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Chapter 1: Designing E-Learning: Considering the Possibilities
Chapter Notes and Links to Chapter-Related Resources

Resources Available for this Chapter

• Chapter Summary
• E-Learning in Action (case study)
• Overview of the E-Learning Industry

Chapter Summary

• When choosing to develop e-learning, you can create the following categories of learning products:
• For formal learning:
• Education
• Training
• For informal learning:
• Knowledge management
• Electronic performance support
• As you approach an e-learning project, consider the following implications:
• Training and performance improvement groups can design these types of learning:
• Synchronous e-learning occurs when both the instructor and learner are online at the same time.
• Asynchronous learning occurs when the two are not online at the same time.
• We can design learning activities for:
• Formal learning, which refers to learning activities with formally stated objectives and outcomes. Courses are examples of formal learning.
• Informal learning, which refers to learning activities that do not have formally stated objectives, and for which the learner determines the intended outcomes.
• E-learning challenges our assumptions about learning, measurements of it, and methods for designing it.
• Learners only receive credit for a formal learning experience if they complete the course and pass a test (or some similar type of learning assessment). In informal learning, learners only continue until they achieve their self-determined goal. In many instances, they do not complete the course or a test.
• Rather than compete with one another, online and classroom components can be blended to take advantage of the best of each. Classroom courses can be used to teach higher order thinking skills and interpersonal interactions. Online courses can be used to teach rote skills and prerequisite material.
• Similarly, the two types of media can support learning in the other. Websites can support classroom courses with remedial and enrichment material. Personal tutoring can provide online learners with clarifications of content and personal attention.
• You can combine a series of related learning products (both formal and informal) into performance improvement campaigns whose ultimate purpose is application of the content covered in the course back on the job. Performance improvement campaigns introduce the skills, teach the skills, and support transfer of the learning in the job environment.

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(c) Copyright. 2002. Saul Carliner. All rights reserved.