e learning experience essay

Essays About Online Learning: Top 6 Examples And Prompts

If you are writing essays about online learning, you can start by reading some essay examples and prompts in this article. 

People often regard online learning as kids stuck at home, glued to their devices. However, there is so much more to it than this simplistic concept. Many parents may see it as an “easy way out” for students to slack off on their studies while still passing their classes, but online learning has not reached its full potential yet. 

It has dramatically impacted how education is handled globally, for better or worse. It has forced teachers to take on extra work , while students say it has helped reduce their stress levels. It is undoubtedly a contentious topic. 

If you need help writing an essay about online learning, here are some essay examples you can use for inspiration.

1. Disabled Students Urge Universities To Make Online Learning More Accessible by Lucia Posteraro

2. why are more and more students taking online classes by perry mullins, 3. the benefits of online learning: 7 advantages of online degrees by kelsey miller, 4. why is online learning important by clare scott, 5. is online learning as effective as face-to-face learning by kelli wilkins, 6. i’m a high school student. i don’t want online learning to end. by rory selinger, prompts on essays about online learning, 1. how has online learning affected you, 2. compare and contrast online and in-person classes., 3. what can you learn from an online setup, 4. what is the future of online learning, 5. which is better- online or face-to-face learning, 6. can online learning be sustained long-term.

“Autism may hinder the ability to follow complex conversations, especially with background noise – but Charli’s lectures did not have subtitles. Moreover, extensions for group projects were too short for her extenuating circumstances.’

Posteraro tells the stories of students who want online learning to be more accessible. For example, Charli, a student with autism, was greatly affected by the transition from in-person to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, online learning has not catered to her special needs, so she urges schools to take action to make online education more inclusive. You might also be interested in these essays about knowledge .

“The result of taking online classes is that students who take them become more proficient and comfortable with using computers. Students can learn to connect with one another online and with information in meaningful and useful ways. With that said more and more students are taking online classes because it’s the best way to save money work at your own pace and not have to be stressed about going to class.”

In his essay, Mullins discusses why more students prefer online learning. First, it lessens expenses, as students learn from the comfort of their rooms. Second, it helps students avert the fear of talking to strangers face-to-face, helping them communicate better. 

“It’s clear, then, that learning online helps prepare professionals for this shift toward online work. Below, explore what online courses entail, explore seven key benefits, and get the advice you need to determine if online courses are right for you.”

Miller briefly explains what online learning is, then proceeds to discuss its advantages. These include a self-paced schedule, improved communication, and new technical skills. However, he reminds readers that everyone is different; regardless of the benefits, they should only choose online learning if they believe it will work for them.

“Boil it right down and the answer is simple: change is constant. You must move with it. The true beauty of online learning is that it lends itself perfectly to your lifestyle. By its very nature, it can fit around you. Also, no longer are we taught how to do a job, it’s usually a case of figuring it out for yourself—and that’s where online learning can amplify your skills.”

Scott presents the importance of online learning. Similar to Miller, she mentions self-paced, giving students new skills. However, the most important lesson is that change is constant. Online learning exemplifies this precept, and these skills help us move along.

“While both ways of learning have advantages and disadvantages, what is more effective is based off of the student themselves. Students can weigh the costs and benefits between online learning and face-to-face learning. They can decide for themselves what would be best for them. Online learning can be as effective as face-to-face learning if the student is committed to putting their time and effort to study alone.”

Wilkins questions the notion that online learning is inferior to a face-to-face classes. She begins by listing the benefits of online classes, including comfort and easier schedules, as with Miller and Scott. However, she also mentions its disadvantages, such as the possibility of students being distracted and a lack of bonding between classmates. But, of course, it’s all up to the student in the end: they should decide which type of education they prefer.

“One thing I hope people now realize is that education is not a one-size-fits-all model. While the self-disciplined nature of remote learning is not for everyone, it has allowed students like me to flourish unimpeded by the challenges presented by typical classroom settings.”

A 14-year-old student, Selinger wishes to continue her education online as schools return to physical classes amid the pandemic. She discusses the relief she feels from the lack of peer pressure, judgment, and a rigorous schedule. Controlling your study schedule relieves students of pressure, and Selinger believes this is optimal for success. She believes online learning opens a path to be better rather than to “return to normal.”

In this essay, you can write about your experience of online learning. Whether you have had online coursework from school or college or taken an online course for your own interests, we’ve all had some experience learning online. Discuss how you benefited from online learning and the challenges you faced. For a compelling essay, conduct interviews to back up your experience by showing others who felt the same way.

Create an exciting comparative essay between online and in-person learning. You can compare and contrast the experiences and show the positives and negatives of each. Start by making a list or Venn diagram, and organize your essay. Include the structure, advantages, and disadvantages of each method of learning. 

Online learning can teach you some skills to succeed in the real world. In this essay, write about the unique skills you can gain from online learning. Perhaps you learn valuable IT skills, virtual note-taking, and basic administrative skills. Then, look into how these skills can benefit you in future studies or when trying to step into a new career path. 

We have barely scratched the surface of technology. In this essay, look to the future and imagine how online education will look. Then, research up-and-coming online learning technologies and see what will come next. Will the development of more online learning technology benefit students? Look into this exciting topic for an engaging discussion.

For this topic, writing an excellent argumentative essay is easy. First, from research and your own experience, list the benefits and downsides of each type of learning and determine which is more effective. Then, you can use Google and the essay examples above to support your argument.  

Online learning is most commonly used for students who are ill or during situations such as a global pandemic. It is meant to be temporary; however, can schools stick to a completely-online method of instruction? Include some advantages and disadvantages of online learning in your essay.

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

If you’re still stuck, check out our general resource of essay writing topics .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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How to Write Stanford’s “Excited About Learning” Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Johnathan Patin-Sauls and Vinay Bhaskara in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Choosing an idea vs. an experience, learning for the sake of learning, learning as a means to other ends, be specific.

Stanford University’s first essay prompt asks you to respond to the following:

“ The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (100-250 words)”

For this short answer question, your response is limited to a maximum of 250 words. In this article, we will discuss considerations for choosing to write about an idea or experience, ways to demonstrate a love or enthusiasm for learning, and why you should be as specific. For more information and guidance on writing the application essays for Stanford University, check out our post on how to write the Stanford University essays .

Regardless of if you choose either an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning as a topic, there are a few considerations for each.  

Most people gravitate towards writing about an idea. One challenge that arises with an idea-focused essay is that applicants who are passionate about an idea often become hyper focused on explaining the idea but neglect to connect this idea to who they are as a person and why this idea excites them. 

When writing about an experience, it is important to strike a balance between describing the experience and analyzing the impact of the experience on you, your goals, and your commitment to learning.

This essay question allows you to expand on your joy for learning and your genuine curiosity. Stanford is searching for students who are naturally curious and enjoy the process of learning and educating themselves. For example, a compelling essay could begin with a riveting story of getting lost while hiking the Appalachian Trail and describing how this experience led to a lifelong passion for studying primitive forms of navigation. 

There is a strong tendency among applicants to write about formal academic coursework, however, the most compelling essays will subvert expectations by taking the concept of learning beyond the classroom and demonstrating how learning manifests itself in unique contexts in your life.

If you’re someone for whom learning is a means to other ends, it is important that you convey a sense of genuine enthusiasm and purpose beyond, “I want to go to X school because it will help me get Y job for Z purpose.” You may be motivated to attend college to obtain a certain position and make a comfortable income, however these answers are not necessarily what admissions officers are looking for. Instead, it can be helpful to relate an idea or experience to something more personal to you.

Academic & Professional Trajectory

Consider relating the idea or experience you choose to a major, degree program, research initiative, or professor that interests you at Stanford. Then go beyond the academic context to explain how the idea or experience ties into your future career. 

For instance, if you are interested in the concept of universal health care, then you might describe your interest in applying to public health programs with faculty that specialize in national health care systems. You might then describe your long term career aspirations to work in the United States Senate on crafting and passing health care policy.

Personal Values & Experiences

Another way to tie the ideas in this essay back to a more personal topic is to discuss how the idea or experience informs who you are, how you treat others, or how you experience the world around you. 

You could also focus on an idea or experience that has challenged, frustrated, or even offended you, thereby reinforcing and further justifying the values you hold and your worldview.

Community Building & Social Connectedness

You may also explore how this idea or experience connects you to a particular community by helping you understand, build, and support members of the community. Stanford is looking to find students who will be engaged members of the student body and carry out the community’s core mission, values, and projects, so this essay can be an opportunity to highlight how you would contribute to Stanford. 

Be specific in your choice of idea or the way in which you describe an experience. For example, a response that focuses on the joys of learning philosophy is too broad to be particularly memorable or impactful. However, the mind-body problem looking at the debate concerning the relationship between thought and consciousness is a specific philosophical idea that lends itself to a rich discussion. 

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

What Students Are Really Thinking About Online Learning

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Today, several students from my classes “wrap things up” in the final post of this series.

“The temptations are REAL!”

Lee Xiong is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

School has been tough. Transferring to all online learning has been the biggest challenge this year for me. As a student, I’d say I’ve usually kept up with all my work for all my classes. The biggest change I’ve seen in myself is becoming less focused with my school work.

Being in a physical classroom is tremendously different from learning online. In a classroom, most of your focus is there, unlike virtually, the temptations are REAL! Yes, self-discipline is good to learn, but when having all this thrown at you, you can’t blame the student for not wanting to work... at least that’s my opinion.

This online learning has affected me personally because during this time, I found myself turning in assignments weeks late. It wasn’t because I was having trouble, it was because I had no motivation and energy to do them. This isn’t the norm for me. Without a routine schedule, I felt lost. That makes me sound like a robot, but I think it’s because it’s been that way since we were so small, change this big is affecting me to the max.

This has taught me that online learning will not be for me in the future! Maybe for one or two classes, but overall I plan for my school life to be set in a physical classroom for the most part. Although this has been a challenging time for school and out in the real world, remembering to stand tall will get us through this together.

“Learning at school is best for me”

Evelynn Vang is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

The online learning experience as a student for me has been fine. I sometimes find myself not interested in doing my assignments and I feel like I’m lazy. I still do the assignments, but I sometimes end up turning in my assignments late. It’s like I’ll do the assignments whenever I feel like doing it.

I can say that there is a reason for this, and that is where I am doing my school work. My home is not a learning environment like at school, where there are teachers, other students, learning tools, desks/tables, chairs, a library, lots of space, and those who you can get support from. At home is like a sleeping or resting environment. In a classroom, I can focus more on my assignments/work and get engaged in the subject. Whenever I’m in a classroom, I feel prepared to learn and get my brain pumped; at home, I feel like it’s very hard to be prepared because I’m always getting distracted. Whenever I need help, my teachers or classmates are there for me. When I have a question at home, I have to wait for a response.

