Barriers of E – learning can affect a student’s study to an extent.
One problem faced by e – learning is the in-ability to have the teacher in the room on the spot as well as other students. Students grow up in traditional classroom environments, and it’s basically the same when attending university. In both situations, the teacher and lecturer are present in the room. However when in an e – learning environment, there is no ‘teacher’ present therefore any questions that are usually answered on the spot has to be emailed. The process of emailing the question and waiting for a response is time consuming thus, the work being worked on has to be put on hold until the question is answered.
The other side is that ‘was a lack of social interaction’ between other students. Students learn off of each other as well as off of the teacher. Having other students presenting ideas spark new ideas and discussions throughout the room.
Another problem faced by students is the technological side of things. A lot of the older age bracket of students is not computer or internet savvy, therefore the structure of the e – course can fail. This is where technical support needs to addressed. If the student dosen’t know why something online is not working, naturally the student will email the teacher. The teacher will then either address the issue and then it will be solved. However if the teacher is not technologically knowledgeable themselves, they will then forward your email to a technician. This is time consuming again which could easily cause the student a loss of marks just because their teacher couldn’t give them an answer straight away.
The problem seems to lie within the training of the teacher for the course. As ‘many instructors lack the knowledge and skills to design and teach distance learning courses, their organisations lack support staff to assist with technical problems’ therefore a contradictory cycle appears where the teacher shouldn’t be teaching the student because the teacher doesn’t really know what they’re doing.
References
- Muilenburg, L.Y., & Berge, Z.L. (2005). Student Barriers to Online Learning: A Factor Analytic Study Distance Education: An International Journal, 26(1): pp. 29-48. http://www.emoderators.com/barriers/stbarr_final_may05.pdf
- Cho, S.K. & Berge, Z.L. (2002). Overcoming Barriers to Distance Training and Education. Education at a Distance [USDLA Journal] (16)1. http://www.emoderators.com/barriers/cho.html
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