Preparing E-Learners for Online Success

Advances in e-learning technology have, however, created new demands on both learners and instructors.

For instructors and learners alike, the introduction of e-learning technologies in the last decade has renovated the all-too-familiar training experiences that endured in organizations for nearly a half-century. From desktop video and instant messaging to just-in-time training using PDAs and iPods, the technologies that are commonly found in organizations and homes are offering instructors and learners a host of new tools that have the potential to dramatically diversify and improve learning. As a result, learning is finally leaving the training classroom and becoming an indispensable ingredient of living and working in our society.
 
These advances in e-learning technology have, however, created new demands on both learners and instructors. The time-tested learning strategies and study skills that most of us developed through 12 or more years of a traditional classroom education can only assist us to a limited degree when courses are moved to e-learning formats. In response, instructors, instructional designers, and curriculum developers have been building an inventory of contemporary skills and techniques for generating useful learning experiences for today’s high-tech learners. At the same time, learners have been informally developing updated study skills and learning strategies in a relatively ad hoc manner.

E-learner readiness

From the challenges of forming study groups in an online environment to new techniques for taking notes while reading PDF files on a PDA, the study skills required for success in e-learning are often beyond those commonly applied in traditional classroom training by successful learners. Many younger learners are actually more capable with video game technologies than theyre are in utilizing online database search engines or learning from interactive chat room discussions. As a result, the e-learning courses that are being used currently in many organizations can present obstacles to learners who have only developed their study skills in low-tech instructor-led classrooms.

As an example, successful learners in high school and college courses have typically developed effective skills for asking questions of and communicating with the course instructor in a face-to-face course format. Yet, when they are offered online training opportunities there may not be an instructor available for feedback, and even if an instructor is available, they are often not accessible for immediate feedback at the time that the learner is struggling with course materials. Accordingly, the pragmatic study strategies used by successful e-learners veers from previous tactics used in the traditional classroom and includes such techniques as using Internet search engines to identify websites that may provide clarification or sending an instant message to a peer in the course while they await instructor feedback.

Without experience or other guidance, most learners—of all ages—are not adequately prepared to learn effectively from the technology-rich training opportunities offered by organizations. As a result, the training investment in high-tech delivery systems and courseware are not regularly achieving their potential impact on learner performance, say Shilwant and Haggarty in the August 2005 CLO article “Usability Testing for E-Learning.” Preparing learners for success in e-learning has become, therefore, a growing priority for training organizations.

E-learning study skills
 
Two essential skills for success in e-learning are adapting old skills and habits from the traditional classroom for use in e-learning and developing and applying new e-learning skills and habits for e-learning. From building a robust vocabulary of technology-related terms to adequately preparing for a debate in online discussion board and building the skills for e-learning typically takes many of the study habits from the traditional classroom and applies them in new ways using technology. For example, learners can apply the Cornell note-taking system even when they’re reading a PDF file they downloaded from the organization’s training library.

In addition to the adaptation of traditional study skills, some technologies have dramatically changed how a learner interacts with their instructors, peers, and course materials, thus requiring the development of some new study skills (see Figure 1). For instance, learners must invent new tactics for creating effective group dynamics when team projects are required in an online environment, such as leading the group through the well-known forming, norming, storming, and performing stages.

By Ryan Watkins