These are notes prepared during the
National Seminar on Classroom Practices in Teaching English organized
by Holy Trinity College of Education, Melpalai,
Edaicode, Kanyakumari on 9 February 2013
From the Plenary on Technology for ELT
The technology revolution also called
the Blue Revolution some say is dead. Newer methods of communication and
Educational Technology have
revolutionized the way teaching happens
in the classroom. Today it is even possible to attend an e-seminar from the comfort of your home.
When Bernard Luskin in 2001 coined the
term e-learning, ‘e’ stood for exciting, energetic , enthusiastic,
emotional and educational.
e-learning benefits include
: convenience, self service,
on-demand (at any time and any where), private learning, self-paced
learning and flexibility. e-learning can be made media-rich, it is
repeatable and easier to monitor progress.The greatest advantage of e-content is that it is consistent as there is control of content, same quality
of content for all and possible to provide same quality of
education for all.
The delivery methods in e-learning can be Synchronous or Asynchronous. In Synchronous
the delivery and reception happens at the same time, though the teacher and the
learner may physically be separate from each other. In Asynchronous mode,
creation of material happens at one time
and learning at another time.
A major observation of the Web-based Education Commission is as follows: ‘There is no going back...The
traditional classroom has to be
transformed’.
Teaching refers the point of production and
learning the point of consumption. In
the 21st century learning
environments widely vary... Each learner has a unique style of learning and
unique requirement. Every problem has unique characteristics too. Today there
is a paradigm shift in learning.
Early adopters have experimented with various media formats and delivery
options and realized that Blended Learning
is the most suitable form of delivery.
Blended Learning is learning that is facilitated by the effective
combination of different modes of delivery, models of teaching and styles of
learning and applying them in an interactively meaningful learning environment.
There is no hard and fast rule or a fixed formula for use of technology for a
Blended Learning programme. It is all about the right blend. It depends on an
analysis of the learners’ requirements, their level of understanding, competencies at stake, the
nature and location of the audience and
the resources available. The focus of
the classroom shifts from a presentation format to one of active learning.
Blended learning enhances individualization, personalization
and relevancy. Today Blended Learning has emerged as a natural choice for
training in companies. Advances of technology
will definitely have an impact on emerging models of Blended Learning.
Key words: e-learning, e-content,
Blended Learning
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