I do have to say that whenever I’m at school, I always feel nervous in class. Now that I’m at home learning, I don’t feel nervous. From my online learning experience right now, I would not choose more online learning in the future because in a school, a classroom is a learning environment. Also, I feel like it’s easier to communicate with my classmates/groups for projects, teachers, counselors, and principal. Learning at a school is best for me.

“I have many responsibilities at home”

Diana Lopez is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

As a student, my online learning experience hasn’t been great. This new learning system has its perks, such as more time to do assignments in the comfort of your home, not having to wake up so early to go to school, and ensuring the safety of the staff as well as the students. Despite these benefits, there are downsides of this method of learning. For example, I have many responsibilities at home, such as taking care of my younger siblings, cooking meals, cleaning up after them, etc. I also find it harder to have any motivation when I’m doing school assignments. When I’m surrounded by all these other temptations like my phone or other electronics, I lose any will to do work.

The environment at home is different from the workspace students have at school. A classroom provides a quiet academic place to do work while a household can be loud and cause students to lose concentration or not even work at all. Additionally, I find that simply reading the instructions for an assignment or lesson isn’t as engaging as when it’s explained by a teacher. The information is much easier to retain when heard rather than simply rushing to read the directions. If I could choose, in the future I would not like to do more online learning because I like having a teacher physically there to help me when I need it. Having a teacher presence helps me focus more on school work, engages me into learning, and the teachers help guide me through the work and are there for any questions I have.

“Online learning has been difficult”

Isabella Sandoval is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

Online learning has been difficult. I feel pressured to try and hurry to finish and turn in all of my assignments on time. Most of my assignments are due at the same time, and a lot of them are time- consuming.

Though, for the most part it’s difficult to adapt to since I’ve had my education in person with my teachers and classmates, I like how I can do the assignments on my own time. I could divide the day and time I complete my work, I can sleep in a little longer, and overall just be comfortable while in my own home. I feel that online learning is nothing compared to physical learning. With physical learning, I can talk to my teachers one on one and visually see and interact with everything. Whereas online, when I have a question, I either have to email or text my teachers, and sometimes they don’t see my message and/or take forever to respond.

In the future, I honestly would not mind doing online learning. Just for a little bit though, because it’s not that bad, it’s just the fact that I can’t physically talk to my teachers in person when I need help or have questions. Communicating with teachers online is what I feel is the most difficult part about online learning.

“My online experience has been interesting”

Brenda Hernandez is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

As a student, my online experience has been interesting. What I like about this experience is that I have more time to talk to my family and call or text some friends. I get to do school work from home and I have time for self-care. I like that I kind of get to choose which classes I should work on first and which I could wait to do after.

What I don’t like about it is that I am on a screen all day. I like electronics, but school has kept me from staring at a screen for hours. I also don’t like that I have more distractions at home. I live in a small apartment with five other people and four dogs.

This experience is different from being in a physical classroom because I socialize less now. In school, I get to hear the opinions and ideas of my friends and classmates. Some of my teachers would tell us to talk to the people around us about the lesson. Now, not everyone’s online at the same time. I have anxiety, which prevents me from texting some friends and some of my classmates. And if I did, they’d take a while to respond. Same with communicating with teachers.

In the future, if I could choose, I’d like to do a bit of online learning and the rest in an actual classroom. Although it depends on the class. I have noticed that some of the classes I’ve been able to complete at home since there isn’t anyone asking questions or reading the directions to stall me from beginning my work. In other classes, it has been more difficult since I’m more of a visual learner for that subject, and my teachers keep me on task.

“My online learning experience hasn’t been the best but not worst experience”

Laitak Briand is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

Being an engaging student during quarantine has been difficult. There have been a lot things that happened during the first weeks since school was canceled. Stores began to close down, parks being shut down, and people told to stay in the house 24-7 unless they needed their necessities.

What I liked about it, though, is that I have more time to do things that I said I wanted to do if I only had time. Now I have time to do things like spend time with family and resting. What I don’t like about online learning is that I have to still do homework even though we are in a pandemic and can’t leave the house.

The experience from doing online learning and going to school physically are vastly different. With online classes, if you need help you have to ask your parents or google. But when you go to school, there is a teacher that can help you. Also, my friends I can’t physically see them when I’m at home, but if I went to school, I could. In the future, if I had to choose to continue online learning or not, I’d choose not because I like to be somewhere I can ask someone near me for help and see if I did something right or wrong. In conclusion, my online learning experience hasn’t been the best but not worst experience I have ever had.

“There is nothing that I liked about it besides how supportive the teachers have been”

Na Lee Her is a junior at Luther Burbank High School:

My experience with online learning is very stressful and hard. I felt this way because of how hard it is for me to understand the assignments and having to not be able to check with your teacher face to face if you are doing it correctly or not. It doesn’t make me confident because I want to make sure that I am actually doing the assignment correctly in order to deserve the credit for it.

Not only that, but having time to do the assignments is another problem. At home, there are many things to take care of, and it makes it hard for me to be able to do my assignments. This makes me turn in the assignment late or not turn it in at all. Last but not least, it is the lack of motivation that makes online learning hard. Not being able to be face to face with friends and teachers gives me no motivation and makes me unhappy about this. I am unable to get ideas from them, and it makes me lose hope because I don’t know what I will do to be able to complete the assignment and meet its requirement. It just makes me very worried and anxious to know that I may have done things wrong or to not know what to do.

During this time of online learning, there is nothing that I liked about it besides how supportive the teachers have been. If I were to choose online learning or learning face to face, I would rather choose learning face to face. I choose this because it is much easier and I get my questions answered right away. Not only that, but I can also get suggestions/ideas from my peers as well.

Thanks to Lee, Evelynn, Diana, Isabella, Brenda, Laitak, and Na Lee for their contributions!

(This is the final post in a multipart series. You can see Part One here , Part Two here , and Part Three here .)

Here is the new question-of-the-week:

What has your online learning experience been as a student? What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it? How does it compare with your experience as a student in a physical classroom? In the future, if you could choose, would you want to do more online learning? If so, why? If not, why not?

In Part One , five students from the high school where I teach in Sacramento, Calif., shared their reflections.

In Part Two , contributions come from students in Austin Green’s 1st grade class in Utah and others connected with the Kansas State School for the Blind.

In Part Three , contributors came from my class; Ryan Jakacki’s class in Plymouth, Minn.; and Anne Magnin’s class in France.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching .

If you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn’t include ones from this current year.

This Year’s Most Popular Q&A Posts

Race & Gender Challenges

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Best Ways to Begin the School Year

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Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning

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I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

The experiences, challenges, and acceptance of e-learning as a tool for teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic among university medical staff

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt, Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Taibah University, Medina, KSA

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Resources, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

• Marwa Mohamed Zalat, 
• Mona Sami Hamed, 
• Sarah Abdelhalim Bolbol

• Published: March 26, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758
• Reader Comments

e-learning was underutilized in the past especially in developing countries. However, the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the entire world to rely on it for education.

To estimate the university medical staff perceptions, evaluate their experiences, recognize their barriers, challenges of e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, and investigate factors influencing the acceptance and use of e-learning as a tool teaching within higher education.

Data was collected using an electronic questionnaire with a validated Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for exploring factors that affect the acceptance and use of e-learning as a teaching tool among medical staff members, Zagazig University, Egypt.

The majority (88%) of the staff members agreed that the technological skills of giving the online courses increase the educational value of the experience of the college staff. The rate of participant agreement on perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and acceptance of e-learning was (77.1%, 76.5%, and 80.9% respectively). The highest barriers to e-learning were insufficient/ unstable internet connectivity (40%), inadequate computer labs (36%), lack of computers/ laptops (32%), and technical problems (32%). Younger age, teaching experience less than 10 years, and being a male are the most important indicators affecting e-learning acceptance.

This study highlights the challenges and factors influencing the acceptance, and use of e-learning as a tool for teaching within higher education. Thus, it will help to develop a strategic plan for the successful implementation of e-learning and view technology as a positive step towards evolution and change.

Citation: Zalat MM, Hamed MS, Bolbol SA (2021) The experiences, challenges, and acceptance of e-learning as a tool for teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic among university medical staff. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0248758. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758

Editor: Gwo-Jen Hwang, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, TAIWAN

Received: November 11, 2020; Accepted: March 4, 2021; Published: March 26, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Zalat et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: within the manuscript.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

COVID-19, a public health crisis of worldwide importance, was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020 as a new coronavirus disease outbreak and was reported as a pandemic in March 2020 [ 1 ].

Egypt reported the first German tourist death due to the virus on March 8. The increase in the number of cases to more than 100 cases by mid-March forced the government to make more rigid regulations. For one month, Egypt closed schools and universities and facilitated online distance electronic learning (e-learning) [ 2 ].

The pandemic of COVID-19 caused several schools and colleges to remain temporarily closed. Face-to-face education has ended by numerous schools, universities, and colleges. This will have negative impacts on educational activities, as social distance is crucial at this stage. Educational agencies are trying to find alternatives ways to manage this difficult circumstance [ 3 ]. This shutdown stimulated the growth of online educational activities so that there would be no interruption to education. Many faculties have been involved in how best to offer online course material, involve students, and perform evaluations [ 4 ].

This crisis would make the new technology accepted by organizations that were previously resistant to adapt. This was a difficult time for the educational sectors to deal with the current situation; professional education, particularly medical education, was more challenging [ 5 ].

Online e-learning is described as learning experiences using various electronic devices (e.g. computers, laptops, smartphones, etc.) with internet availability in synchronous or asynchronous environmental conditions. Online e-learning could be a platform that makes the process of education more student-centered, creative, and flexible [ 6 ]. Online delivery of courses is cost-effective and easily accessible especially when delivering curriculum to students in rural and remote areas [ 3 ]. The United online e-learning is seen by the United Nations (UN) and the WHO as a helpful tool for meeting educational needs, especially in developing nations [ 7 ]. Medical colleges have implemented numerous creative strategies to combat the crisis, using various software/apps such as Google Classroom, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams to take online courses. In order not only to complete the course but also to stay in constant contact with the learners, this virtual class of e-learning was initiated to grow the certainty and confidence of the students in their faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 5 ].

It is anticipated that with the implementation of e-learning, the role of faculty members will be transformed from the traditional teacher-centric to student-centric model which serves the current new curriculum applied at our college of medicine. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the university staff perceptions, evaluate their experiences, recognize their barriers, and assess their challenges to e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the study will investigate factors influencing the acceptance of e-learning as a tool for teaching within higher education which could help future endeavors aimed at implementing e-learning not only during the pandemic but in other non-pandemic situations throughout the teaching life.

Materials and methods

Study design and setting.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 1st to October 1st, 2020 at the Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt.

