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Experts say e-learning is the way
of the future. It offers a viable alternative for busy
professionals or for people who want to study at a
particular university abroad but cannot afford the costs
of living in a foreign country. All that is needed for a
person to get an online degree is access to a computer
and Internet as well as a lot of self-discipline, say
experts in the field.
One of the biggest advantages of
e-learning is the flexibility it offers for users. If
you are a busy professional, you can have ‘class
sessions’ at your convenience. If you have an important
meeting coming up in the last minute, you can postpone
your class for later. If there is an important call that
you have to take while studying, you can do this without
having to ask for permission from your instructor, which
would be the case for ‘regular universities’.
How
It All Works
Online degree programs follow the
same principles as the programmes offered at
conventional universities but, naturally, there are some
differences. One of the biggest differences is the fact
that in on-line programmes, lectures do not happen in
person. Students would usually communicate with their
instructor using high-tech solution such as e-mail, chat
rooms, bulletin boards, and Internet instant messaging.
While some universities might require that students turn
up in person for a short orientation, during which they
meet their instructors and class mates in person, most
programmes would only feature a virtual classroom. This
‘classroom’ is created with the help of special software
that uses text chat and bulletin boards. Lectures can
sometimes be recorded, while students are encouraged to
participate into virtual discussions with others.
Students are given assignments on a regular basis (just
as they are in conventional universities) but they would
not give them to the instructor in person. The procedure
for exams is similar – there would be no one to watch
over the student, but there are checks in place to make
sure the student is not cheating.
New
technologies available now allow for virtual
universities to exist and operate as efficiently as
conventional universities. Virtual universities can also
have complete university e-libraries. There are
e-curriculums that electronically define and allow
access to various courses of study. Technology allows
students to conduct e-research that facilitates fast and
intelligent access to vast amounts of data. There are
e-assessments that help evaluate the progress of a given
student, as well as e-administration and management
courses. Communication, support and other services can
now also be offered to students online.
Credibility Still an Issue
While many prestigious and
reputable universities from around the world are now
jumping on the e-learning bandwagon, there are
institutions out there with questionable credentials.
There are several levels of fraud found in some online
educational programs. Potential students should check
the university’s credentials very carefully before
signing up for a particular programme. Sometimes, a
little common sense goes a long way. There are online
programs, which promise a bachelor's, master's, or
doctoral degree in about 10 days! Such programmes
require years of study to be completed and getting a
degree in such a short period of time would be
questioned by any potential employers you approach.
Students
planning to enrol in an online degree programme should
be on the lookout for several key elements, such as
whether the institution has enough qualified faculty
members to maintain the number of students or level of
education; whether the institution has set clear
objectives for every course. Obtaining a doctorate
without being asked by the university to conduct
research in your field is another thing that potential
students should beware of.
E-learning
Throughout the World and in the UAE
Today, an increasing number of
colleges and universities are offering online courses
and degree programs. These include some of the most
famous universities in the United States and Europe,
which already offer an increasing number of programmes.
There are even consortiums of universities, such as the
Canadian Virtual University, which acts as a portal for
courses from 13 universities across the North American
country. There is also the Global University Alliance –
a consortium of nine schools from the United States,
Britain, New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands.
In the UAE, a number of institutions are working to
promote e-learning. One of them is the Higher Colleges
of Technology, which is organising in November an
e-learning conference to be visited by leading
specialists from around the world. The Abu Dhabi
conference is the fourth such initiative since September
2002. The organisers have stated the agenda of this
year’s event to be a review of
the latest technology and pedagogy for e-learning geared
for online learning professionals. There is also a focus
onthe role of technology in the public / private
education systems for primary, intermediate and
secondary school systems.
In Dubai, the Middle East Learning Technologies 2006
conference is expected to gather under one roof leading
online educators in April of next year. The organisers
of the confrence hve said that the Gulf region
represents one of the fastest-growing e-learning mrkets
in the worl today, while the value of the market in
Europe and the Middle East is estimated to reach more
than US$6 billion in thi year.
What Employers Say:
In 2001 a career network website
in the United States carried out a survey of 239 human
resources professionals to gauge whether online degrees
are perceived by employers to be as valued as
conventional ones. Here are some of the findings from
the study:
26 percent
of the people surveyed said that online bachelor's
degrees were as credible as traditionally earned
bachelor's degrees.
The most commonly cited drawbacks of online education
were the lack of social interaction with peers (cited as
a issue by 61 per cent of the people surveyed), lack of
data about the effectiveness or quality of the education
as this mode of education is still new (53 percent), and
loss of real-time exchange between teachers an students
(39 per cent).
The three industries most likely to embrace online
degrees were Internet and new media (70 per cent),
technology (46 per cent), and high tech (44 per cent).
The three industries least likely to embrace online
degrees were medicine (68 per cent), law (56 per cent),
and health care/bio tech (52 per cent).
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