E-learning has gained popularity over the last 10 years as an alternative to the traditional classroom learning.  Technological advancements have allowed its purpose to change from a means of practical information gathering to a more advanced mode of instruction.  Today, the Internet is used in a variety of ways, making it a tool as a learner, an instructor and as an assistant.

Technological advances of the mid 1990’s brought about the internet as a learning resource with e-mail capabilities and elementary web browsers (Thomson Netg).  Students and instructors first began to use the Internet as an assistant in their learning process.  Information, assignments and final papers could be communicated via the new channel and made face-to-face meetings not always necessary.  In these early stages of Internet usage for learning purposes, web browsers pointed students and instructors in the right direction to find necessary information.

Near the end of the decade, low-quality Web casts emerged allowing some Web-based training to occur in a minimal capacity (Thomson Netg).  This training was still only using the Internet as an assistant.  Instructors could upload and share files with their students.  Much like the CD-ROMs and PowerPoint Presentations that were popular throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, this was merely an alternate means of sharing information and complemented classroom instruction.

As the popularity of the Internet caught on in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, search engines and more advanced Web browsers allowed for an enhanced ability to share information via the Internet.  It was around this time that the Internet began functioning as not only an assistant to the learning process, but as an instructor, and even as a learner itself.  As with any instructor, information must be learned before it can be re-disseminated.  Intelligent programmers, researchers, scholars and the like all began “teaching” the Internet new information.

In the beginning, this was done mostly by posting printed publications on the Web.  These works included encyclopedia’s, published research articles and other valuable resources for students and instructors.  Those types of resources allowed people to begin using the Internet as an extremely valuable research tool and as a supplement to text readings.  However, in these early stages of using posted information, people were not as leery of the information as they should have been.  Believing that all Internet content should be just as trustworthy as printed publications, information was often misrepresented and ideas were passed on as fact.  Although this still occurs, the general public is more aware of the need to check sources when using the Internet as a research tool.

Many authors who have not had the financial backing to publish printed work have been able to use the Internet as a tool to release research findings and scholarly articles to the general public.  Another benefit to publishing on the Internet versus on paper is that students often have access to the most up-to-date findings and information. With the ever-changing technology and research capabilities, information that was valid five years ago may no longer be true today.  Many published books that can be found in the library contain information that is outdated.  Additionally, relevant printed works may be more accessible through the Internet to those who may not have ready access to a library when the information is needed.

The Internet also serves as both instructor and assistant by providing alternative information to the “textbook theories.” This free flow of information allows alternative theories and lesser known studies to be researched. Prior to the introduction of the Internet, many students only had two sources for information; their instructor and their textbook. Now, new ideas and recent studies are more readily available for students to really form their own conclusions regarding the “facts” they are provided.

As time has went on, the Web has become the easiest and quickest way for all authors, researchers and the like to publish their work.  Today, the internet has a plethora of information ranging from gardening techniques to the most debated scientific theories. The Internet serves as a constant learner, absorbing new information daily.  It also functions as an instructor in the learning process by using the information that has been learned.  For example, many “how-to” articles and tutorials allow students to use the resource as a means of teaching themselves new material and problem-solving techniques.  Step-by-step instructions published on the Internet can show students how to complete an assigned task with the use of sounds and moving images.  The Web even introduces interactive features that allow students to do things such as test what they have learned (Intute).

Many programs that are written and placed on the Internet have the ability to learn and change the instruction based on individual needs.  These interactive capabilities have allowed the Internet to function as a learner.  For example, an interactive site can test what a student has already learned, provide automated feedback and then allow that student to focus on the areas that he/she did poorly on.  E-learning allows students to be taught in a manner that they can comprehend the best way.  Some students need only to hear information to remember it, others need to see it and there are some that need both.  Some instructors may prefer one teaching style over another and therefore may not reach all students in the same way and to the same extent.  The Internet gives some students the opportunity to have lessons plans tailored for them.

In a similar respect, all students work at different paces and often students are “left behind” in a classroom setting, while others bore easily once they have already retained the information.  Online courses and other educational applications available to students today allow them to work at their own speed and move on only when they have fully comprehended the information in front of them.  Another benefit to these programs is the ability for students to go back over the information again and again.  This idea is almost like a replacement to audio recording a professor’s lecture so that it can be reviewed at a later time.

This type of tailored feedback and the use of online collaboration with self-study are valuable educational methods and definitely make e-learning unique (Clark & Mayor, p. 21).  The Internet is an extremely valuable resource for students who can benefit from self-directed learning.  It is those students that can actually use the Internet as an instructor successfully.  Others may continue to use it as an assistant, pointing them in the right direction to find supplemental information to aide in their retention of printed material or classroom discussion content.

Students can now use the resources that professors have placed on the Internet for self-directed learning and can even communicate with that professor and other students using discussion forums.  This allows the Internet to serve as both an assistant in the learning process (via e-mail and forums) and as an instructor.  The Internet functions as a learner by allowing the instructor to “teach” course material to the Internet and have the Web re-instruct that information to thousands of students at the same time.  Mere updates to the programming or small content changes can keep the information current and up-to-date as new findings or changes in ways of thinking occur.

Most universities and colleges are using Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as the Open Source solution MOODLE (www.moodle.org) or a commercial solution such as Blackboard Learning System to complement traditional classroom courses.  According to Blackboard Inc., almost 75 percent of the 129 universities listed in the U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2005’s Top National Universities use the Blackboard.  In 2010, MOODLE has achieved a 54% market share compared to Blackboards 45% (www.zacker.org).  Such systems allow instructors to place media rich course material online, upload interactive quizzes and tests, point students in the direction of other resources and also allow them to communicate via online forums with both other students and their instructor.  As a complement to a classroom lecture, these systems use the Internet as a learner, an instructor and as an assistant.

Many educational institutions have even taken this online learning wave a step further and are offering courses that are completely conducted through the Internet. These may include interactive learning modules, lecture videos, online reading supplements, a class discussion forum and more. In a sense, the Internet becomes the instructor, providing them with the lecture information that is needed to complement the textbooks.  It also acts as an assistant, providing students with additional readings and links to other useful Web sites and information. Some professors have even built online courses that do not require any physical textbook. Excerpts from textbooks and other relevant articles and publications are posted on the Web and used in place of the traditional textbook.

In conclusion, using all of the most recent technologies, a completely virtual classroom has become possible.  The Internet has functioned as an assistant to the learning process almost since its inception by providing additional content reading, allowing virtual communication through e-mail and now through discussion forums and optimized search engines.  The World Wide Web now has the ability to learn information through programmed interactive applications and the ability to store comprehensive databases of information.  And finally, the technology-driven Internet of today has the ability to create interactive learning experiences online and can function as an instructor itself.


Sources cited

Clark R. C. and Mayer R. E. (2003). e-Learning and the science of instruction, Jossey-bass/Pfeiffer, USA.

Thomson Netg’s History of e-learning. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.knowledgenet.com/corporateinformation/ourhistory/history.jsp.

Welsh, Sue. (2006). Internet Instructor. Retrieved November 29, 2006, from the Virtual Training Suite Web site: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/instructor.