Study population and sample size

The medical staff of both basic science and clinical departments who are engaged in the development and teaching of online courses were invited to participate in the study. While, those who refused participation, retired, or on leaves (e.g. sick, maternity, or any type of leaves) were excluded.

The required sample size was calculated to be 346 staff members. Calculations have been done using the sample size software online for prevalence studies [ 8 ]: the total number of staff members in both basic science departments (i.e. anatomy, physiology, pathology, histology, biochemistry, parasitology, pharmacology, microbiology), and clinical departments (i.e. internal medicine, surgery, gynecology & obstetric, pediatrics, community medicine, family medicine …..etc.) was 3439 at the faculty of Medicine, Zagazig university at the time of the study, assuming a prevalence of 50%, a precision of 5% at confidence interval 95% and power of test 80%.

Tools of data collection

A semi-tailored electronic questionnaire was used and contains four parts:

First Part : questions on socio-demographic and occupational data of the participants as age, gender, marital status, residence, work sector (academic or clinical), current employment status, years of teaching experience, whether they have taught an online course before or not, and their experience duration.

Second part : questions on university staff perceptions and experiences of online courses adapted from a previous study [ 9 ]. The questions are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from strongly disagree = 1 to strongly agree = 5 by which the staff member could express their agreement levels.

Third Part : questions on barriers and challenges towards online learning. Medical staff should rank the challenges facing distance education in order of their seriousness (1–10 scale, 1 being the least serious, 10 being the most serious) [ 10 ].

Fourth part: questions based on the validated Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [ 11 ], for exploring factors that affect university medical staff acceptance and use of e-learning as a teaching tool. It consisted of three items namely perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and acceptance on a 5-point scale ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree” to ‘‘strongly agree.”, Acceptance was categorized as accept and don’t accept according to the median (median = 2.5), scores above 2.5 indicate acceptance while rated scores <2.5 indicate refusal.

Data analysis techniques used for detection of the percentage of respondents’ response is described in detail in the work of Napitupulu et al. [ 12 ] and the range of results compared to the following categories: 0–25% Strongly Disagree, 26–50% Disagree, 51–75% Agree, 76–100% Strongly Agree.

Procedures of data collection

The electronic questionnaire was designed on Google forms, and the invitation link for participation in the survey was shared via mail and on social media such as each department WhatsApp group, by the researchers, through the departments’ coordinators. Another two reminders were sent every 10 days to increase the participants’ response rate. A cover letter was presented on the first page of each electronic survey explaining the purpose of the study, emphasizing its importance and significance, therefore encouraging cooperation by the respondents.

Pilot study

The questionnaire was tested on 10 staff members. The necessary modifications, changes, and corrections were done to ensure ease of understanding and clarification of all questions. For testing the questionnaire reliability, Cronbach’s alpha test was used and was >0.70 for most of the items.

Data management

Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess the normality of data distribution. Descriptive analysis was performed for quantitative data by mean, standard deviations and for qualitative data by frequencies and percentages as applicable. A Multivariate regression analysis was performed to predict potentially significant determinants of acceptance and use of e-learning in education. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Ethical considerations

The necessary official permissions were obtained from the Zagazig University Institutional Review Board (Ref No #6385-1-9-2020#). Consent from the participant after being informed about the purpose of the study and research objectives was obtained at the start of the online survey. Privacy and confidentiality were assured.

A total participant in this study was 346 university medical staff members. Most of the participants are females (87.9%) with a mean age of 47 years most of them are married (72%). Most of the staff members live in the same city where they work (76%) with a mean of 19 years of teaching experience, and more than half of them (63.9%) were from the basic science departments. Half of the teaching staff are professors (52%) and taught online courses before (40.2%) for more than 2 years and taught both theoretical and practical sessions ( Table 1 ).

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758.t001

Study results revealed that all the staff members agreed that the online course design permits staff to educate at their own speed (36.1% strongly agreed and 63.9% agreed), followed by 88% of the staff members agreed that the technological skills acquired from teaching online courses increased their educational experience (56.1% strongly agreed and 32.1% agreed). While 44.2% of staff members disagreed that tests in an online course are more difficult for students (4% strongly disagreed and 40.2% disagreed) compared to 43.9% agreement (7.8% agree and 36.1% strongly agree) ( Table 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758.t002

Applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to university medical staff members showed that the percentage of the respondent’s answer on perceived usefulness was 77.1%, this means that university medical staff found that e-learning is very helpful in improving and progressing the educational process. The percentage of the respondent’s answer on perceived ease of use was 76.5%, this means that users assess e-learning systems implemented by being highly easy to use and operate. While the percentage of the respondent’s answer on acceptance of e-learning was 80.9%, this means that based on user perception, the e-learning system implemented was with high acceptance level. This was obtained because perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have been assessed to be adequate for the users ( Table 3 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758.t003

Studying the barriers of e-learning as reported by the university staff members showed that (40%) reported insufficient/ unstable internet connectivity followed by inadequate computer labs (36%), lack of computers/ laptops (32%), and technical problems (32%) ( Table 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758.t004

Statistical analysis was conducted to identify risk factors in terms of unadjusted OR. Teaching experience duration (years) followed by the online courses they taught before COVID-19, age of staff members (years), and work sector whether academic or clinical were the significant factors that influence acceptance of e-learning. A logistic regression analysis was done to study the significant independent factors affecting e-learning acceptance and showed that age under 40 years, teaching experience less than 10 years, and being a male are the most important indicators affecting e-learning acceptance ( Table 5 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758.t005

e-learning is not considered a new phenomenon, there was an increasing global trend of using electronic learning or e-learning in the last decade and some higher education institutes in developing countries have adopted this trend recently [ 13 ]. However, this technology has not been evenly dispersed throughout all nations and cultures [ 14 ].

More than nine months have passed since the WHO declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, with an abrupt shift to online teaching and electronic learning. Furthermore, the uncertain future concerning returning to normal life and stopping this pandemic results in maximum dependency on e-learning especially in higher education [ 15 ].

Like other countries, Egypt faced significant challenges in higher education and transferred its in-person educational system to virtual learning. A particular urgent challenge was for face-to-face university courses to be delivered online [ 16 ]. In this study, the e-learning perception, challenges, and predictors of its acceptance as a method for education during the COVID-19 pandemic were investigated among the university medical staff members.

The majority of the participants agreed (32.1%) and strongly agreed (56.1%) that the technological skills to provide online courses increase the educational value of the experience of the faculty staff members. Similarly, these findings from our research support the results of previous studies [ 17 – 19 ].

The majority of our participants agreed (59.5%) on the advantages of time flexibility of teaching the online course. In contrast, other previous studies [ 19 ], reported that faculty members considered that e-learning can take time and can lead to student monitoring difficulties and can reduce the interest in direct traditional teaching.

These various perceptions might be related to unfamiliarity with the e-learning medium, different technological knowledge, and skills of the participants which highlight the need for formal training and workshops on using various technological methods and platforms for strengthening the e-learning activities.

The current study showed that 36.1% and 63.9% of the participants strongly agreed, and agreed respectively that the online course enables staff to teach at their own pace. Similarly, a previous study appreciated the self-pacing of online learning [ 20 ].

Also, most of our participants disagreed/ strongly disagreed (44.2%) that exams in an online course are harder for students. The reason for this staff perception might be attributed to the fact that most of the online tests are based on multiple-choice questions which allow testing a large number of students quickly, and across a vast expanse of content than essay questions. Furthermore, the automated marking of the tests saves the staff members efforts and time [ 21 ]. On the contrary, another study by Hannafin et al. [ 22 ] noted that many observational and participatory evaluations of distant learning were difficult. Likewise, Oncu & Cakir [ 23 ] noticed that because of the lack of face-to-face interaction, informal assessment can be challenging for online instructors. Nevertheless, there are indeed best practices and techniques for conducting assessments securely with a sort of protection system in the online environment.

In the present study, the application of the TAM on our participants revealed that a higher percentage of the respondents agreed with the perceived usefulness of e-learning which means that university medical staff accepts that e-learning is valuable in improving and progressing the teaching and learning process. Meanwhile, prior research by Poon et al. [ 24 ] reported that their participants at several local universities were not fully comfortable with e-learning as a tool for teaching and attributed this perception to many factors as technological challenges, difficult interactions and discussions with students, lack of adequate internet connectivity and personal learning preference [ 25 ].

Inconsistent with Choreki [ 26 ], our survey findings bring to light that most of the respondents agreed on the ease of use of e-learning which means that medical staff assesses e-learning systems implemented by being profoundly simple to use and operate. This could be attributed to the fact that our college was recently started their new blended learning program (i.e. the combination of e-learning technology with the traditional face-to-face teaching) short times before the COVID-19 pandemic with intensive training for all staff members on the online courses, planning and designing the teaching materials before its formal application for students.

In our college, both synchronous (live or in real-time) and asynchronous (recorded or self-paced) e-learning strategies were implemented through learning management systems (LMS) with their applications (e.g. Zoom and Microsoft Teams). Synchronous e-learning was offered in the form of interactive teaching and clinical case discussions in small and large group formats. Asynchronous e-learning included preparation of course materials for students in advance of students’ access (e.g. recorded lectures, supportive videos, external links for recommended websites, and additional resources such as electronic books). These enhance the staff adoption of the new technology and its integration into their teaching activities [ 19 ].

This study showed that the e-learning system was implemented with a high acceptance level. Several studies were done in different countries [ 27 – 29 ] reported that the user adoption and acceptance of e-learning were influenced by a diverse individual (e.g. readiness to use e-learning), social (e.g. interpersonal and instructor influence), and organizational (e.g. technological facilities, financial and infrastructure) factors within a specific culture, in addition to the perceived benefit and ease of use of e-learning systems.

Studying the barriers of e-learning as reported by our survey revealed that reported insufficient/ unstable internet connectivity, inadequate computer labs, lack of computers/ laptops, and technical problems were the highest challenge for adapting to e-learning. In alignment with these findings, recent research by Nguyen et al. [ 30 ] demonstrated that the main obstacles to e-learning are based on several stakeholder perspectives of infrastructure, technology, management, support, execution, and pedagogical aspects. Likewise, another study illustrated that e-learning tools should meet the users’ requirements to gain their trust and improve their acceptance of e-learning [ 31 ]. Additional study classified e-learning barriers into learners, teachers, curriculum, organizational and structural factors that need more collaboration for their solutions [ 32 ].

As regards the factors predicting the acceptance of e-learning, the logistic regression analysis showed that age under 40 years, teaching experience less than 10 years, and male gender are the most important indicators affecting e-learning acceptance. This could be clarified by the reality that younger staff already using technology in general than older, which would increase their abilities, willingness, and acceptance to use other e-learning technology. Furthermore, this result is in agreement with Fischer et al. [ 33 ] who stated that older staff with long traditional teaching experience usually has limited interaction with technology and lacking the development of their necessary skills.

