E-LEARNING

E-learning

E-learning

Part I

Educational visionaries and reformers have held high hopes for the use of technology to improve the quality of education. Distinct from technology education, which emphasizes technology skill development as a content area, educational technology is used to enhance or augment instruction in other subjects. With each innovation, in communications technology during the 20th century, claims have been made that their use in classrooms would revolutionize the educational process, improving effectiveness, resource efficiency, and/or pedagogical approach. Assessments of educational technology's value and effectiveness are in part influenced by the definition of the term that is used. Current, idiomatic usage tends to assume that technology refers to devices, especially digital innovations, such as software, laptop computers, and PDAs, that are used in learning contexts without inherent consideration of the device's pedagogical design. Many of those who conduct educational technology research, however, hold an alternative perspective that defines educational technology as an application of scientific principles to consistently attain specified outcomes. Ning Community is an example of such scientific methods that help teachers to achieve their goal (Wenger, White, & Smith, 2010, pp. 125-133).

This blog describes the working of Ning blog that is working online to help increase communication of teachers. The aim of this community is to help analyze different Learning and teaching tools that will help students to learn more effectively. These tools are mostly linked with online education. The community uses various means and measures to communicate. For example, alongside with the community, it has a face book and twitter page, where teachers can interact with each other and share their ideas. They transfer files, upload guides and teaching tools on this community. It helps them updated about the progress made through this community.

If we compare this mode of communication to conventional methods, we will realize the fact that it does not require teachers to come on a same ground or place to interact with each other. They must have good internet connection and they can easily interact and communicate with other teachers. It increases their efficiency and reduces time in which they carry out work. If a teacher propose any idea and it is accepted by other teachers than they could instantly implement the idea, by developing the proposed learning tools. When these learning tools are instantly developed, students could make use of these tools and get the desired information from their teachers and the suggested tools.

The teachers not only share learning tools and study related material, but they can also share discussions and brief that would help teachers to enhance their knowledge and expertise in a particular subject. People often share different blogs; articles of newspaper on different social websites like face book and twitter, so it makes it easy for them to share these articles and blogs on online community, which is rather not possible when it comes to face to face interaction.

Part II

When the definition of educational technology is used, pedagogical design itself is considered the dominant functional aspect of educational technology ...