What are the benefits of e-learning?
It’s easily adaptable
We know that it’s tricky or almost impossible to get something perfect the first time around. And even if you do get learning material right the first time, it’s still important to try and test the material with real learners, seek feedback, and then make improvements. This is easy with e-learning as it is often hosted on an online platform, which allows for quick changes and improvements. There’s little downtime and learners will always be working with the best possible product.
It can reach a large audience, no matter where they are
Where traditional training courses might be limited to a certain number of learners per teacher, or even to a certain number of seats in a room, e-learning can be made accessible to the widest audience necessary. E-learning can also be accessed by people all around the country, or even around the world. For this reason, e-learning is incredibly useful for organisations that have people spread over different offices or working remotely. It enables everyone access to the same information and the same standard of training no matter where they are.
E-learning technologies are designed to incorporate the latest learning strategies
E-learning technology and software is constantly being improved to make sure that instructional designers can provide learners with modern learning programmes. The new technologies enable designers to make learning interesting and relevant, and to incorporate new learning strategies that may not have been possible with traditional materials. For example, giving learners the opportunity to learn through exploring or attempting a set of questions first, rather than simply providing the correct answers as is necessary with paper-based materials.
It is fit for the 21st Century
Throughout most of history, learning has been pretty consistent. We see photos of children sitting in classrooms hundreds of years ago that look very similar to our modern-day schools. E-learning makes use of technological innovations to ensure that learning continues to move forward. Advancements like gamification and Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) are enabling learning to take place in completely new ways and in many cases, in safer environments. There are plenty of examples of these technologies being used for learning already. There are virtual courses for crane operators and truck drivers that provide learners with safe and relevant job-specific training. These are such exciting advancements in the e-learning industry and can’t wait to see more technologies emerging to help our learners.