Adamus et al. [ 34 ], reported women’s preference for accepting e-learning than men’s. In contrast, past studies showed unfavorable differences for women due to mental overload, stress, and difficulties with work-life balance [ 35 , 36 ].

Meanwhile, other studies reported scarce differences between males and females in their use of e-learning, their motivation, and satisfaction [ 37 ]. The reason for this difference may be related to different gender representation in the studies.

Limitation of the study

This study has some potential limitations. Being a cross-sectional study, the participants’ perceptions may change over time. Therefore, a further longitudinal study is required to enhance the understanding of determinants that are critical to the adoption of e-learning systems in our community. Also, the present study was conducted in one medical college. So, in the future, additional studies need to be done using subjects from other universities to assess the adoption and acceptance of e-learning in higher educational institutes.

Conclusions

e-learning was underutilized in the past, especially in developing countries. However, the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic enforced the entire world to rely on it for education.

In the current study, the majority of participants strongly agreed with the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and acceptance of e-learning. The highest challenge for accepting e-learning were insufficient/ unstable internet connectivity, inadequate computer labs, lack of computers/ laptops, and technical problems. The significant indicators affecting e-learning acceptance were age under 40 years, teaching experience less than 10 years, and male gender. This study highlights the challenges and factors affecting the acceptance of e-learning as a tool for teaching within higher education, in developing countries and may lead to strategic development and implementation of e-learning and view technology as a positive step towards evolution and change.

Supporting information

S1 dataset..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248758.s001

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge all the medical staff members who participated in and contributed samples to the study for their cooperation and help in facilitating data collection.

• 1. WHO: Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports . [Last assessed on 2020 Aug 14].
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• 8. Sampsize. Sample size for a prevalence survey, with finite population correction. Available at http://sampsize.sourceforge.net/iface/#prev accessed 7/4/2018.
• 17. Kleiman G. Myths and Realities About technology in K-12 Schools. LNT Perspectives. The Online Journal of the Leadership and the New Technologies Community. 2000. Retrieved April 25, 2004 from: http://www.edc.org/LNT/NewsIssue14/feature1.htm
• 21. Horner S, Classick R, Warren H, Durbin B. A Study on Teaching and Electronic Assessment Methodologies for the KFIT Project in Rwanda. National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), UNESCO. 2018: 1–31.
• 22. Hannafin M, Oliver K, Hill J. R, Glazer E, Sharma P. Cognitive and learning factors in web-based distance learning environments. In M. G. Moore & W. G. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook of distance education (pp. 245–260). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 2003.
• 34. Adamus T, Kerres M, Getto B, Engelhardt N. Gender and e-tutoring–A concept for gender sensitive e-tutor training programs. In 5th European symposium on gender and ICT digital cultures: Participation–Empowerment–Diversity. 2009; pp. 5–7.‏ Available at: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/soteg/gict2009/proceedings/GICT2009_Adamus.pdf [Accessed: 31 July 2009]

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Argumentative Essay: Online Learning and Educational Access

Conventional learning is evolving with the help of computers and online technology. New ways of learning are now available, and improved access is one of the most important benefits available. People all around the world are experiencing improved mobility as a result of the freedom and potential that online learning provides, and as academic institutions and learning organisations adopt online learning technologies and remote-access learning, formal academic education is becoming increasingly legitimate. This essay argues the contemporary benefits of online learning, and that these benefits significantly outweigh the issues, challenges and disadvantages of online learning.

Online learning is giving people new choices and newfound flexibility with their personal learning and development. Whereas before, formal academic qualifications could only be gained by participating in a full time course on site, the internet has allowed institutions to expand their reach and offer recognized courses on a contact-partial, or totally virtual, basis. Institutions can do so with relatively few extra resources, and for paid courses this constitutes excellent value, and the student benefits with greater educational access and greater flexibility to learn and get qualified even when there lots of other personal commitments to deal with.

Flexibility is certainly one of the most important benefits, but just as important is educational access. On top of the internet’s widespread presence in developed countries, the internet is becoming increasingly available in newly developed and developing countries. Even without considering the general informational exposure that the internet delivers, online academic courses and learning initiatives are becoming more aware of the needs of people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and this means that people from such backgrounds are in a much better position to learn and progress than they used to be.

The biggest argument that raises doubt over online learning is the quality of online courses in comparison to conventional courses. Are such online courses good enough for employers to take notice? The second biggest argument is the current reality that faces many people from disadvantaged backgrounds, despite the improvements made in this area in recent years – they do not have the level of basic access needed to benefit from online learning. In fact, there are numerous sources of evidence that claim disadvantaged students are not receiving anywhere near the sort of benefits that online learning institutions and promoters are trying to instigate. Currently there are many organisations, campaigns and initiatives that are working to expand access to higher education. With such high participation, it can be argued that it is only a matter of time before the benefits are truly realised, but what about the global online infrastructure?

There is another argument that is very difficult to dispel, and that is the response of different types of students to the online learning paradigm. Evidence shows that there are certain groups of students that benefit from college distance learning much more than other groups. In essence, students must be highly motivated and highly disciplined if they are to learn effectively in their own private environment.

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Learning Experience Design - The Most Valuable Lessons

This article, the one that you are reading, is part of a learning experience. Learning experiences aren’t a matter of classroom delivery – they are any interaction with a user/customer/individual in which the person is going to learn something (which we hope you will in this article).

Products contain a vast array of potential learning experiences from learning the interface, how best to interact with the product, to information provided and through help and support and onboarding too. That means many UX designers are going to get involved in designing learning experiences throughout their careers. The term “ learning experience design ” may have been coined by Connie Malamed, a learning experience designer, in 2015.

Angus T Jones, the American Actor, said; “everything is a learning experience” and that means learning experience designers have unlimited potential in the real world.

It can really help to see learning experiences as something that happen everywhere and not just in a formal classroom situation.

What Problem Does a Learning Experience Seek to Solve?

A designer, at heart, is a problem solver. Without a problem to solve, a design is of very low value (though it may be aesthetically pleasing all the same). Learning design attempts to solve one or more of 5 types of problem for the learner:

A lack of knowledge. It’s hard to do something if you don’t know what it is you’re meant to do or you fail to understand what might be involved in doing something.

A lack of skill. I may know how to drive a car but if I lack the practice of driving – you don’t want me to drive you to the shops. Skill is the practical application of knowledge.

A lack of confidence . Everyone knows how to speak in public and everyone has the skill to do it – all you need is a voice. Yet, a lot of people struggle to speak publicly (only spiders are more terrifying in fact) because they lack the confidence to do so.

A lack of motivation . You can have all the knowledge, skill and confidence in the world but if you don’t want to do something – it’s unlikely to get done.

A lack of resource or tools. You can’t, for the moment at least, drive a car with no steering wheel. Sometimes the learning is aimed at fixing a problem that exists preventing a motivated, knowledgeable, skilled and confident person from doing what they want to do.

Trying to solve a lack of motivation is incredibly challenging. It may be better to review the user experience than tackle this through learning experience design .

Designing a Learning Experience

The easiest way to design a learning experience is to work backwards from the desired outcome. What do you want someone to be able to do? What will the outcome of them doing that be?

This forms the basis of your requirements for the learning experience. You can then work backwards to ask:

What does someone need to know in order to be able to do this?

What do they need to be able to do in order to complete this?

What equipment or resources must they have in order to deliver the objective?

In general, it is difficult (if not impossible) to address motivation through digital learning and it is assumed that confidence will come through practice.

From there you can begin to decide two things – what content you will need and how you will structure that content.

The Content of Learning Experiences

The content of a learning experience aims to provide the things that your user needs in order to be able to do a task. The structure of your content reflects the most logical order in which the content should be presented to support the completion of a task.

For example; if you wanted to teach someone to park a car. You would need to teach them how to use their mirrors, the gas and brake pedals, the gear stick (to find reverse), how to maneuver the car and what to take into account while doing so. You might also, in a manual transmission, have to teach them about the clutch.

It is pretty clear that you don’t want to teach maneuvering first because if the user doesn’t know how to change gear or move the car with the pedals… they aren’t going to be able to relate to how to maneuver a car.

Your original answers to the three questions above will tell you what content you need. The structure of that content (e.g. the order in which it is delivered) should be based around what needs doing 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd, etc. to get from a start point to an end point.

Learning experiences require processes. Even when the car has no driver. Teaching Google’s driverless car how to drive will have been an incredible task to conduct.

Types of Content – Learning Interaction

Once you have content and you have structure you can start to examine how to deliver that content. Will you use video, audio, or text? Will it require a practical component? (Learning to drive for example cannot be taught with videos, audio or text though the concepts of driving can be – if you want someone to be able to drive, they need to get into a vehicle and drive it).

There are two key considerations to take into account here:

The more varied the learning methods are – the more likely they are to be engaging (too much video or too much text dependence, for example, can destroy a learning experience)

The learning methods should be appropriate for the outcome – don’t choose a video if only practice is going to get the learner to where they want to be

The use of multiple learning methods is usually referred to as “blended learning” and as you can see from the graphic above; there are many options for this.

Content Consistency – Learning Branding

The final consideration is the branding element – how will you ensure that your content looks, feels, sounds and reads in a similar way? There’s a reason that schools don’t swap teachers every 15 minutes in a lesson… the change of voice would distract you from the learning experience itself.

Great learning experiences don’t just provide the learning – they also provide a single continuous look, feel, etc. that complements the learning and doesn’t distract the learner from learning.

The Take Away

Designing learning experiences is a vast topic and the guidelines above are aimed at getting you to think about the high-level components of learning experience design. They are certainly not going to prepare you for every aspect of learning design. However, many of your existing UX skills can be applied to learning experience design from research to testing – learning is a product with a specific set of objectives and can be designed by UX designers as much as any other product.

Want to know the difference between instructional design and learning experience design – find out here .

Find out how learning experiences contrast and fit with user experiences here .

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My Online Learning Experience Essay Example

Although online school has flexibility and benefits, in- person school is more beneficial because there is increased teacher communication, students perform better at school, and it is more active and involved. 

Some people mention that online school has various benefits and flexibility. Citing the article, 5 Key Benefits of Online High School by ICON, it says, “Online education provides an unparalleled flexibility that allows for a customized experience. With self-directed learning and no mandatory live classes, you can play to your strengths.” Online school allows students to learn freely, without any pressure from in- person school and teachers. Students can learn at the comfort of their home, which most likely could make school more enjoyable and relaxing. According to the same article written by ICON they say, “For some students, a traditional school can be incredibly uncomfortable, sparking social anxiety, behavioral problems, and mental health issues. Why not remove the barriers and keep the educational content with online classes?” When kids are at risk of developing a mental illness because of in- person school, online school is a great way to avoid any possibilities of mental illness. Online school can help students become more comfortable with handling school and staying out of harm’s way from mental illness. Online school also provides more comfort and stability while being at home in their own alleviation. However online school has many benefits, in-person school allows more opportunities. 

