May 2, 6:48 pm
Benefits and limitations of online learning
As I’ve said before, e-learning is not a panacea. But it certainly has value—a lot of value—if it’s used right.
Of particular interest to me is online learning, because I’ve been getting so many requests for it. Accordingly, my company is about to launch a series of modules for online Train the Trainer. (thanks for your patience if you’ve been clicking the learning links for that topic on this site)
As with any product launch, we did some homework to find out what the pros and cons are of online learning. For your viewing pleasure, here is some of what we discovered:
Some Benefits of Online Learning:
• Trainees can learn anywhere 24/7 – home, work, hotel or a WiFi-equipped coffeehouse.
• Training occurs at a pace that’s comfortable for the learner.
• Progress of each learner can be easily tracked.
• Message boards allow questions to which others in the community can reply/respond.
• Questions to instructors can be asked and answered privately via email.
• Learners can easily review any part of the training.
• Minimal to no disruption intruding other obligations (family/work/travel/etc).
• Learners don’t have to worry about being late to class.
• Trainees have time to think before responding to instructor or fellow learner comments.
• Trainees who are quiet in a traditional classroom may engage more since any potential face-to-face conflict is eliminated.
Some Limitations of Online Learning:
• Some computer connections lack sufficient bandwidth for some media.
• Some learners don’t have easy access to the Internet.
• Formatting/readability issues can occur from computers not ‘reading’ certain programs well – if at all.
• Online learning requires a certain level of computer literacy that some trainees may lack.
• No ability to role play – vital for application-level learning of some material.
• Some learning styles get bored easily when learning alone, preferring to interact face-to-face with other learners.
• Learners cannot get immediate feedback on specific questions about the material.
• Inability or limited ability to learn from the experiences of other trainees.
Any more? Feel free to add to the list via the ‘comment’ section.
PS. You might also want to read a previous post I did on e-learning, which has some valuable additional comments added by Justin Beller.
Filed in Technology, Work, Business, Opinion, Training, Motivation, Management, Leadership, Internet, Workplace
Thanks Dan. I appreciate you giving both the pros and cons to online learning.
Not to focus on the negative, but one way you can sum up the limitations of online learning is by boiling it down to Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience. Bascially, one of the fundamental principles of Dale’s theory is that the more real the experience is for the learner, the better they will learn. For example, role play and immediate feedback are both real or high-fidelity experiences. Online learning has its limitations in those areas.