Online Education

Online education is becoming more and more popular, and is used more widely in schools. There are many different education services available, from the National Grid for Learning, to learning objects designed to help students understand a single topic.

Education online is a massive business - at all levels from websites that offer course materials - like Moodle:








Examples of other online resources to help you are MyMaths and Linguascope:

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Explore learning objects and simulations:

I found the website easy enough to navigate; there were multiple drop-down menus. There were graphics too, such as slideshows of pictures which would move along when you clicked on the arrow. The website was very modern and the colours used are bright and attractive, which help to hold your attention if you are trying to study.

The website is designed to help A-Level and vocational students discover all the website has to offer on modern technology. Below you can see the main things the website offers:








I think this website teaches us just how far modern technology has come. Not only is the website itself very modern and with lots of new graphic, but the content is what really shows us how far we've come. It tells us about space, medicine and the first home computer. It lists all of our best inventions and helps us to learn more information much more easily than we would in a book because it is all collected together in one place and is easily navigable.

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Use a simulation:

I found NetFrog to be quite an outdated website, since the last time it appears to have been updated is in 2002. It has no drop-down menus although it does have a colour scheme which makes the website look slightly more professional. The NetFrog 2002 option runs on: Netscape 4.x-6.x, IE 5.x-6.x and Opera - it requires QuickTime plug-in and Image Map capability. However, the 1994 option runs on "almost any browser" according to the website - it requires QuickTime plug-in and Image Map capability.

The website clearly fulfils its purpose, which is practising dissecting frogs before actually doing it. I don't think it would be very useful if this was the only lesson you were going to have, since I think actually seeing it happen in front of you would be much more useful since the pictures are small and not of particularly good quality.



An image taken from NetFrog, (this is the original size and quality of the image).

I think, for this website especially, it teaches us how quickly online education moves, especially because the website seems old compared to a lot of newer, more modern ones, (e.g. Making The Modern World from the Science Museum).

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Here (above) are the different options that
Macromedia provides for E-Learning:

Macromedia virtual classroom:

Macromedia offers exciting new technology, such as: listening to e-learning recorded seminars, joining a virtual classroom, how to use Photoshop and InDesign, and watching tutorials.

This moves online education on a lot and offers many more options for e-learning. The one I think is the most useful is being able to join a virtual classroom takes a huge step - if the process of e-learning continues at this rate, soon people might not ever need to leave the house to go to school or work.

Online education, such as this, can offer: a wider variety of degrees and classes; lower costs since, if you are learning online full-time, you wouldn't need to buy a uniform or pay for travel to get to a school; no sitting around in a classroom waiting for a teacher when you could be getting work done; choosing a study time that is appropriate for you; flexibility when completing your assignments since, online, schedules might not be so strict, as long as work is done before the deadline; flexibility - if you have had children and have to stay at home to look after them but would still like to learn and get a degree, this would be perfect; the option to balance both a job and a degree if you would like to do both at the same time; avoiding bad weather conditions - for example, you wouldn't have to go out in dangerous weather, (e.g. a storm, snow), because your place of learning is at home; and specialised degree programs.

The disadvantages of E-Learning are that: employers may be unwilling to accept someone into their workplace if they only have certifications from online programs; students have less communication / interaction with other people their own age and with their teachers, which limits public speaking practise and teamwork skills; not all courses a student may want are available online and, if you are interested in an unusual course, it may be difficult to locate it online; tutors / teachers are not there with you so, if you have difficulty completing something, the help will only be available to your via email, and not with you to answer questions immediately; technology can still fail - if your hard drive fails and your internet connection is suddenly interrupted, all of your work could be lost or you might not be able to communicate with your teacher; and being along - if you work alone online all the time, you could feel isolated and, furthermore, you could neglect your work because there is no teacher there to tell you to finish it.

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Use a learning object:

Screencap of the welcome video
from Lynda.com

Flash and Quicktime movies are marketed by various companies as "learning objects". Teachers or students package multiple movies to create a unique learning package. I think this is useful in that you can learn about what interests you and try to find movies for it, but I also think that it is not the same as having a set curriculum like you are given at school or college, since that was made by teachers / tutors and they know what you need to learn so that you will pass exams and get good jobs in the future.

On Lynda.com, multiple tutors teach you all sorts of different subjects through video, once again taking online education a little further.

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Research online education:

Five online educational websites ranked in order of usefulness, (1 being highest, 5 being lowest):

1. BBC Bitesize
2. Home Learning College
3. learndirect
4. Open Study College
5. The Open University

I think BBC Bitesize is the most useful, purely because it doesn't just give a wide range of subjects but also offers education to a wide age group:

I think the Home Learning College is second most useful since it gives you recognised qualifications at the end, once you have completed the necessary work and proved yourself.

Below are the range of qualifications that the Home Learning College offers you:

Next, I thought learndirect was third useful because it has all of the following courses but, because neither my family nor I have used it before, I don't know how useful it is but the courses offered look varying and interesting:

The Open Study College looked like it has some very interesting qualifications but it seemed to be geared more towards the older learner; e.g. someone who was working and wanted to improve their qualifications. However, there are also options to do A-Levels which is useful.

The courses that the Open Study College offer are on the right, while the qualifications offered are below:







Lastly, I awarded the Open University fifth place because, despite the good reviews it gets, I found it difficult to navigate the website and, as far as I could see, it didn't tell you what courses were available and all seemed a little too informal, using too many contractions in the menu at the top.

The only thing I could find indicating the courses available was this:

All in all, the best websites for online education seemed to be BBC Bitesize and the Home Learning College, since my family and I have both used them and have experiences nothing but good. They are very useful and definitely worth taking the time to visit.

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Websites I used:
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQoV60yZ7ZjBRczXsrmSWt9sPMVhSDs_kfk41MTqctEM0XtlEFO5bs3JC5jCA
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/
http://frog.edschool.virginia.edu/
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/
http://www.adobe.com/uk/
http://oedb.org/library/distance-vs-local/10-advantages-to-taking-online-classes
http://www.elearning-companion.com/disadvantages-of-online-learning.html
http://www.lynda.com/
http://www.open-university.co.uk/?KWCAMPAIGN=RAPP_BAU_England_-_Brand&keywordid=ggluk_open_university&mkwid=sCcnsydF9|pcrid|13006763182&gclid=CLr2rvbz7LICFaTKtAodrXkA-w
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/
http://learndirect.co.uk/?CMP=ps_cl
http://www.openstudycollege.com/pages/how-it-works-new.html?r=g&campaign=others&group=open_study_college&gclid=CIyxwoT07LICFSTHtAodkTYAng
http://www.homelearningcollege.com/LP/Home-Learning-College-Courses/?WT.srch=1&srchpterm=home_learning_college&srchengine=google&srchmatch=exact&cp=HLCPPC0049&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=home_learning_college&utm_campaign=HLCPPC0049&gsrc=S