E-Learning - Case Study Example

Week 8: E- Learning Table of Contents Introduction 3 Edu20.Org: The Pioneer in the Making 4 Attributes and Usages 5 Other Areas 6 Conclusion 6 References 6 Introduction With the advent of the scientific wonder called Internet, the world has literally squeezed to our desktops and laptops and no doubt that this bliss of science can make wonders. Internet has casted its immense spell on every sector of life and educational area is not an exception in this regard either. With the advancement of the technology, internet has become cheaper and widely available all across the globe. This fact has lead to the advent of all kinds of online services. Internet is used to send messages in any part of the world and also in the domain of e-commerce it has excellently developed and showed its expertise. In the arena of e-learning also internet has successfully emerged to be one of the domineering and important factors of the world. E-learning is a term that encompasses a huge perspective. It means learning with the help of technology and encapsulates all kinds of Technology - Enhanced Learning or commonly known as TEL. In short, the term e-learning applies to the web –based learning and it has lots of divides. The popularity of e-learning is increasing with time and advancement of technology. A research of 12 year meta-analysis by the US Department of Education found out that in the area of higher education, students undertaking e-learning process are performing better than the students undergoing the same course face-to-face (US Dept of Education, n.d.). Not only this, the popularity of the e-learning procedure has increased to the extent that the industry of e-learning is about 38 billion Euros worth industry across the globe, estimated according to a conservative survey world - wide. However, the domain needs a considerable growth in market capturing and this is clear from the data that only about 20% of the entire e-learning products are manufactured within the common market in European Union (EC, 2000). Edu20.Org: The Pioneer in the Making Edu20.Org is an e-learning site that builds up a virtual classroom right at ones desktop and operates with the TEL mechanism. It is a multimedia site and supported by a high quality of LMS system. It is a free website making learning interesting and easier and at the same time it is hosted by education management system. It provides a huge platform for education and caters the true purpose of an e-learning site. It provides education with greater reach and it is manufactured with a vision to reach maximum number of students and provide them an equal standard of facility in learning procedure. It has a few unique and truly rare features like its calendar where the software automatically enables a teacher to give information of the exact date and time of a historical event. Along with this, it also has a strong operative forum for the students and a quick responding virtual classroom. The student community section was envisioned keeping in mind the facilities a site can render to make itself more students friendly. The student forum of Edu20.org is collaborated with a strong networking done by the students which is quite effective and makes the site a real student-friendly corner. Attributes and Usages Like any other good e-learning site, Edu20.Org is supported by many features which make it unique and user - friendly. The best part of the site is that it is absolutely free and one can easily sign up his or her school at the website. Once one signs up the school, a dedicated URL is generated. Once the registration procedure is complete and one logs on, he is taken to the home page. The home page comprises of various sub-divided pages like overview, messages, calendar, locker, friends, parents, gifts, groups, help and many others. The next page named ‘school’ contains sub – heads like resources, forums, classes, assessments, students and teachers along with other features. The member can enroll various stake holders of his school like the teachers, the students and the parents into the site. The next broad head is of teaching and whatever is taught is stored out in that page. The next session ‘learn’ contains the schedule of the classes, the transcript of the students, the portfolios and the curricula’s issued from time to time. The next broad head is that of the ‘resource’. This head helps to search and browse various documents that are required to impart quality education. Also, the resources comprises of various subjects ranging from art to technology and from health to politics. It also has the traditional subjects like that of English literature, mathematics, science and economics. The last broad head of ‘community’ is perfect for networking in between the schools as well as students and also in between general members, This section also includes translators and frequently asked questions (Edu20, n.d.). Some of the other attributes that made Edu20.Org so popular, includes: Fully Customized Site Strong Virtual Classroom Blackboard Facility Individual Log in Id and Password for the students Blackboard Effective and Customized Calendar Strong Student Corner and Student Networking Other Areas Edu20.Org has been a kind of revolution in the domain of e-learning. It assists the teachers as well as students. The school authorities are also showing increasing influence over the matter. As the site claims that the teachers can teach through video, audio and pictures. There are many forums available and the student can get the best of the services. The most important thing is the guardians can view their wards’ progress over academics. The site is also available on Twitter, the other major social networking site. Edu20.Org lets the world know very often about the recent happenings of the site through tweeting. It is quite popular in the domain of tweets as it already has more than 500 total followers (Twitter, 2010). Conclusion Killer StartUps, a start – up rating company has rated Edu20.Org to be such a start-up that has high hopes in the near future. The organization has agreed with the claim of the Edu20.Org that the company is really a next generation education conglomerate (Killer Start-Ups, n.d.). It can be summed up saying that the site is quite easy to be operated even by a lay man and it hold great importance in the domain of e-learning and specifically in the electronic learning of the school children. References Edu20, (No Date). Features. Registration. Retrieved online http://www.edu20.org/ on 5th Feb, 2010. EC (2000). Communication from the Commission: E-Learning - Designing "Tejas at Niit" tomorrow’s education. Brussels: European Commission. Killer Start-Ups, (No Date). In their own words. Start-Ups. Retrieved online from http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/edu20-org-the-future-of-online-education on 5th Feb, 2010. Twitter, (2010). Edu20. Edu20 is using Twitter. Retrieved online from http://twitter.com/edu20 on 5th Feb, 2010. Means, B.; Toyama, Y.; Murphy, R.; Bakia, M.; Jones, K. (2009), Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies. Retrieved online from http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf on 5th Feb, 2010. Read More