E-Learning at Alamance Community College

E-Learning at Alamance Community College

Introduction

Alamance Community College was established in the year 1958 under the statewide system called as industrial education centers. With the joint efforts of Industrial Education, State department of Trade and the school management, Burlington-Alamance County Industrial Education Center was formed. The purpose of its establishment is to meet the changing needs and requirements of people living in the area. It provides educational opportunity to individual by offering different programs and provides financial aid to those who cannot afford advanced education in the state (http://www.alamancecc.edu, 2012).

ACC offers different program choices to students at all level including certificates, associate degree and diplomas. The curriculum areas that ACC is offering includes Health and Public Services, Industrial and Graphics Technologies, Business Technologies and can transfer the course work to a four year degree program. With the growing information revolution and the increasing amount of information and data transferred and exchanged in the world, it became impossible for any individual to have online learning system in educational institutions with the widespread use of the Internet and enjoy its features. Appear online for the first time in the mid-nineties as a mediator of communication between learner and teacher, has led to the emergence of distance learning via Internet, and virtual universities. Virtual Universities, schools and the default Virtual Schools and Virtual Classroom have began to take shape the concept of learning based on the internet as a new model of distance learning and a form of e-learning (Bassoppo, 2006).

Discussion

Currently, a number of e-learning technologies exist that have improved the effectiveness and efficiency of students' learning. In general, these tools leverage computers' ability to monitor users' actions in real time and respond immediately to that data by changing the activities and options available to the user. This includes providing instructional feedback and supportive learning materials as soon as they are needed.

Simulations

Simulations are computer programs that present realistic scenarios in which authentic problems need to be solved. The interface allows a user to interact with the simulated environment to complete tasks that may be too costly or dangerous to allow learners to perform in real life. For example, medical schools are increasingly turning to surgical simulations to allow students to practice procedures that would otherwise require risk to real patients. Similarly, simulations of physics experiments can allow learners to directly manipulate subatomic particles in ways that would be impossible or cost-prohibitive in actual laboratory settings.

The educational effectiveness of simulations, however, is not guaranteed. Careful instructional design and assessment mechanisms must provide learners with manageable amounts of information and allow learners to respond to problem-solving scenarios with options that are authentic to the real world. Feedback must also be provided when students respond incorrectly so that they can modify their strategies. Further, simulations must allow sustained practice opportunities across a variety of scenarios so that learners can develop knowledge that is both flexible and robust.

Just-in-Time Instruction

Just-in-time (JIT) instruction is intended to provide students with relevant information as soon as they need ...