What is Online Education / eLearning ? Why eLearning ? Benefits of eLearning Regular Education Vs Online Education Target Segment for Online Education Trends and Predictions for eLearning

What is Online Education / eLearning ?
Education shapes the destiny of a nation. It is the principle  instrument of developing human capabilities and transforming the economy. The traditional structure of the classroom has existed for hundred of years and has evolved by passing through various phases. The first phase was the Gurukul where gurus imparted knowledge to shishyas. Then came the second phase where the teacher taught using blackboard and chalk. In the third phase virtual aids like OHP and multimedia took over the traditional system of imparting education. Now comes the Education Revolution ! Barriers of time and space have been eroded….Education becomes ONLINE. Online education is internet enabled technology driven education that allows you to study Anytime….Anywhere….as per your convenience

In the context of rapid technological advancement and changing global market, the impact is felt on every field including education arena. Online Education is one of the ways of imparting effective education to the aspiring people, residing anywhere in the world, to pursue and advance their learning process via Internet, without messing up their professional responsibilities and duties with education by presenting a variety of solutions and subjects beyond the scope of traditional education. OnlineLearning helps to increase the educational experiences irrespective of age and geographical diversity.


Why eLearning ?
We have to keep on learning so that we can grow personally, professionally and economically. For hundreds of years, the paradigm of learning was the classroom-training model. In a time when formal learning was scarce, resources were concentrated around, and centered on the availability of the educator, rather than the learner. Today eLearning is the self-paced learning methods combine advanced technology and multimedia in a format that engages students so they learn faster, participate more actively, and, consequently, retain information longer.

Benefits of eLearning
Enables education anywhere, anytime and to anyone- The world-wide-web empowers the University to deliver training and critical information to its wide spread student base no matter where and what time zone the users are in. They can just access it whenever they feel like, from home or from office. Always on - Class starts when you want.

Facilitates self paced learning- It gives the students the flexibility to go through the programme content at the time that is most convenient to him and thereby achieve an appropriate balance of work, family, community and educational commitments.

Better Access- Determining the best time to schedule a class and lure the student into the "brick and mortar" classroom is one of the major drawbacks of traditional training programs. eLearning provides access to training for students when and where they need it.

Cost Savings- A much-touted benefit of onlineLearning is cost savings. Lot of amount can be saved in travel and downtime alone by using eLearning. Training materials can be updated for a fraction of the cost of revising materials distributed by other means. Payback can be seen clearly over the near and long term.

Is Learner Focused- Technology can personalize content and anticipate learner's future information learning needs. It also can match content with each individual's learning style, experience and skills.

Is Measurable- Powerful Learning Management System (LMS) features make the implementation, hosting, tracking, testing, auditing and administration of online courses a flawless process. eLearning provides secure and reliable systems for recording and capturing what an individual knows and is able to do.

Better Learning Outcomes- Research from around the world has proven that the online education results better outcomes in terms of learning and knowledge retention when compared with traditional methods of teaching. Faster Response Time - time sensitive training can be delivered faster than through traditional classroom methods. By using communication technology to deliver training to multiple sites at the same time, eLearning becomes a competitive advantage.

Better Use of "Experts"- An expert presenter or trainer can be used more cost effectively with eLearning than through traditional classrooms. Programs that require the presence of an expert can send the expert's message to multiple sites simultaneously - saving time and money. And the message is consistent for every delivery of the course.


