Challenges and Advantages of E-Learning: Digitization and Its Trends

With changing lifestyle and technology taking over conventional ways, eLearning (or Digital form of learning) is becoming more accessible to the masses and is fast gaining popularity too.

There’s so much to learn in a little time, but if your classes requires you to travel to a certain place, you waste significant hours in traffic which add up in the long run. This is the reason why aspirants and organisations are turning to E-learning. With Internet becoming an integral part of the process, learning has become more organised and structured.

Here are the current E-Learning & digitization perks, challenges,and trends.

Challenges of E-Learning

You need to identify the main challenges so that you can avoid or overcome them! Here are the problems of e-learning:

• The courses need to be incredibly engaging; otherwise, the learner may lose interest in the online course. This is also true for in-class courses. Ultimately, you will have to keep an eye out for the best courses – a plan that can encourage engagement and retain interest.
• The E-learning courses are feared to cause isolation. You are not coming face-to-face with the trainer or other students. This can cause boredom. Now, this can be a perk in disguise as you will never be bullied, which is pretty common in in-class training. In a digitised situation, the student gets to be himself/herself without the fear of being teased! In the E-learning world, what matters is your intelligence and skill set.

Perks of E-learning

Now that you know how to avoid the challenges, you can heave a sigh of relief and enjoy the perks. What are they? Well, here they are:

• The savings are substantial when you replace in-class training with E-learning courses. On top of that, you need not travel, which saves both time and money. You need not even think about the study material required for in-class training.
• For a business, E-learning offers equal opportunity to all the employees to be part of the same online course (of course in their own capacity). This way every employee gets the same skill set development, which can bring better returns in the long run.
• Every student gets a personalised learning experience and can enjoy the freedom of learning at his/her own pace.

Digitization Trends Gaining Popularity at a Fast Rate

Some digitazation trends that are taking the world of E-learning by a storm include:

• Mobile learning or mLearning is the most significant trend in the age of Smartphones (and of course tablets!). It can incorporate the digitalisation of ILT (Instructor Led Training). Along with that, Apps and videos are also being integrated with mobile learning.
• Microlearning can be called “bite-sized” training courses. The formats that one gets to use include mobile apps, short videos, ebooks, infographics and more. It can offer support for formal training and performance.
• Performance Supporting Tools on smartphones offer learners an opportunity to take a look at the course within their workflow! This does not interrupt your work and hence is growing in popularity. This also helps the organisation to keep track of the progress of the learner.
• Gamification may sound strange to be a means of E-learning, but it is the truth. It can offer a real-life simulation to the trainee, leading to better understanding and experience.
• LMS or Learning Management Systems can have a significant impact on your online learning course offerings in a good way. Some experts even provide free LMS consulting to enhance your experience. It offers you the ability to keep an eye on your progress and also access the course webinars and other material, when you want and where you want. With today’s lifestyle, the ability to learn offline, and then again sync back when you are ready and online, is something that is gaining enormous popularity.
• Virtual and Augmented Reality, although still considered pretty expensive, is getting more and more prominence in the mainstream; and e-learning sphere cannot be left behind. This is believed to produce an immersive experience thereby leading to a better understanding.
• Informal and Social Learning ensure that the learner gets to experience much more beyond curated content. With more and more engagement in the Social Media sector, much information is becoming open and accessible. Also, there is an ease and scope for peer group interactions.

Apart from the ones mentioned above, there are more, like video-based learning, wearable technologies, use of big data, open educational sources, and more.