Online Learning

Internet learning is becoming a helpful tool in and outside the standard classroom. In this overview I will inform you of the finer points of how these educational tools can be used and how they will help a wide range of people.

The first site I shall comment on is Sam Learning. This site is and interactive learning site which can be used at home or at school. The site contains past exam questions, drag and drop exercises and you can keep track of how you are progressing through out the time that you are using Sam Learning. The main disadvantage is the cost to access the site. For each student at Abbeyfield School (1200 + students) to get an account it would cost £4,500 per year. That is why this site is good for those who can afford it but not for smaller schools.

The second internet learning site I shall review is BBC Bitesize. Bitesize is a learning program from the British Broadcasting Companies own website. It is aimed at students from year 1 to A-Level students. The main advantage to using Bitesize is that it is free to access and is always updated due to it being a government website and will have new courses and changes in subject lessons. The disadvantage it that it is not as interactive as Sam Learning as it does not have drag and drop activates.

Net Frog is the next e-learning site I shall review. Net Frog is a site that allows the user to learn about frog dissection without having to harm an animal. This is an advantage as you can redo the experiment at home if needed. A downside is that you are unable to get hands on experience of doing the experiment.

The Science Museum’s website can provide detailed information on history of several subjects. An advantage of the Science Museum is because it has a respected name the information provided can be trusted. A disadvantage of the Science Museum is that there are no interactive activates to do. Therefore this site is informative but not as good as Sam Learning.

The final site I shall review is Microsoft’s Online Tutorial. The website is used to teach people to use Microsoft program. It can be used by students or small business. An advantage is that you can get step by step guides to do almost anything on Microsoft programs. But the biggest disadvantage is that to fully make use of the tutorials you require the Microsoft software. This software is often very expensive.

From my experiences using all these all these Internet learning sites I have come up with a list of advantages and disadvantages of e-learning in all.

Advantages:
- Work can be done at anytime of the day
- Homework can be set to large groups of people and can be accessed by those who are absent or away
- All work can also be done anywhere that has Internet access. That may not be in a classroom or work office.

Disadvantages:
- Those learners who don’t wish to work or those with poor study habits may fall behind due to not having a constant supervision.
- Students may feel isolated or miss social interaction
- Managing learning software can involve a lot of time getting use to the program

So as I have show Internet learning can be used in most situations. Some for more standard learning, some less conventional methods. But in the future I believe that Internet learning will be become a standard part of any students school life.

Links

Sam Learning - www.samlearning.co.uk
BBC Bitesize - www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize
NetFrog - frog.edschool.virginia.edu/
Science Museum - www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
Microsoft Software Tutorial – office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/FX100565001033.aspx