Regular Education Vs Online Education

Regular Education	Online Education
One time, One placeLearning: In regular education, students have to attend a particular college/institute and study as per a fixed time-table. The learners have to place their schedule around learning and therefore the segment includes mostly students who don’t have regular engagements and can attend regular classes.	Anytime, AnywhereLearning: The students do not have to attend a college or study as per a fixed time table. programmes have a global target audience as people from all walks of life can learn at their own pace and their own place. This allows professionals to placeLearning around their busy schedule.
Local target audience and Reach: The regular programmes have a local target audience because generally a college in a particular area will attract local students from that area only owing to limited reach.	Global target audience and Reach: The online programmes have a global target audience because the programmes are offered via the internet. The students can register, make payments and study via the Virtual Campus. The students can also sit for end-semester written examination at a university designated examination centre.
Text Based Courseware: Some universities suggest books from various authors as part of the courseware and some get the content developed in the form of condensed Text Based Notes which is not self explanatory. This leads to poor retention levels and dissatisfaction among the students and they merely mug up the courseware for passing the exams.	Interactive Multimedia Courseware: Interactive Multimedia Rich Courseware makes learning interesting and engaging. This intuitive content integrates audio, video, graphics, pictures, animations, visuals, demonstrations and case-studies and is imparted via a virtual classroom. This leads to significantly higher retention level among the students.
No facility for Self Assessment: In regular education, students do not have facility for self- assessment.	Facility for Self Assessment: The students can do a self-evaluation of their understanding of the topics covered by going through  a self assessment questionnaire at the end of each chapter.
Library Facility: Students studying in regular colleges and universities can avail a library facility containing a limited number of books.	Online Library Facility: Students can access information from digital libraries of colleges and universities world-wide via exhaustive Online Library.
Practical Work in Labs: In regular education, students get practical exposure in the labs.	Practical Work through Tasks: Here practical tasks are given to the students by the faculty to be completed in a reputed institute or organization of their choice and submit a certificate of the same. The students are given projects and case-studies to work on as may be applicable.
Minimal Use of Latest Technologies: Majority of the regular colleges in India still follow the traditional blackboard-chalk method of imparting education.	Extensive Use of Latest technologies: Inorder to improve the quality of education, some universities are now starting to use Synchronous Learning technologies like VSAT to provide live lectures from the university to the study centre.  This facility can help students that are globally dispersed to view the lectures from faculty and subject experts in real-time.
Limited Interactivity: The chief advantage of the regular education is that student can interact and ask questions to the faculty. However, many students still feel shy to ask questions in a classroom as most of them hesitate in front of the faculty owing to varying knowledge levels.	Unlimited Interactivity: Students can ask any number of questions in both real-time through Chat and Whiteboard and Offline through Discussion Forum, Email, Ask Doubt facility. As faculty is not physically present, the students can easily post their queries without any hesitation.
No facility to review a lecture: The lectures given by a faculty in a classroom cannot be archived and are lost as soon as the faculty walks out of the classroom. The students have no option but to memorize the concepts discussed- if possible!	Lectures/Chat sessions can be reviewed multiple times: As the chat sessions between student and faculty are archived, the students can review the sessions as many times as required to understand the topics.
No interaction with university: The student does not have any interaction with the university. Hence, the university is unable to get proper feedback from the students regarding the various academic, administrative and technical problems the students may be facing.	Direct interaction with university: The student shares a direct relationship with the university through university website. Hence, the university officials can understand the student problems in a much better way and apply suitable amendments to their existing system.
Access to information is not so easy: University processes are cumbersome and are generally not easily accessible. Students have to contact the college or university by post, telephone or personally visit the campus to find proper information.	Easy Access to information 24/7: Student can access the website for any information 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Ease of Use and user friendliness is of prime consideration. This allows learners from all walks of life to easily join a programme of their choice. University website is well equipped with all the latest information. This allows easy access to information.
Manually Driven: Most of the processes right from registration to certification and manually driven. This makes the system more error prone.	Electronically Driven: As almost the entire system is electronically driven, the chances of errors and data being lost are much less. Not only this, as all the student specific data is maintained digitally in a database, it allows immediate access to information even years after a student registration.

Target Segment for Online Education
Students- The primary advantage of online education for a student is that it cuts the physical presence for the study program or course he/she chooses. It is often a lesser cost when compared to the cost a student spends on boarding, traveling, etc., to attend regular classes physically. It equips student with more emphasis on global interaction and latest expansion of knowledge.

Professionals- Professionals are at the convenience to advance their education online without taking leave or cuts in your salary. And after they complete their degree, they can get promotion, increments, and higher-responsibility position in decision making. So online education integrates the profession with studies.

Businessmen- Businessmen have lots of company responsibilities and extensive workforce to look after so their absence from their workplace may mess up the business affairs. So the online education is helps the business men to acquire a degree or an advanced course in their interested field without any blockade in business affairs.

 Employers- The need for survival and to match the competition from the rival companies enforced the employers to train their work force so that they perform better Online Education increase productivity of the employees. Researches have shown that productivity growth is approximately five times as much as would be generated by compensation incentives.

House wives, Retired Personnel- House wives and retired personnel may not be able to travel to the university or institute due to certain circumstances such as domestic responsibilities that demand greater attention. But they have the zeal to continue your education. So, in such circumstances they can rely on online education.


Trends and Predictions for eLearning
IT eLearning will contribute significantly to the overall eLearning spending as governments across the region look to eLearning as a means to bridge the digital divide. By 2005-2006, IDC expects non-IT eLearning (vertical industry specific, function-specific and softskills) in the more matured Australian eLearning industry to be on par with IT eLearning.

IDC expects eLearning adoption in the Asia/Pacific region to experience the greatest growth from 2004-2005. This is when the market has reached a stage of maturity where the benefits of eLearning are understood and eLearning is found to be a major part of the corporation's long-term strategic objectives, as opposed to being an isolated human resource function or a lofty concept.

Corporate eLearning market is expected to be worth almost US$233 million by 2005, growing at a CAGR of 25%.

The corporate eLearning market for Singapore is expected to be valued at US$27.56M, growing at a CAGR of 18%. For the India, this is expected to reach US$22M, growing at a CAGR of 32%.

The corporate eLearning market for Korea is expected to be worth US$51M, growing at a CAGR of 31% while for Australia, this is anticipated to be worth US$65M, growing at a CAGR of 22.