e-Learning Technologies

E-learning technologies continue to expand. Today, computer and Internet technologies are more integrated with professional, academic, and personal lives. Instructional designers have access to more and more new flexible technologies, as do learners have a multitude of choices and a Masters in Instructional Design is one avenue of getting there. These technologies are opening ways for courses, seminars, discussion forums and other approaches to learning to be delivered online with innovative ways to interact with instructors and other students. The following are different learning technologies in use today. Various tools are used in e-learning environments.

• Electronic Portfolios (ePortfolios)
• Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS)
• Personal digital assistants (PDAs)
• MP3 Players
• CD-ROM
• Web sites
• Web 2.0 tools
• Discussion and bulletin boards
• Collaborative software
• e-mail
• Blogs
• Wiki
• Chats
• Computer aided testing and assessment
• Educational animation, simulation, and games
• Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Podcasts

While participating in online courses, students use various technology resources for example online lecture environments, testing and assessment, discussion boards, and chat, audio, and video conferencing. Web 2.0 tools are also being integrated into more lessons depending on the actual subject area and instructional strategies employed. Learners also become familiar with the research, and practice of online. In addition students may explore current and future technologies and learning systems which impact e-learning development, management, and implementation.

E-learning goes beyond digital technologies. It is about learners and educators using technology systems to support social interactions and learning. While computers, information technology, and other digital technologies increasingly play an increasing role in education, e-learning often works best when it is combined with face-to-face classroom experience. New e-learning technology continues to become increasingly accessed and implemented by people of all walks of life. Increasingly, the technologies are becoming more integrated as an invisible and ubiquitous part of a global system.

E-learning technologies and advancements have made educational design an important skill for corporate trainers and adult educators to have. A well-designed learning environment helps to improve learning by making information and instructional content available and accessible anytime, from anywhere. Corporate and e-learning trainers and others who are responsible for designing instruction for adults learners must keep pace with changing training and education technology to infuse e-learning into teaching and instructional models.

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