Even though online school has some positives, in-person school involves more teacher communication and association. According to the College Times, Miranda Cyr quotes, “’It’s much easier to form a relationship with the professor,” Nardizzi says. “Online, I usually don’t get to know my professor or only correspond with them via email so it doesn’t feel like a real relationship, especially as a lot of teachers can be great resources or future references.’” When in in-person school, students always need assistance and help. For online school, students and teachers are communicating through email, it is certainly more difficult to have a good relationship. In the Article, My College Guide, it explains, “Online learning can’t adequately replicate the relationship and human experience that develops in a face-to-face learning environment. When a professor is physically in front of you, you can read his or her body language, mannerisms, gestures, tone, volume and so on. These things help you to interpret and recall the information being presented. You are also able to engage in natural, spontaneous conversations with classmates that can enrich the learning experience.” When there is a teacher always there to help and assist students with assignments, tests, etc., it is more comforting to know that there is always help around. The stress and pressure to do things independently can get overwhelming, and it’s remarkably more suitable to have help near. In- person school can help kids have a better relationship with teachers, helping them accomplish more. 

Next, students perform and accomplish more in in-person school. To speak from experience, I had to do online school for the last term of my 8th grade school year. At the beginning, I enjoyed not having to follow the same schedule every day. It was nice to sleep in and do schoolwork in my pj’s and in my bed. However, after a few weeks I started to fall behind, and I would procrastinate all my assignments because I had “so much time”. This was not the case, however. Because of all of the procrastination and delay, I was so stressed due to all the work I had to get done in a period of time. I did well in the end, but this story does show how easy it is to fall behind and not be able to catch up. It was way too easy to procrastinate. In the article, How Effective is Online Learning? What the Research Does and Doesn’t Tell Us by Susanna Loeb, she explains, “It is not surprising that in-person courses are, on average, more effective. Being in person with teachers and other students creates social pressures and benefits that can help motivate students to engage.” When students aren’t interested and engaged to learn, it is harder for them to perform well. Being at home makes it too easy to put work aside and procrastinate. 

Lastly, in-person school is more active and involved. There are many things that go on at in-person school including, sports, clubs, student government, etc. Online school stops students from having the crucial social life the true high school, college, and elementary school experience. According to the College Times they reason, “I prefer in-person classes mainly because of the more hands-on learning approach that I think in-person classes have,” Nardizzi says. “It’s much easier to be distant and detached from the course, your classmates and the professor in an online class.” In-person courses hold the student accountable for remaining active and alert during class time.” In-person school helps students be aware of their priorities and duties. When at school, students are more present and engaged in the classroom. In the article USA Today, Erin Richards tells a story about a girl named Ruby Rodriguez. She says, “Virtual learning might be keeping Ruby, 14, and her family safer during a public health crisis. But it has made it exponentially harder for her to stay motivated and learn. Her online classes are lecture-heavy, repetitive and devoid of student conversation.” Online school is filled with repetitive days and lack of attention to do schoolwork. Being at school helps students stay more alert to their tasks to be more involved in school. 

To conclude, in- person school is more beneficial because there is increased teacher communication, students perform better at school, and it is more active and involved. Face to face school is crucial for college students, elementary students, and high school students to be successful. School is more enjoyable when students can be social and can be with each other on a day to day basis. In-person school helps students grow, become better and obtain knowledge.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how 

With schools shut across the world, millions of children have had to adapt to new types of learning. Image:  REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

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Farah lalani.

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Stay up to date:, education, gender and work.

• The COVID-19 has resulted in schools shut all across the world. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom.
• As a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms.
• Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay.

While countries are at different points in their COVID-19 infection rates, worldwide there are currently more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries affected by school closures due to the pandemic. In Denmark, children up to the age of 11 are returning to nurseries and schools after initially closing on 12 March , but in South Korea students are responding to roll calls from their teachers online .

With this sudden shift away from the classroom in many parts of the globe, some are wondering whether the adoption of online learning will continue to persist post-pandemic, and how such a shift would impact the worldwide education market.

Even before COVID-19, there was already high growth and adoption in education technology, with global edtech investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025 . Whether it is language apps , virtual tutoring , video conferencing tools, or online learning software , there has been a significant surge in usage since COVID-19.

How is the education sector responding to COVID-19?

In response to significant demand, many online learning platforms are offering free access to their services, including platforms like BYJU’S , a Bangalore-based educational technology and online tutoring firm founded in 2011, which is now the world’s most highly valued edtech company . Since announcing free live classes on its Think and Learn app, BYJU’s has seen a 200% increase in the number of new students using its product, according to Mrinal Mohit, the company's Chief Operating Officer.

Tencent classroom, meanwhile, has been used extensively since mid-February after the Chinese government instructed a quarter of a billion full-time students to resume their studies through online platforms. This resulted in the largest “online movement” in the history of education with approximately 730,000 , or 81% of K-12 students, attending classes via the Tencent K-12 Online School in Wuhan.

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Other companies are bolstering capabilities to provide a one-stop shop for teachers and students. For example, Lark, a Singapore-based collaboration suite initially developed by ByteDance as an internal tool to meet its own exponential growth, began offering teachers and students unlimited video conferencing time, auto-translation capabilities, real-time co-editing of project work, and smart calendar scheduling, amongst other features. To do so quickly and in a time of crisis, Lark ramped up its global server infrastructure and engineering capabilities to ensure reliable connectivity.

Alibaba’s distance learning solution, DingTalk, had to prepare for a similar influx: “To support large-scale remote work, the platform tapped Alibaba Cloud to deploy more than 100,000 new cloud servers in just two hours last month – setting a new record for rapid capacity expansion,” according to DingTalk CEO, Chen Hang.

Some school districts are forming unique partnerships, like the one between The Los Angeles Unified School District and PBS SoCal/KCET to offer local educational broadcasts, with separate channels focused on different ages, and a range of digital options. Media organizations such as the BBC are also powering virtual learning; Bitesize Daily , launched on 20 April, is offering 14 weeks of curriculum-based learning for kids across the UK with celebrities like Manchester City footballer Sergio Aguero teaching some of the content.

What does this mean for the future of learning?

While some believe that the unplanned and rapid move to online learning – with no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation – will result in a poor user experience that is unconducive to sustained growth, others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge, with significant benefits. “I believe that the integration of information technology in education will be further accelerated and that online education will eventually become an integral component of school education,“ says Wang Tao, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Vice President of Tencent Education.

There have already been successful transitions amongst many universities. For example, Zhejiang University managed to get more than 5,000 courses online just two weeks into the transition using “DingTalk ZJU”. The Imperial College London started offering a course on the science of coronavirus, which is now the most enrolled class launched in 2020 on Coursera .

Many are already touting the benefits: Dr Amjad, a Professor at The University of Jordan who has been using Lark to teach his students says, “It has changed the way of teaching. It enables me to reach out to my students more efficiently and effectively through chat groups, video meetings, voting and also document sharing, especially during this pandemic. My students also find it is easier to communicate on Lark. I will stick to Lark even after coronavirus, I believe traditional offline learning and e-learning can go hand by hand."

These 3 charts show the global growth in online learning

The challenges of online learning.

There are, however, challenges to overcome. Some students without reliable internet access and/or technology struggle to participate in digital learning; this gap is seen across countries and between income brackets within countries. For example, whilst 95% of students in Switzerland, Norway, and Austria have a computer to use for their schoolwork, only 34% in Indonesia do, according to OECD data .

In the US, there is a significant gap between those from privileged and disadvantaged backgrounds: whilst virtually all 15-year-olds from a privileged background said they had a computer to work on, nearly 25% of those from disadvantaged backgrounds did not. While some schools and governments have been providing digital equipment to students in need, such as in New South Wales , Australia, many are still concerned that the pandemic will widenthe digital divide .

Is learning online as effective?

For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.

Nevertheless, the effectiveness of online learning varies amongst age groups. The general consensus on children, especially younger ones, is that a structured environment is required , because kids are more easily distracted. To get the full benefit of online learning, there needs to be a concerted effort to provide this structure and go beyond replicating a physical class/lecture through video capabilities, instead, using a range of collaboration tools and engagement methods that promote “inclusion, personalization and intelligence”, according to Dowson Tong, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and President of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group.

Since studies have shown that children extensively use their senses to learn, making learning fun and effective through use of technology is crucial, according to BYJU's Mrinal Mohit. “Over a period, we have observed that clever integration of games has demonstrated higher engagement and increased motivation towards learning especially among younger students, making them truly fall in love with learning”, he says.

A changing education imperative

It is clear that this pandemic has utterly disrupted an education system that many assert was already losing its relevance . In his book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century , scholar Yuval Noah Harari outlines how schools continue to focus on traditional academic skills and rote learning , rather than on skills such as critical thinking and adaptability, which will be more important for success in the future. Could the move to online learning be the catalyst to create a new, more effective method of educating students? While some worry that the hasty nature of the transition online may have hindered this goal, others plan to make e-learning part of their ‘new normal’ after experiencing the benefits first-hand.

The importance of disseminating knowledge is highlighted through COVID-19

Major world events are often an inflection point for rapid innovation – a clear example is the rise of e-commerce post-SARS . While we have yet to see whether this will apply to e-learning post-COVID-19, it is one of the few sectors where investment has not dried up . What has been made clear through this pandemic is the importance of disseminating knowledge across borders, companies, and all parts of society. If online learning technology can play a role here, it is incumbent upon all of us to explore its full potential.

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Essay on E Learning

Students are often asked to write an essay on E Learning in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on E Learning

What is e learning.

E Learning is a way of learning using digital tools. It’s like a classroom, but online. You can use a computer, tablet, or phone to learn. It can be done anytime, anywhere. You don’t have to be in a school building.

Benefits of E Learning

E Learning has many benefits. You can learn at your own pace. You don’t have to rush or wait for others. It’s flexible. You can learn when it suits you. It can also be fun. Many online courses use games and videos to make learning more enjoyable.

Challenges of E Learning

E Learning can also be challenging. Not everyone has a computer or internet. Some people find it hard to stay motivated. It can also be lonely without classmates. But there are ways to overcome these challenges.

The Future of E Learning

E Learning is likely to grow in the future. More schools and universities are offering online courses. More people are learning new skills online. It’s a new way of learning that’s here to stay. It’s changing how we learn and teach.

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250 Words Essay on E Learning

E Learning, or electronic learning, is a way of studying using digital resources. It’s like having a classroom on your computer, tablet, or phone! You can learn from anywhere, at any time. It’s a great way to make learning fun and flexible.

