Trends in Online Learning
Introduction
For this capstone project, the selected topic is “Trends in Online Learning.” This is my main topic of discussion. In the face of Covid-19, specialists have sought out methods that can be used to continue with the learning while observing the rules that have been put in place by the world health organization program (WHO). One of the most promising strategies to help continue with the learning process is online learning. This strategy proves to be a catalyst by its capacity to create a new and more effective method of teaching students. This follows after the schools have been forced to close down, to curb the spread of the pandemic worldwide. However, with or without the pandemic, in the era of technology, it is highly a good thing to incorporate technology in the classrooms to boost or foster learning outcomes. Therefore, with conditions that even accelerate the need for online learning the process has increased by a significant proportion, with some nations reaching 200 percent (Mishra et al., 2020; Lister, 2014). Based on the main topic, then it is essential to examine the importance of integrating e-learning in the classroom, which becomes our first subtopic of discussion. However, for this to be effective enough there is a need to put in place the necessary infrastructure and change the mindset of students and teachers towards this platform, this becomes our second subtopic. Lastly, from this perspective, it is thus possible to examine all the possible obstacles or challenges associated with the integration of technology in the learning activities. Now with the trends, potentials, and challenges of the online learning platform integration, we came up with the main topic and the three subtopics.
Importance of E-Learning and Integrating Technology in the Classrooms
Based on our topic, “Trends in Online Learning,” this subtopic stands as one of the most essential. This subtopic focuses on evaluating the benefits that come with the integration of technology in the learning process with or without the pandemic. This makes this a worthwhile area of discussion as it presents all the positive attributes that come with the integration of technology in classrooms. The reason for this ruling on this subtopic s because for integration of any activity in practice it is essential to first examine the benefits that will be yield from the entire process. For instance, according to Liang and Chen (2012) integration of the online learning platform has been found to have many educational benefits such as increasing accessibility, learning has become flexible eliminating the challenge of traditional distance (Liang & Chen, 2012). Also, e-learning creates an interactive and collaborative learning environment, between colleagues their teachers as well as with the available resources.
The Growth of E-learning Depends On Infrastructure, Perception, And Students’ And Teachers’ Readiness Toward E-learning
Moreover, the integration of e-learning requires a plan. The plan is primarily based on getting the right infrastructure, without which the process will not attain success. This now confirms the relevance of this subtopic on the need for perquisites for e-learning. Concerning the subtopic, the growth of e-learning is said to rely on infrastructure, which entails all the required devices and gadgets without which the online learning process cannot take place. These platforms are the primary determinant of the excellence of the online learning process, for this case the expansion and access to World Wide Web and the internet have been a major boost to the online learning capacities (Cidral et al., 2018). More so, the invention of gadgets that can be used on the internet such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and computers, has been a boost to the e-learning practice across the globe. However, to fully appreciate the capacity of online learning it is essential to eliminate the negative mentality among students and teachers towards this new strategy. This can only be achieved by making them appreciate the capacities and potentials that lie with the use of technology in classrooms (Lawrence & Tar, 2018). They need to appreciate the evolution of technology and the need for new learning strategies and their potential outcomes, especially on increasing learning flexibilities and improvising a personalized way of learning, which is deemed much cheaper.
Obstacles of Integrating Technology in Teaching and Learning Activities
Although integration of technology in the classroom has coherent advantages, there have been some challenges that cannot be assumed. These obstacles are making our third area of discussion or subtopic. In the implementation of a new strategy, there are always issues, majorly knowledge gap that exists, standing out as a problem, which needs to be addressed. Similarly, in this aspect of technology and learning, there are some of the challenges, which are worth discussion and inclusions as a subtopic in this capstone project. A significant number of teachers have been found to experience difficulties while integrating technology in the physical education program; this was revealed by Villalba and colleagues (2017). To validate this statement they embarked on research to analyze the perception of teachers regarding obstacles to integrate ICT and its relation with their age. Using a significant sample and methods they discovered that mostly perceived obstacles included loss of time to spend on learning activity, lack of appropriate resources, unsuitable use of the platforms, lack of knowledge and technical problems, and lack of investment and training (Villalba et al., 2017). Without a plausible solution to these problems and a change of perception concerning e-learning, these challenges will remain and the integration unsuccessful.
Conclusion
Online learning trends remain very significant in the contemporary world and thus a worthy topic of discussion in this capstone project. The prevalence of the coronavirus pandemic measures to curb the spread, and the need to continue with education makes this topic more relevant. Similarly, the need to evaluate the benefits, determinants, and challenges associated with online learning gives weight to the subtopics under study. It is, therefore, significant to carry out a study to examine all the potentials, challenges, or barriers that are associated with the integration of technology in the learning process. The project will reach success if all the challenges associated with the integration of the e-learning program are solved.
References
Cidral, W. A., Oliveira, T., Di Felice, M., & Aparicio, M. (2018). E-learning success determinants: Brazilian empirical study. Computers & Education, 122, 273-290.
Lawrence, J. E., & Tar, U. A. (2018). Factors that influence teachers’ adoption and integration of ICT in teaching/learning process. Educational Media International, 55(1), 79-105.
Liang, R. Y. H., & Chen, D. T. (2012). Online learning: Trends, potential and challenges.
Lister, M. (2014). Trends in the design of e-learning and online learning. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(4), 671.
Mishra, L., Gupta, T., & Shree, A. (2020). Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1, 100012.
Villalba, A., González-Rivera, M. D., & Díaz-Pulido, B. (2017). Obstacles Perceived by Physical Education Teachers to Integrating ICT. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 16(1), 83-92.
