Advantages of E-learning in Zimbabwe

The benefits of utilizing e-learning technologies are plentiful…

“We bring learning to people instead of people to learning.”

clayton dzingayi

The benefits of e-learning are numerous, and despite all my best efforts, one article was not enough to highlight all of them. That’s why we decided to selectively pick out the most important advantages of E-Learning. These are the benefits which set e-learning apart from other learning methods, and which we consider to be the most important of all.

These are the 10 most important advantages of E-Learning:

Online learning is self-paced

Learners who study online can plan their own time schedule, without having to make personal sacrifices in order to meet the class attendance requirements of teachers and traditional universities. The research on this link has demonstrated that self-paced learning leads to increased learner satisfaction and reduced stress, resulting in improved learning outcomes for everyone involved. Some of the advantages of self-paced learning include efficiency, effectiveness, convenience, scalability, and reusability.

E-Learning is child-centered

-learner-centered learning goes hand in hand with E-Learning-

Child-centered Learning (CCL), also referred to as learner-centered education, is a modern learning method which aims to put the learners in the center of focus, rather than the teachers. The reason why we listed it as an advantage of E-Learning is that learner-centered learning goes hand in hand with E-Learning. Online learning is fundamentally learner-centered, due to the easy implementation of learner discussion boards and peer grading systems. 

In fact, many of the 10 types of E-Learning largely revolve around the idea of learner-centeredness. Both collaborative E-Learning and synchronous online learning promote learner-to-learner interaction. Being able to plan and design fully learner-centered online learning environments is one of the greatest advantages that E-Learning has. The value of learner-centeredness must not be understated.

E-Learning is cost-effective

Due to simplified logistics and lowered travel costs, among other factors, online has many reduced costs both to the parent ant the teacher. Logistically, there is no school run nor travelling to the station to start to work. An added addition is no travelling-parents need to worry when they want to travel because their children can learn from anywhere and any time!

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Individual learning styles

E-Learning takes into consideration the differences of individual learners, and it allows learners to practice their own individual learning styles. In other words, learners are not always required to pass all unwanted courses in a curriculum and they can choose specific topics of interest to them. All learners have different learning styles and there will never be a one-size-fits-all type of solution which will match all learners at once. That is why individualistic learning methods are some of the greatest advantages of E-Learning. 

For instance, one of the most innovative types of E-Learning, adaptive E-Learning, has the potential to be the most individualistic learning method ever made if implemented correctly. To recap, adaptive E-Learning materials are designed to automatically change and adapt according to the knowledge, skills, and needs of each individual learner. 

Customizable learning environments

Researchers found that employees working in environments without pictures, plants, souvenirs and other  were 15% less productive than those working with said “distractions”. This also applies to the educational context – learners who don’t have a desirable learning environment will feel its effects on their learning performance and mental health.

This is where the problem arises – in traditional classrooms, the school, according to their preferences, predetermines the learning environments. In other words, the learners rarely have any say in what their learning environment looks like.

On the other hand, in the case of E-Learning, the learners have total control of their learning environment. Those learners who feel the benefits of a plant-filled environment can customize their E-Learning environment accordingly. And, those learners who feel better in a minimalistic learning environment without any distractions can reap the benefits of such an E-Learning environment. 

E-Learning fully utilizes analytics

Data is the new oil, and E-Learning makes use of learner data much more effectively than any other form of learning in history. That is because of E-Learning Analytics. E-Learning Analytics is the extraction of valuable information from online Learning Management Systems (LMS), and it’s another one of the greatest benefits of E-Learning at Clad Junior. 

With learner data gained through E-Learning Analytics, schools can improve their teaching materials and boost learning outcomes in various ways. For example, if we have data on learner dropout rates, we can identify potential pitfalls in our learning materials or from parents feedback and eliminate them. Afterward, we can gather new data and analyze whether our change was beneficial to our E-Learning outcomes or not. The value of data in education is immense, and its full potential is yet to be realized.

Online learning could solve schools and teacher scarcity

The shortage of teachers in Zimbabwe is real. This is very evident when we look the number of students in a given class. Moreover, the government has sited it as a pressing issue especially in the Covid-19 pandemic. Children form government schools are now attending school at 50% of the expected attendance, which has an adverse effect to their learning.

The issue of schools and teacher shortage will undoubtedly be difficult to solve due to the economic challenge faced by Zimbabwe, but the benefits of E-Learning in combating school and teacher scarcity could be vastly underestimated. To clarify, let’s make a comparison. Regular schools have an average of 50 learners to one staff member, while E-Learning courses compiled by one or two qualified and experienced teachers can be served to thousands, if not millions, of learners. Instead of focusing our efforts on recruiting more teachers, perhaps we should instead focus on enabling our highest quality teachers to deliver their materials to a broader range of learners through E-Learning.

E-Learning is environmentally friendly

As a matter of fact online learning consumes 90% less energy and as a result we will have up to 85% less emissions than traditional school run that even causes most of the congestion in towns. In addition, as E-Learning is a paperless learning method, it does not contribute to many of the environmental issues associated with paper production. For example, there is no need to cut down trees for paper or to create paper-cellulose production factories which are known to cause atmospheric pollution in surrounding areas.

No need for textbooks

One big advantage of E-Learning is that it requires absolutely no textbooks from its learners. All the learning materials can be accessed online, without restriction. Online learning materials can be retaken and updated an infinite amount of times, unlike textbooks which need to be reissued and rebought once again when they become obsolete. 

Online learning is time-efficient

Online learning cuts the learning time down by 25% to 60% compared to traditional classroom learning. Coupled with the advantages of self-paced E-Learning, this results in a highly time-efficient learning solution both for the learners and the teachers.

In traditional learning institutions, making changes to school curriculums is a long and complicated process which is often avoided due to its complexity. However, in the case of E-Learning, lessons can be delivered and updated quickly and efficiently – sometimes within days. When used in conjunction with data-oriented E-Learning Analytics, these changes to the learning materials are not only based on theory but also real evidence.