I learn, you learn, we all eLearn? eLearning has become a very hot topic in the education realm. Many school districts have opted to use it as a primary conduit for instruction and professional development. This article provides an overview.

e-Learning can be done using an Internet connection, a network, an intranet, or a storage disk. It uses a variety of media such as audio, text, virtual environments, video, and animation. e-Learning is a one-on-one learning method; it is self-paced and it has an experiential-learning format. In Oregon, and around the world, learners of all ages take advantage of online education programs for ease of use and to access otherwise unavailable classes. The Oregon Department of Education provides live/interactive, live video streamed, and on-demand professional development and training content for its educators. Additionally, they provide resources for K-12 students seeking to supplement their local classroom content with expanded virtual learning options and opportunities. Oregon has a virtual school district, virtual schools and even virtual field trips. Many students are separated from resources geographically or through time conflicts. Online schools and virtual field trips provide learning and studying options for everyone. eLearning can be offered in several different formats:

Asynchronous and Synchronous Training

With asynchronous training, students learn through Internet-based, network-based or storage disk-based modules. Moreover, students can also interact with other students or instructors through e-mail, online discussion groups and online bulletin boards. Conversely, synchronous training is a real-time method of e-Learning with live interaction between the instructors and the students. It is called such because students have to log in at a specified time and the classes will be held for a specified period of time. Synchronous training is the e-Learning method that is nearest to classroom-style learning as students can raise their electronic hands, view a common blackboard and interact with each other. Synchronized training sessions are usually held in AV conferencing media, Web sites or Internet telephony media. Elluminate is a great tool for synchronous learning. Designed with pedagogy in mind, Elluminate’s enabling technology and "learning-edge" products take you beyond the virtual classroom to support the entire instructional cycle. Right now, Elluminate is offering “Three for Free Web Conferencing”. Three for Free will allow you to meet one-on-one and online with up to three people for FREE.

Self-Paced Learning

e-Learning lets the user learn the subject at their own pace. This means that one can take short breaks without the risk of missing valuable information or take the time to study a particular topic more closely as well as skip over the topics that are already known. One can go through the learning materials following his/her own preferred sequence and review topics whenever the need arises. An example of self-paced learning is podcasts and Adobe Connect training. Podcasts are audio or video files that allow users to subscribe to them rendering an RSS feed. If one subscribes to a podcast each time a new episode is uploaded they will receive the new episode via a podcatcher like iTunes. Users can then view the episodes on their computer or download them to a MP3 player like an iPod, making learning anytime and anywhere. Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional software provides interactive tools to help deliver engaging training that users can instantly access via a Web browser. Connect allows you to quickly design courses that leverage existing PowerPoint content using Adobe Presenter software, and create interactive simulations using Adobe Captivate software. Connect can be used for in a virtual classroom environment or individually. The Park Hill School District in Kansas City Missouri school deployed their new online gradebook training using Adobe Connect (formerly Macromedia Breeze). This medium allowed the school district to ensure all teachers were trained in record time and with efficiency.

In a keynote address, John Bailey, former Director of the Office of Instructional Technology for the U.S. Department of Education, shared his views on the conditions required to achieve positive outcomes from e-Learning in K-12 schools:

• Anywhere, anytime learning means that education can now be delivered to students wherever they are located.
• Online learning should encourage schools to become "education centers" for their respective communities.
• "Every educational program is a technology opportunity, and every technology program is an educational opportunity."
• Online assessment in conjunction with online learning has the potential to significantly increase the effective use of instructional time and encourage "a system of education that isn't based on mass production, but is instead based on mass customization.

In the final analysis, e-Learning isn't about digital technologies any more than classroom teaching is about chalkboards. e-Learning is about people and about using technology systems to support constructive social interaction. Books and traditional strategies certainly will continue to be important, along with technologies such as telephones, computers, and the Internet. But in all probability, today's newest educational technology approaches, including e-learning and virtual schools , are destined to become tomorrow's established instructional delivery systems.

Former Director Bailey sums up eLearning integration well, "We need to be relentless in measuring and assessing the impact that technology has on education and on academic achievement. We need evidence that teaching and learning are improved as the result of technology. Using technology to teach using traditional methods will only lead to traditional results."

Cathleen Richardson is an Educational Consultant and eLearning Specialist.

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