E Learning has many benefits. It lets you learn at your own pace, which means you can spend more time on tough topics and breeze through the ones you find easy. It also saves time and money as you don’t need to travel to a school or buy lots of books. Plus, it’s eco-friendly as it reduces the need for paper and other physical resources.

How Does E Learning Work?

E Learning usually involves a mix of videos, readings, quizzes, and interactive activities. You can often talk to your teachers and classmates online, just like you would in a normal school. Some courses even give you a certificate when you finish!

Despite its benefits, E Learning can also be challenging. It requires self-discipline and good time management skills. Sometimes, you might miss the face-to-face interaction you get in a traditional classroom. But with the right mindset and support, these challenges can be overcome.

E Learning is growing fast and is likely to play a big part in the future of education. It can make learning more accessible and personalized. As technology continues to improve, E Learning will only get better!

In conclusion, E Learning is a flexible, cost-effective, and eco-friendly way to learn. It may have some challenges, but its benefits make it a great choice for many students.

500 Words Essay on E Learning

E Learning, or electronic learning, is a type of education where students use computers or other electronic devices to learn. This can happen anywhere and at any time, as long as there is an internet connection. It’s like having a classroom in your pocket! E Learning includes online courses, virtual classrooms, and digital resources.

E Learning has many benefits. First, it is flexible. You can learn at your own pace, whenever and wherever you want. This is great for students who have other responsibilities, like sports or part-time jobs.

Second, E Learning can be personalized. This means that the learning materials can be adjusted to meet your needs. If you find something hard, you can spend more time on it. If you find something easy, you can move on quickly.

Third, E Learning can be interactive. Many online courses use videos, quizzes, and games to make learning fun and engaging. This can help students to remember what they have learned.

Despite its benefits, E Learning also has some challenges. For example, not everyone has access to a computer or the internet. This can make E Learning difficult for some students.

Another challenge is motivation. Without a teacher to encourage you, it can be hard to stay focused and complete your work.

Lastly, E Learning can sometimes feel lonely. Without classmates to talk to, some students may miss the social aspect of learning.

Future of E Learning

The future of E Learning looks bright. More and more schools are using technology in the classroom. There are also more online courses available than ever before.

In the future, we might see more use of virtual reality in E Learning. This could make learning even more interactive and fun.

Despite the challenges, E Learning has the potential to make education more accessible and personalized for all students.

In conclusion, E Learning is a flexible and interactive way to learn. It has many benefits, but also some challenges. As technology continues to improve, E Learning is likely to become an even more important part of education in the future.

Remember, the key to successful E Learning is to stay motivated and make the most of the digital tools available. Happy learning!

(Word count: 500)

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What Are the Advantages and Potential Challenges of E-Learning?

E-learning is kind of a big deal—and it’s getting more popular every day. Roughly 80 percent of organizations use some form of online training and 30 percent of all corporate training is e-learning . But when it comes to getting organizational buy-in for e-learning, many folks are challenged to aptly explain the clear advantages and address the potential disadvantages posed by e-learning.

Whether you’re an instructor looking for ways to supplement your in-class training or an e-learning professional looking to present the pros and cons of e-learning to your client or boss, this article will help you get the whole picture.

Advantages of E-Learning

Let’s start by looking at the main benefits of e-learning.

• Lower costs. When corporations replace instructor-based training with e-learning, they save big. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see a cost savings of anywhere from 35 percent to 60 percent . Where does this cost savings come from? Decreased travel and material costs are a big part of it, but that’s not all. Thanks to e-learning, trainers can build a course once and use it over and over again. This means they can focus their efforts on creating new training courses, resulting in increased productivity. Not to mention that employees spend less time traveling, so they have more time to concentrate on doing the actual work.
• Faster delivery. Organizing training sessions can be time-consuming and expensive—especially if your employees are scattered around the country or the world. With e-learning, employees can get the training they need, when they need it. And the sooner your employees learn new skills, the sooner your organization will reap the benefits!
• Increased reach. The world is moving faster than ever. Employees expect their training to be mobile, just like they are. Thanks to responsive course development apps like Rise , it’s super easy to create courses that learners can access no matter where they are—or what device they’re using.
• Personalized training experience. One of the hardest things about face-to-face instruction is that you have to adapt your course for learners coming from a variety of backgrounds. With e-learning, learners can advance at their own pace. You can even build different learning paths into your course, providing learners with a more personalized experience.
• Eco-friendly. Reduced travel means reduced CO2 emissions! That’s something you and your learners can feel good about.

Potential Challenges of E-Learning

Like any other training solution, e-learning does have some potential challenges. However, if you’re aware of them, you can avoid them.

• Motivation. Some people contend that employees have to be extremely motivated to get something out of online training. I would argue that the same is true for in-class training. Just because you’re in the room doesn’t mean you’re learning. As e-learning course developers, it’s our job to make our courses engaging to ensure our learners pay attention and soak up the information.
• Less face-to-face interaction. One thing people worry about with e-learning is isolation. Won’t learners miss out on discussions with peers? How will learners ask questions? There are many ways to counteract this potential for isolation, for example, by recreating the social aspect of training online, via discussion boards or instant messaging, or by supplementing e-learning courses with in-class sessions.
• Access to technology. By definition, e-learning requires learners to access courses using some sort of technology. If they don’t have the device or Internet connection required, they won’t be able to take the course. The best way to avoid this kind of problem is to identify the learner environment prior to development.

This is not an exhaustive list, so to learn more, check out this great infographic about what people love and hate about e-learning or this article on why e-learning is so effective . Convinced e-learning is right for you, but your boss and coworkers are still on the fence? Learn how to make the case for e-learning in this article and how to convince the “higher-ups” that e-learning software is a worthy investment .

What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of e-learning? Do you have experience making the case for e-learning in your organization? Please share what you learned by leaving a comment below!

Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.

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Essay on e-learning: meaning, uses and advantages.

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After reading this essay you will learn about E-Learning:- 1. Meaning of  E-Learning 2. Soft Skills and Personality Development through E-Learning 3. Advantages.

• Advantages of E-Learning

Essay # 1. Meaning of  E-Learning:

E-learning refers to all electronic learning through systems that are used as part of the learning system. Let us discuss some examples of e-learning.

Digital Classrooms :

This refers to ‘smart-classrooms’ equipped with several digital learning aids. These aids could include smart-boards, high lumen LED projectors, and interface of educational appliances with physical sensors (to sense physical systems such as motion, pressure, touch, etc.).

Satellite Education :

Here an instructor in one location can impart lessons over an education satellite (such as Edusat) to thousands of students across multiple locations. This can also be done in a bidirectional mode—with students being able to address their questions to the instructor over the satellite system.

Web-based Learning or Internet-based Training (IBT) and Computer-based Training (CBT) :

This is based on course material accessible over the web, or through hundreds of DVDs on a wide variety of subjects. Video conferencing systems, telepresence systems, IP-based video phone: These systems are becoming increasingly popular in the corporate world today.

With full high-definition technology available in advanced telepresence systems (compared to traditional video conferencing systems), one can interact with global experts thousands of miles away with an experience that mimics being co-located.

The latency or time lag in both video and audio is so low, and video/image quality is so superior that one is left to wonder if the person is truly so far across the world! It truly gives the experience of speaking and interacting with a person across the table!

A less-expensive (and naturally less life-like experience) version of such a system can also be achieved through IP-based Video Telephony. While the display here is much smaller than a Telepresence system, it serves the purpose in most companies that require large scale deployment to employees around the world.

Essay # 2. Soft Skills and Personality Development through E-Learning :

Soft skills and personality traits can be enhanced through the language laboratory where one can use self-improvement methods to j observe oneself and improve continuously. E-learning systems can also be used for soft skills and personality j development (in addition to developing one’s hard skills or domain knowledge).

A large number of Internet-/computer-based training material are available today on communication skills, listening skills, body language, job interviews, group discussions, etc.

Essay # 3. Advantages of E-Learning :

E-learning has several benefits as follows:

(i) Flexible, On-Demand Learning:

The biggest advantage of e-learning is access to on-demand courses. Many a time one requires access to certain learning material. E-learning provides an abundance of such material (for enhancing both hard domain skills and soft skills) that can be accessed year-long at any time of the day or night.

There is no rigidity of a fixed curriculum, no need to go through multiple sequences to gain access to the point of need. Programmes can also be paced or paused, based on availability.

(ii) Privacy of Learning :

Some people feel intimidated by presence of peers during the learning process. If they do not understand certain sections of a course, they feel awkward to ask these questions in public. E-learning obviates this issue. Learning is a private experience. A section or an entire course can be repeated as many times as needed. Questions to an ‘instructor’ can be asked one-on-one through an on-line query-response system.

(iii) Increased Access :

E-learning brings the world to one’s finger-tips! It is possible to easily access the best global experts through the electronic medium. Similarly an expert can reach thousands of students over the Internet or over a Satellite system. The learning experience is also of higher quality. It is enhanced through the use of audio, video, and graphics and imaging aids. This multimedia experience greatly augments the quality of learning.

(iv) Lower Cost :

Well-architected e-learning systems typically cost lower than traditional systems, if the right scale is achieved. This is because it leads to savings in terms of travel, time and distribution of content, etc.

Acceptance by Employees for Personal Development :

Acceptance of e-learning systems is typically very high in the corporate world for one’s personal development. This is because it allows one to follow- through on their Individual Development Plans in a focussed manner.

Finally it must be noted that while e-learning systems have many advantages, it has the disadvantage of not having an instructor to personally be present to facilitate the learning. Hence it is not the best medium where queries need to be not just answered, but deliberated at length with multiple opinions and pros and cons needing to be discussed.

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Essay: Advantages and disadvantages of e-learning

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Nowadays, more and more universities use technology as a means to communicate and study efficiently. Many university teachers use technological devices to communicate with their students, give them quizzes, assignments, grade them and so on. With the age of the Corona virus, it has caused schools to be closed all around the world. “Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing lockdowns and social distancing, e-learning has become a vital tool to ensure the continuity of learning and education” (Mukherjee, 2020). “Education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms” (Li and Farah, 2020). By that it means that with the unmistakable ascent of e-learning, students now have to study online. “Online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay” (Li and Farah, 2020). With online learning , it is a way faster way to remember information. The purpose of this essay is to determine the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning and how we use technology to heighten learning and enrich the student experience?

“Some studies have suggested a positive impact of these devices on student learning, including increased motivation, collaboration, productivity and engagement, among others” (Carcelén and Montserrat, 2019). By that it means that students can feel more at ease to communicate through their phone rather than having face-to face conversation, and productivity can rise up as many students nowadays prefer to write their notes on their laptops/tablets rather than on a notebook. “Students are able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose” (Li and Farah, 2020). With e-learning students can record to watch and listen to lessons as many as they want. With online learning , students can study in their own time. Each student has different pace of learning thus increasing their effectiveness. It can help them emotionally if one student is feeling overwhelmed, to develop their relationship with other classmates/professors, and easy access to information online.

