How has the eLearning sector changed? It has been a year since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic and during this time many companies and others have had to adapt in order to continue their activities. Among them, schools have also taken advantage of new technologies to continue their distance learning.
Students attended school partly in presence and partly from home due to the various decrees and the continuous waves of contagion and, in general, the whole e-Learning sector has developed exponentially throughout 2020. It is estimated that while the growth rate of the entire sector was around 8% in 2019, it is now expected to increase by more than 10% per year.
ASYNCHRONOUS AND SYNCHRONOUS TRAINING IN THE E-LEARNING SECTOR
E-Learning is an ever-expanding and evolving sector, which has undergone major changes and continues to do so. In reality, however, online teaching existed even before the lockdown, but it was only with the pandemic that it became a real mode of teaching.
Training is continuous and constant precisely because it is online and because the student can access it when he or she chooses. There are both lessons at specific times and days but there is also the possibility of accessing online content whenever one wants. The world of e-Learning is divided into asynchronous and synchronous training:
- Asynchronous learning refers to the mode of distance learning whereby the learner can access all online content through a special website called an e-Learning platform or LMS (Learning Management System). One can connect at any time of the day using a username and password, one can keep track of the time the student spends on the platform by recording entry and exit times and one can certify learning through online tests. The most widely used platform is Moodle, but there are also other paid ones where content is available in various formats, such as handouts or video tutorials with recorded lessons, educational games and much more.
- Synchronous training, on the other hand, is the method that has been used throughout the pandemic by teachers who have delivered their lessons online. These are special digital environments in which teaching is done in synchrony of time at a predetermined time. Just like in school, students have to give lectures during a fixed time, follow explanations, take questions and correct assignments. Everyone has to connect and stay connected while the teacher delivers the lesson with a microphone and a video camera through the most popular platforms such as Teams, Zoom, Webex or Skype and also called LMS platforms.
THE FUTURE OF E-LEARNING: BETWEEN NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
One might think that with online education, human interaction might be lost. Many parents have, in fact, contested the e-Learning method because social contact is lost between students and between students and teachers. But is this really the case?
In this new era of distance learning, the challenge will be to understand how to use new technologies and exploit their potential to improve new teaching methods. The centrality of the person is once again in the foreground, despite interacting in a hybrid universe between offline and online. Here, then, is what we find in this new ecosystem:
- Learning apps
- Virtual and augmented reality
- Teacher holograms reproduced in multiple classrooms
- Virtual coaches
- Dynamic curricula
These are just some of the tools that come with e-Learning and that can enhance a person’s learning. Even if human contact is missing, teachers become learning coaches who stimulate the student’s thinking through continuous and constant teaching by connecting with others.
CONCLUSION
According to a survey conducted in 2020 by DOXA, around 42% of companies have adopted distance learning, while 90% who have experienced e-Learning for the first time said they would adopt it in the future.
These figures show that the e-Learning sector is not only expanding but is also full of opportunities which, if well exploited, can revolutionise the world of teaching. However, there is a need for greater participation and involvement by teachers, and the challenge is to ensure the quality and effectiveness of teaching. Whether or not e-Learning will be an opportunity we will only find out in the future.