I’ve had my share of e-learning, through the LMS as well as pre-recorded lectures that have been uploaded to the school’s learning system. I feel that e-learning allows the students to learn at their own time as well as at their own pace, and at the same time, they would be able to repeat the lecture as many times as they want, in order for them to be able to grasp the concepts that are being taught. However, this does not come without any cons. E-learning, from experience, does not provide that personal touch, which you can get from face-to-face lectures. By personal touch, what I mean is that the lessons being conducted are not adaptable and catered according to the students’ individual needs, and there is a lack of attention to students’ who learn or understand at a lower pace. At the same time, any technical difficulties that occur during the recording will affect the lecture as a whole and cause disruption in the students’ learning.

As a learner, I felt that the e-learning system was a good option for students. It allowed us to listen to the lectures at our own time, and we can replay the lecture as many times as we want. The bad part of e-learning was that there was a lack of interaction with the lecturer and we are unable to share, ask questions and listen to queries from other students and the lecturer’s answers to the questions being asked. I’ve had classmates who live in rural areas during my time in Australia who did not come to school for lessons, apart from labs and exams, and all the lectures were attended online. I feel that in this sense, e-learning does good, by providing access for students, no matter where they are, even when they are far away from the school and commute is inconvenient.

I think that e-learning is sort of in a gray area between teaching and learning as well as IT. At some point, e-learning can be seen as part of IT, as it makes use of technology as well as the internet to provide students with access to lectures and shortens the distance. On the other hand, e-learning can also fall under the teaching and learning, because it delivers knowledge and provides an alternative to conventional teaching methods, allowing for greater creativity and innovation to further enhance the teaching and learning of not just the students, but also the teachers. By making use of e-learning, teachers are pushed to learn how to use new technology and how to better deliver their lessons through e-learning, as just conducting a pre-recorded lesson might be dull and will not capture the students’ attention. At the same time, it’ll be difficult to simulate professional situations to demonstrate theories and medical teachings during e-learning or conducting lessons based on the gaming concept.

Tarhan

Week 2 – E-Learning / Clinical Education and Digital Culture by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0

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