“E-learning is cost effective” (Arkorful and Nelly, 35). The reason is because students do not need to pay for transportation cost. And also, it can compensate for the lack of teachers as it enables more students to take part. “Through discussion boards and chats, you are able to interact with everyone online and also clear your doubts if any” (Clover 2017). If students have any problems in understanding they can easily ask questions through the chats. This is a great advantage for people who are shy to ask questions. Students have the ability to participate in their chosen degree from any place, location which facilitates people who have relocated or people which are abroad (Arkoful and Nelly, 35). During covid-19 many students have returned back to their home country.

Although E-learning has many advantages, it also has its disadvantages. “Some students without reliable internet access and/or technology struggle to participate in digital learning” (Li and Farah, 2020). This means that not everyone has access to the same resources. One of the biggest challenges about e-leaning is about equity between other students. Some students cannot afford to have a laptop/phone to take their notes online and this can discourage them to study. It might increase a further “inequality between the students with access to more advanced tools with faster speeds and the newest applications and those in lesser situations.” (Technical.ly, 2013). This means that some students may have lower internet bandwidth or no internet access or even do not have access to technology. “E-learning may also be subject to piracy, plagiarism, cheating, inadequate selection skills, and inappropriate use of copy and paste” (Arkoful and Nelly, 36). Students can easily cheat for their exam as all information is available to them online and there is no way to make sure they are not cheating. Students can easily plagiarize their assignment, homework or essays. Added to it, even accidental plagiarism is a major issue in most countries and these students can easily fail their course.

The success of online learning varies among age groups, research has found out that students are more easily distracted (Li and Lalani, 2020). Not only that students can easily distracted they might be addicted to their phone (Carcelén andd Montserrat, 201). Students are unable to multitask for example interacting with their mobile phones while studying, some studies have proved that it has relationship with this behaviour and poor academic grades (Carcelén and Montserrat, 202). By that it means that by using their phone while studying can lower their overall GPA. Felisoni and Godoi stated that “The user’s belief that he or she can efficiently pay attention to other activities such as absorb content from a lecture, complete homework or study while keeping the cell phone on standby and using it from time to time could be misleading, as students are more often tempted to game, check social medias and connect with colleagues” (187). Procrastination is also an issue here. University students tend to spend more hours on social media sites chatting, watching videos instead of doing their assignments, homework or studying. They usually do their homework on the eve or on the same day that the homework is due and therefore they might ask for a request for extensions and late submissions. This affect negatively their academic performances as their homework are either half-done or they might give a shoddy work. Felisoni and Godoi found in their researches that “Every additional 10 min spent [on average per day] using a cell phone device is related to a reduction in that student’s G-MNPS by 0.63 points” (185).

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5 Expert Tips to Elevate Your Elearning Programs

Anu Rummukainen, Acolad's elearning expert, shares key insights about online training in the age of AI.  

As many companies struggle to attract and retain people with the right skills, more and more emphasis is being placed on training and equipping existing staff.

Effectively onboarding, upskilling and ensuring regulatory compliance can depend on having quality elearning content.

The importance of such content is not going unmissed - IBM discovered that well-trained staff are much more likely to stay, complete projects effectively, and deliver about 10% more productivity. As AI is already revolutionizing our workplaces, it’s clear that the required skillsets are changing more rapidly than ever - and companies without effective training programs risk leaving that skills gap to grow.

Our Product Manager of Elearning Anu Rummukainen has extensive experience in crafting effective elearning experiences that can also easily be adapted to suit any language and culture.

We asked her to share some of her key insights into the latest trends and developments in elearning content creation - what impact AI is already having on creating elearning content, and how we should adapt content to make sure learning is as effective as possible.

Let’s take a look at what she had to say:

The Impact of AI on Elearning

"AI gives us new opportunities. It’s like a never-ending colleague to spar with. It gives you new ideas every time, it just keeps going. It’s just a great source of new ideas. When using it for visual creation it can also give you some good laughs, with those 6-finger images. In efficiency, AI can help by doing easy repetitive tasks in a faster way than what you would normally manually do from scratch. At the moment - it’s mainly used for ideation.”

New Audiences Means Refining Delivery Formats

“What we have noticed lately is that as the workforce becomes younger, we see a difference in the way they consume content. They are very familiar with video formats that they know from Tik Tok and YouTube. Videos are getting also much shorter. Back in the day, we thought two minutes for instructions would be fine, but no - it is way too long. Also, courses are getting shorter. We are creating more microelements there. That is also due to the fact that employees are busy, things are changing a lot and they have less time for learning. So it’s more interesting to ask their attention for five minutes. And it’s better to have information in one place, than to ask them to read a whole guidebook.” 

Discover more about how we build quality learning experiences

Focus on engaging content to cut through.

“It must be attractive and at the right place at the right time. It must be interactive and engaging. Otherwise it’s just another piece of information that would get lost in the noise of the overwhelming media flow that we have at the moment. In the context of workplace learning it needs to be relevant, otherwise you don’t want to spend extra time on it.” 

Tailor Your Content to Fit Diverse Cultures

“Every time you are making content for elearning or any other type of format, you need to think about the target audience and the learner. It has to be inclusive and diverse, you have to think about the cultural aspects. For example, a Nordic-style piece of content cannot be used globally. 

“You also need to think about whether you want to subtitle videos. In some countries where people are used to seeing dubbed content, it’s better not to use subtitles. Because then the experience is not what it should be and you would lose the impact of the elearning.”

Combining Elearning with Localization

“We offer elearning creation from scratch, this is what we have done at Acolad in the Nordics, since decades. But what is unique  for us is that we combine the content creation with the localization expertise that we have to offer There are several steps to consider when creating easy-to-localize elearning content. Plan it from the beginning for a global audience, think about text expansion in layout, select the localizable media formats (video/voiceover)... Our long experience in the localization business makes the process smooth and not too costly.”

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What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.

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Top Five Pros and Cons of Learning Management Systems

Learning management systems (LMSs) have been creating quite a buzz lately. Everyone is talking about the different personalization features, pricing models, and user experiences of the various LMS software options. But do they really live up to the hype? The only way to know is by examining the pros and cons of learning management systems.

It can be hard to know exactly what to think when information is coming at you in all directions. It’s best to start with the basics. Learning management systems have pros and cons, just like anything else. How do you know when an LMS is right for your business? Well, weighing the pros and cons of learning management systems against your business’s needs can help you answer that.

We’ll cover:

What is an LMS?

• The top five pros of learning management systems
• The top five cons of learning management systems
• How to know if an LMS is right for you

Let’s go over what an LMS is before diving into the top five pros and cons of learning management systems.

An LMS is a software tool built to help businesses, educational institutions, and other organizations create, administer, and evaluate learning processes. They can be cloud-based, self-hosted, third-party hosted, or come in the form of a desktop and/or mobile app. Some incorporate elements of social learning like forums and leaderboards.

Different LMS platforms have different features. Finding the right one for your business can take time. However, the first step is using the pros and cons of learning management systems to decide if an LMS is the right solution for your business at all.  

Pros and cons of learning management systems for e-learning

Using a cloud-based LMS as an e-learning platform to create online courses for employee training programs is a great option. Corporate training can be difficult. Making engaging learning content and accommodating different learning styles can also be a challenge .

But a good LMS solution can make creating in-house learning materials easier. Features like gamification can really help with employee engagement and retention. However, an LMS isn’t right for everyone. It’s important to understand the pros and cons of learning management systems before deciding.

Top five benefits of learning management systems

An LMS system can do wonders for your business. This one software application can help in so many ways. Here are the top five benefits of using an LMS.

1. Keep all training content in one place

Businesses spend too much time going from one program or platform to another looking for training materials and documents. All too often, a company will have a mix of document types and formats in a variety of places.

They might use one tool for documents, another for spreadsheets, a third for images, a completely different stand-alone platform for webinars, and so on. This makes things hard to find and organize. Having one place to keep everything is a massive upgrade.

Using an LMS can streamline your workflows by creating one source of content. You can create a virtual classroom with all your company’s learning paths in one convenient place.

2. Guide learners through various online training types

A solid LMS can help you meet all your teams’ specific needs. You can have courses for onboarding, sales training, upskilling, reskilling, and so much more. You can create content that takes your employees from new hires to seasoned vets, all on one platform.

It also allows for the creation of different formats to help visual learners, auditory learners, and hands-on learners. You can create documents, e-books, webinars, quizzes, and whatever else you need to meet your training goals.

3. Online learning makes training more convenient

A user-friendly online learning platform can meet your training needs in ways traditional classrooms never could. Having a web-based LMS that allows employees to log into the user interface from anywhere at any time allows them to work on their schedule and at their own pace.

Some students learn just fine in large chunks. But many prefer small lessons so they can break up their training into microlearning bites . Many even have collaboration tools that make it easy to message colleagues for help or learn as a group.

4. Have assessments and gain insights

With quizzes, feedback forms, and powerful analytics tools, it’s easier than ever to assess employee knowledge, see how well your training materials work, and track progress. This provides insight into what courses are working and what needs some tweaks.

5. It provides continuous and scalable education

In today’s ever-evolving landscape, everything must be as dynamic as possible. As industry standards, product information, and compliance regulations change, your training needs to easily change with it. An LMS makes that possible.

As your business grows, your employees increase, and your needs expand, you need a platform that provides scalability. An LMS can do that with ease.

Top five shortcomings of learning management systems

While an LMS is a powerful tool to have in your belt, nothing is perfect. There are some aspects of having an LMS that can be more of a challenge . Some of these things might be dealbreakers for certain companies.

Just as every LMS has different features and benefits, the drawbacks don’t apply to them all, either. That’s why it’s so important to do your research to find the best LMS for your business.

1. It can take time to learn to use the platform

Any new kind of technology can have a learning curve. Working with a system you’re unfamiliar with always takes some getting used to. However, with an LMS, it can take time for the content creation team and admins to get used to the platform and then for employees to learn to use it effectively. That’s why finding a platform with a user-friendly interface and intuitive navigation is so important.

2. You must invest time and resources in initial educational content creation

Having all your employee training in one place is a wonderful thing. But first, all that learning content must be migrated, created, formatted, and organized into workable learning paths. How long this takes can depend on what content you already have and how easy the LMS you choose makes content creation and/or migration.

The training courses you create initially may not work. The analytics tools will help you identify what is working and what needs help. However, making coherent training programs that effectively teach employees what they need to know can take time and requires trial and error. Again, the right LMS platform will make this as easy as possible.

