Thursday, July 9, 2009

Pros and Cons from the Students Perspective on E-learning Offered in Malaysian Universities

Electronic Learning is a term for all types of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), where technology is used to support the learning process. The medium is usually through computer technology like the internet. Students can just go online at home and download lecture notes and tutorial questions and do self learning. Some of the more advanced universities are using video conference for teaching or consultation. There is no need of interaction, everything is done through computer technology.
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E-Learning lessons are generally designed to guide students through information or to help students perform in specific tasks. Information is communicated to the students by e-learning content. Generally e-learning provides some major benefits. One of them is to reduce environmental impact. E-learning enables students to learn at home without having to travel to universities. Indirectly the usage of transportation on road will be reduced and the overall carbon output will also be reduced in the long run. E-learning also creates a paperless environment which reduce the cutting down of trees. Students can just pass up assignments and tutorials by email and it is fast and convenient.
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Education can be costly sometimes not only because of the tuition fees but also the expenses. The expenses of printing, photocopying, stationery, travel, accommodation and etc can be costly however it is usually harder to be noticed by us. By using e-learning, most of these expenses can be terminated. By reducing expenses education will be more affordable. Besides that, studying a few books or set of notes will never be enough for students to learn everything because of the rapid changing world. Education thought the internet might improve the learning of students because the information available in internet is almost unlimited and they come from all over the world.
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E-learning also provides flexibility and convenience for students because students can decide when to learn since the study is self-paced. Students are not bounded by schedules and time, they can learn anytime, anywhere without having to attend classes physically.
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Nothing is perfect in this world. E-learning has a lot of benefits, but it has some disadvantages too. For students with lower motivation, the process of learning will be slow because there is no fixed schedule and no physical supervision. Besides that, some students might get lost with course activities and deadlines because sometimes the information on the internet cannot be understood by everyone in the same meaning.
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E-learning need no physical presence, therefore students might feel being isolated from classmates and lecturers. Human beings have social needs. It is not recommended for someone to stay at home for all the time. The thinking of the person will be narrow and dare not to face new challenges in this world.
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It is mentioned that by using e-learning students can learn anytime they want. There is a problem which is help from lecturers or tutors might not be available because there is no fixed time for that. Sometimes the slow internet connection in Malaysia might also cause frustration in students. Nobody loves to sit in front of a computer to wait for programs and files to load. Complexity of computer files and database might also causes errors when managing the files.
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Last but not least, e-learning is still not practicable for everyone because of the higher costs. Some of the students still prefer to use hard copies because they can write short notes on the paper and they can carry it around. To make e-learning practicable for everyone, we will need a lot of costs and time.
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