E-Learning

E-learning leverages communications technology to broaden the learning environment for students. The internet has had a significant impact on the ways in which students learn and teachers teach; e-learning, or electronic learning, extends the learning environment into this virtual realm. E-learning takes place in an online, computer-based environment and covers a broad range of teaching techniques and practices. These include online instructional presentations, interactive lessons, and computer-supported in-class presentations.

Overview

Also known as online learning or virtual education, e-learning is commonly used in public high schools or at colleges and universities. It may use a variety of electronic media, including, but not limited to, text, streaming video, instant messaging, document sharing software, Blackboard learning environments, webcams, blogging, and streaming video. E-learning’s key benefits include broader access to education by a wide range of students; collaborative interaction between students, peers, and teachers; development of technological skills and knowledge; and independent study.

E-learning is not synonymous with distance or mobile learning. Instead, e-learning refers solely to the use of online, computer-based technologies to complete an area of instruction. E-learning can take place in or out of a classroom and can be led either by a teacher in real time or completed at a pace set by the student, although many e-learning courses include some hybrid version of those two scenarios. The virtual learning environment is typically collaborative and often incorporates a blog or wiki entries to facilitate this relationship.

Researchers suggest that the success of e-learning is compounded when the information presented is coherent in design and does not include extraneous material or information. Educators suggest that when using an e-learning environment with their students, instructors should still employ good pedagogical practices and techniques as a foundation upon which to build. Additionally, many educators cite the interactions between a student and teacher and between students and their peers as crucial for the successful completion of an e-course. In a 2013 study, a majority of students reported feeling that they learned better in face-to-face instructional settings, especially in science and foreign language classes.

E-learning is at the forefront of college and university education structures, with a significant number of university curriculums offering courses that take place solely in an online, e-learning environment. These courses, called massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are often available to anyone in the world without charge. Additionally, other universities have taken e-learning a step further to build entirely mobile programs of study, establishing online higher-education programs where students can complete a bachelor’s or master’s degree program entirely in an e-learning format. The US Department of Education reported that 62 percent of the postsecondary institutions surveyed offered online education courses in the 2011–12 academic year.

In one 2012 study, researchers reported that while the "income, race, and ethnicity" was the same among online students as their peers in traditional courses, students who were taking online courses at that point tended to be older than traditional students, with about 40 percent of online students being under the age of thirty and only 20 percent under the age of twenty-five. Another 2012 study found that 60 percent of online students were White, 20 percent African American, and 8 percent Hispanic.

E-learning has also been implemented by many companies and organizations to keep their employees up-to-date on various topics and to ensure compliance with the organization’s policies and practices, offering training seminars in an online environment. This frees up resources by placing the burden of learning on the student, alleviating some oversight and human resources costs associated with training workforces.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the 2018–19 school year, 79 percent of colleges offered either stand-alone distance education courses or total distance education programs. However, the value and potential of e-learning at all levels of education became particularly prominent in 2020, as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March led to the closure of schools in countries worldwide as part of the effort to contain the spread of the virus and protect students and teachers from infection. In the middle of the school year, all teachers and students in both K–12 and college settings were forced to transition quickly from in-classroom learning to online, virtual instruction. In addition to having to adapt to a school day structure from home, teachers and students had to rely upon virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom to continue with any real-time lessons; electronic testing programs for continued assessments; and, in some cases of courses dealing with subjects such as science or physical education, interactive platforms for activities such as laboratory experiments. As the pandemic continued, some schools experimented with a hybrid mix of both e-learning and in-classroom learning. While the widespread dissemination of vaccines in several countries by the early months of 2021 meant that some schools had reopened for in-person learning, many were still studying how this level of e-learning had impacted teachers and students to determine whether there might be some benefit to having an even greater incorporation of e-learning moving forward; at the same time, debates were ongoing about the continued need to address digital accessibility and learning equity, complexities that remained unresolved throughout the chaos of the pandemic.

In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that analyzed the effectiveness of remote learning and revealed that when compared to in-person learning, e-learning led to an increase of reported risk factors among students. These included reduced physical activity, worsened mental and emotional health, and less time socializing with friends. Additionally, the study found that parents of children in e-learning programs reported higher levels of stress, difficulty sleeping, and increased emotional distress when compared to parents of children in in-classroom programs. The CDC concluded that although e-learning was necessary during the pandemic, in-person learning is critical to the physical and emotional well-being of both children and parents.

School districts and higher learning institutions continued to experiment with e-learning models into the 2020s, as a way to provide more class options to students, among other uses. For example, popular virtual high school programs allow students to take classes in a wide range of subjects that might not otherwise be available at the high school in which they are enrolled. Full-time online high school also continued to be an option in many places and was especially appealing to those with health issues and students with demanding sports schedules. Some school districts also implemented temporary e-learning options for times of inclement weather, such as during extended closures due to severe snowstorms or flooding.

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