last a lifetime and maybe beyond. Parents and employers, we'd better catch up quick.

What do you think?

Feel free to put your thoughts on our HowToLearn.com blog at http://howtolearn.com/blog/howtolearn_blog.html

Copyright 2007, Pat Wyman, M.A., All Rights Reserved Worldwide.