Sunday, May 25, 2014

ICT in ELT Basic concepts





E-learning
This term comes from electronic learning. It consist on education through the internet. By this there can be interaction between teachers and students using the technological tools. This is believed to be the educational tool of the future, opening the doors for new learning possibilities to reach every level.
According to e-abclearning.com, (2014) “e-learning involves three fundamental aspects:
  • The pedagogic that refers to the educational technology as a discipline of the education sciences, linked with tech media, psychology and didactics.
  • El technological one that refers to the information and communication technology  by means of the selection, design, implementation of solutions where they integrate with open source technologies.
The soul of e-learning are the pedagogical aspects and they deal with the contents to be taught. They represent the most relevant components of efficacy during the teaching-learning process.
Some of the benefits of e-learning that can be mentioned are: Cost reduction: allows reducing and eliminate transportation and didactic materials expenses , speed ​​and agility in communications, just-in-time access: users can access the content anytime they need and flexibility of the agenda: users do not have to be in the same place at the same time.
Distance learning
In techtarget.com Distance learning is defined as a formalized teaching and learning system specifically designed to be carried out remotely by using not synchronized electronic communication. Because distance learning is less expensive to support and is not constrained by geographic considerations, it offers opportunities in situations where traditional education has difficulty operating. Students with scheduling or distance problems can benefit, as can employees, because distance education can be more flexible in terms of time and can be delivered virtually anywhere. Among the most popular distance learning technologies might be mentioned:
  • Voice-centered technology, such as CD or MP3 recordings or Webcasts
  • Video technology, such as instructional videos, DVDs, and interactive videoconferencing
  • Computer-centered technology delivered over the Internet or corporate intranet.
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  • Also it is very important to say that studies indicate that distance learning can be as effective as the traditional format when the methods are appropriate to the teaching tasks, there is student-teacher interaction, and the teachers provide students with appropriate and timely feedback.
    In relation to Online Learning It can be said that is a form of distance education related to everything on the web using internet connection.
    According to the Keystone college web page online courses can be:
    • Asynchronous - delivered at your convenience any time or place
    • Synchronous - students are online at a specified time.
    But there are some basic skills that students should have in order to use this kind of distance learning such as: Basic computer skills needed to learn online: how to Navigate and search the internet, how to use e-mail, how to attach document files in an
    e-mail, how to download and save files and how to use word processing software (Microsoft Word, Excel, And Powerpoint).
    Now we go to the Mobile learning definition which I found to be the evolution of e-learning in distance education programs. As its name indicates it makes use of small tech devices which are easy to carry with you such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, and electronic agendas, pocket PC´s or any other wireless devices. More recently we can add the Apps that adapt to any device, uses and tastes. This concept refers more to the learning environments that make use of the mobile techs to improve the teaching-learning processes.
    Wikispaces.com mentions some of the main characteristics of the M-learning:

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations Yleni! This post is very concise, reader and browser friendly and informative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent post, Yleni. Useful concepts indeed.

    ReplyDelete