Is E-Learning really effective?

Today, with the advancement of technologies, we are able to do things with much ease. As mentioned on the previous post, we are able to shop at home with the help of technology and we might as ourselves this question, “what else we can achieve at home without even leaving the house?” I then started to wonder that since I always felt that going to school is a hassle, why we can’t attend school from home.

In Singapore, we are actually exposed to “E-Learning” whereby students will attend a short lesson from home digital media. However, the whole concept of “E-Learning” is to allow students to explore the usage of digital media, and students eventually still need to attend school. Now, the question is, “If students purely participate in the program of E-Learning and no longer attend school, will it be effective for the students?”

Similar to E-Commerce, E-Learning will definitely provide similar advantages to the students. In terms of time saving, students no longer need to travel to school and spend the whole day in school studying. Students could also save money as they tend to no spend more at home as compared when they are in school. In addition, I believe that only the really determined students who can fight off distractions will be beneficial to this program. Thus, implementing E-Learning will help students develop independence and maturity as they learn how to prioritize, not be distracted and not procrastinate.

However, as impressive as it sounds, I believe that traditional learning in school is more than just receiving knowledge from a teacher. It consist the art of public relation which we learn in school through out our lives. Public relation is something that we need to experience ourselves and it can’t be taught by anybody, certainly not from digital media. We learn public relation through the interaction with friends and whenever we are stress from school work, friends will be there to give you emotional support. What happens when we have zero face to face communication with friends when we adapt E-Learning? I don’t think that the society will be any close to being cohesive. In addition, although E-learning might be allowing students to be more independent, it doesn’t provide a physical disciplinarian to monitor the students. I read about the “Milgram Experiment” when it talks about people obeying orders when there is a physical presence monitoring them. Thus, students participating in E-Learning will probably tend to procrastinate more than students who are attending schools.

In conclusion, as much as technology is able to ease our lives, I do not wish to forgo the chance to “learn” public relations as I think that public relations will help you through life more than any other things.