3. It sometimes requires high-level tech skills and coding knowledge

How user-friendly an LMS is will depend on what you choose to use. Every option has a different level of ease of use. Some do require a decent amount of technical knowledge. There are even those that require knowing how to code. This can be especially true with open-source LMS options.

This may not be an issue for large companies with a dedicated IT team. Smaller companies with more modest resources might want to pick the simplest drag-and-drop option that meets their needs. Integration with tools like a good content management system (CMS) can also help.

4. It can be hard to get all your desired features

Since every LMS has a different mix of features, benefits, and difficulties, every business must understand their needs and find the best LMS for their requirements . It isn’t always easy, though. You may have to rank your desired features by priority and go with whatever ticks the most boxes.

5. It requires an initial investment and may cost more over time

There are many pricing models that an LMS can use. Some work on a freemium model where the base software is free, but extra tools or capacity costs extra. This model often restricts many of the best features behind a paywall.

Other LMS options may operate on a subscription model that costs a certain amount every month or year. The price may vary depending on factors like the number of users you need to have access. Depending on the brand, this can be a very reasonable fee or quite expensive.

Some have licensing fees that may be one-time or annual. Depending on the cost of each option and how many users you need, some companies will find a one-time licensing fee much cheaper, while others prefer the price of the subscription options. When considering this, make sure you factor in the increase in cost if your business expands over time.

Is an LMS the right learning experience for you?

Since the pandemic, everyone has found ways to do things virtually. Businesses realized that having systems in place that only work in person is a liability these days. LMSs have become far more popular and necessary as a result.

However, just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. You should evaluate your needs and resources to determine when an LMS is a good option for your company. Hopefully, this exploration of the pros and cons of learning management systems has helped you decide if it’s the right tool for you.

Docebo is a versatile LMS made to empower businesses and employees. Con t act us to learn how we can help your business, or book a demo today!

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Developmental Disability Basics

What to know.

• Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas.
• These conditions begin during the child's developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person's lifetime.
• Most developmental disabilities begin before a baby is born, but some can happen after birth because of injury, infection, or other factors.

Causes and risk factors

Most developmental disabilities are thought to be caused by a complex mix of factors. These factors include genetics; parental health and behaviors (such as smoking and drinking) during pregnancy; complications during birth; infections the mother might have during pregnancy or the baby might have very early in life; and exposure of the mother or child to high levels of environmental toxins, such as lead. For some developmental disabilities, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, which is caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy, we know the cause. But for most, we don’t.

Following are some examples of what we know about specific developmental disabilities:

• At least 25% of hearing loss among babies is due to maternal infections during pregnancy, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection ; complications after birth; and head trauma.
• Some of the most common known causes of intellectual disability include fetal alcohol syndrome disorder ; genetic and chromosomal conditions, such as Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome ; and certain infections during pregnancy.
• Children who have a sibling with autism spectrum disorder are at a higher risk of also having autism spectrum disorder.
• Low birthweight , premature birth, multiple birth, and infections during pregnancy are associated with an increased risk for many developmental disabilities.
• Untreated newborn jaundice (high levels of bilirubin in the blood during the first few days after birth) can cause a type of brain damage known as kernicterus. Children with kernicterus are more likely to have cerebral palsy, hearing and vision problems, and problems with their teeth. Early detection and treatment of newborn jaundice can prevent kernicterus.

The Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) is a multiyear study funded by CDC. It is currently the largest study in the United States to help identify factors that may put children at risk for autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities.

Who is affected

Developmental disabilities occur among all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Recent estimates in the United States show that about 1 in 6, or about 17%, of children aged 3 through 17 years have one or more developmental disabilities, such as

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Cerebral palsy
• Hearing loss
• Fragile X syndrome
• Tourette syndrome
• and other developmental disabilities 1

For more than a decade, CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network has been tracking the number and characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability in several diverse communities throughout the United States.

Healthy living for people with disabilities

Children and adults with disabilities need health care and health programs for the same reasons anyone else does—to stay well, active, and a part of the community.

Having a disability does not mean a person is not healthy or that he or she cannot be healthy. Being healthy means the same thing for all of us—getting and staying well so we can lead full, active lives. That includes having the tools and information to make healthy choices and knowing how to prevent illness. Some health conditions, such as asthma, gastrointestinal symptoms, eczema and skin allergies, and migraine headaches, have been found to be more common among children with developmental disabilities. Thus, it is especially important for children with developmental disabilities to see a health care provider regularly.

CDC does not study education or treatment programs for people with developmental disabilities, nor does it provide direct services to people with developmental disabilities or to their families. However, CDC has put together a list of resources for people affected by developmental disabilities.

Don't Wait!‎

• Zablotsky B, Black LI, Maenner MJ, et.al. Prevalence and Trends of Developmental Disabilities among Children in the US: 2009–2017 . Pediatrics. 2019; 144(4):e20190811.

Child Development

The early years of a child’s life are very important for their health and development. Parents, health professionals, educators, and others can work together as partners to help children grow up to reach their full potential.

Describing Key SAP SuccessFactors Platform 1H 2024 Features and Enhancements

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

• Introduce Stay Certified Information
• Describe the new features and enhancements of SAP SuccessFactors Platform

Introduction to Stay Certified Information

Stay Certified information refers to the content that was formerly known as the Stay Current information or Delta information. Find all new features and enhancements for the release in the What's New Viewer on the SAP Help portal.

If you want more details on a topic, proceed as follows:

Navigate to the SAP SuccessFactors Release Information in the SAP Help portal ( https://help.sap.com/viewer/product/SAP_SUCCESSFACTORS_RELEASE_INFORMATION/ )

From the drop-down list to the right of the SAP SuccessFactors Release Information title, select the appropriate language

Select What’s New Viewer (English) .

Please be aware that OpenReview has a moderation policy for newly created profiles: New profiles created without an institutional email will go through a moderation process that can take up to two weeks. New profiles created with an institutional email will be activated automatically.

Venue home page: https://openreview.net/group?id=NeurIPS.cc/2024/Conference

If you have any questions, please refer to the FAQ: https://openreview.net/faq

Abstract Submission: There is a mandatory abstract submission deadline on May 15, 2024, six days before full paper submissions are due. While it will be possible to edit the title and abstract until the full paper submission deadline, submissions with “placeholder” abstracts that are rewritten for the full submission risk being removed without consideration. This includes titles and abstracts that either provide little or no semantic information (e.g., "We provide a new semi-supervised learning method.") or describe a substantively different claimed contribution.  The author list cannot be changed after the abstract deadline. After that, authors may be reordered, but any additions or removals must be justified in writing and approved on a case-by-case basis by the program chairs only in exceptional circumstances. 

Ethics review: Reviewers and ACs may flag submissions for ethics review . Flagged submissions will be sent to an ethics review committee for comments. Comments from ethics reviewers will be considered by the primary reviewers and AC as part of their deliberation. They will also be visible to authors, who will have an opportunity to respond.  Ethics reviewers do not have the authority to reject papers, but in extreme cases papers may be rejected by the program chairs on ethical grounds, regardless of scientific quality or contribution.  

Preprints: The existence of non-anonymous preprints (on arXiv or other online repositories, personal websites, social media) will not result in rejection. If you choose to use the NeurIPS style for the preprint version, you must use the “preprint” option rather than the “final” option. Reviewers will be instructed not to actively look for such preprints, but encountering them will not constitute a conflict of interest. Authors may submit anonymized work to NeurIPS that is already available as a preprint (e.g., on arXiv) without citing it. Note that public versions of the submission should not say "Under review at NeurIPS" or similar.

Dual submissions: Submissions that are substantially similar to papers that the authors have previously published or submitted in parallel to other peer-reviewed venues with proceedings or journals may not be submitted to NeurIPS. Papers previously presented at workshops are permitted, so long as they did not appear in a conference proceedings (e.g., CVPRW proceedings), a journal or a book.  NeurIPS coordinates with other conferences to identify dual submissions.  The NeurIPS policy on dual submissions applies for the entire duration of the reviewing process.  Slicing contributions too thinly is discouraged.  The reviewing process will treat any other submission by an overlapping set of authors as prior work. If publishing one would render the other too incremental, both may be rejected.

Anti-collusion: NeurIPS does not tolerate any collusion whereby authors secretly cooperate with reviewers, ACs or SACs to obtain favorable reviews. 

Author responses:   Authors will have one week to view and respond to initial reviews. Author responses may not contain any identifying information that may violate the double-blind reviewing policy. Authors may not submit revisions of their paper or supplemental material, but may post their responses as a discussion in OpenReview. This is to reduce the burden on authors to have to revise their paper in a rush during the short rebuttal period.

After the initial response period, authors will be able to respond to any further reviewer/AC questions and comments by posting on the submission’s forum page. The program chairs reserve the right to solicit additional reviews after the initial author response period.  These reviews will become visible to the authors as they are added to OpenReview, and authors will have a chance to respond to them.

After the notification deadline, accepted and opted-in rejected papers will be made public and open for non-anonymous public commenting. Their anonymous reviews, meta-reviews, author responses and reviewer responses will also be made public. Authors of rejected papers will have two weeks after the notification deadline to opt in to make their deanonymized rejected papers public in OpenReview.  These papers are not counted as NeurIPS publications and will be shown as rejected in OpenReview.

Publication of accepted submissions:   Reviews, meta-reviews, and any discussion with the authors will be made public for accepted papers (but reviewer, area chair, and senior area chair identities will remain anonymous). Camera-ready papers will be due in advance of the conference. All camera-ready papers must include a funding disclosure . We strongly encourage accompanying code and data to be submitted with accepted papers when appropriate, as per the code submission policy . Authors will be allowed to make minor changes for a short period of time after the conference.

Contemporaneous Work: For the purpose of the reviewing process, papers that appeared online within two months of a submission will generally be considered "contemporaneous" in the sense that the submission will not be rejected on the basis of the comparison to contemporaneous work. Authors are still expected to cite and discuss contemporaneous work and perform empirical comparisons to the degree feasible. Any paper that influenced the submission is considered prior work and must be cited and discussed as such. Submissions that are very similar to contemporaneous work will undergo additional scrutiny to prevent cases of plagiarism and missing credit to prior work.

Plagiarism is prohibited by the NeurIPS Code of Conduct .

Other Tracks: Similarly to earlier years, we will host multiple tracks, such as datasets, competitions, tutorials as well as workshops, in addition to the main track for which this call for papers is intended. See the conference homepage for updates and calls for participation in these tracks. 

Experiments: As in past years, the program chairs will be measuring the quality and effectiveness of the review process via randomized controlled experiments. All experiments are independently reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Financial Aid: Each paper may designate up to one (1) NeurIPS.cc account email address of a corresponding student author who confirms that they would need the support to attend the conference, and agrees to volunteer if they get selected. To be considered for Financial the student will also need to fill out the Financial Aid application when it becomes available.