E-learning Technology Overview

There are many descriptions of e-learning that are given in the literature. Carliner and Shank (2016) describe e-learning as a method of engaging Information and Communications Technology (ICT) devices and computer systems to deliver

instruction, information, and learning content to students. Ozuorcun and Tabak

(2012, pp.3) describes “E-learning is the delivery of teaching materials via electronic

media, such as the Internet, intranets, extranets, satellite broadcast, audio/video tape, interactive TV and CD-ROM”. Therefore, e-learning is being regarded as an electronic medium for passing knowledge from the instructor to students as well as a medium to facilitate information dissemination among learners. It is a modern form of education delivery via electronic media to boost the learner’s knowledge and learning skills.

The boom in ICT and dot com in the last two decades has given more acceptability to e-learning, Universities and higher education administrators are taking advantage of the innovation in ICT to design and offer new education packages for teaching and learning through the web which is used to supplement face to face learning (Allen

and Seamans, 2011). E-learning packages have been developed around the world

and according to a 2011 report, over 6.1 million students were taking at least one e-learning course in 2010, with 31% of all students in higher education institutions taking at least one online course (Alsaaty et al., 2016). In another article, the number of students taking at least one e-learning course is approximately 570,000 in a million students. The article further states that while the number of students taking at least one e-learning course is at its highest level

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with a growth rate of 9.3 percent, there is no evidence that the trend will slow in

the near future (Allen and Seamans, 2013).

Apart from the economic benefit, revenue generation and a large student base, e- learning has huge potential growth and provides many advantages to the stakeholders in the education sector who include instructors, students, university administrators, technical and support staff, and funding bodies. According to Curran (2004, pp.1), “e-learning strategies adopted by universities have been approaching the core issue from three common objectives, which are (i) widening access to educational opportunity, (ii) enhancing the quality of learning and (iii) reducing the cost of higher education”.

E-learning is sometimes cheaper for learners than classroom based learning and less expensive to run by education providers. It appears to reduce classroom and facilities costs, travel costs, labour and other overhead costs for students. Carliner and Shank (2016) state that e-learning offers a potential saving over classroom training. However, e-learning also requires substantial investments in technology in terms of hardware cost, software licenses, material development, infrastructure maintenance and staff training and it may not save cost when compared to classroom learning.

All the sources above gave the benefit of e-learning in international context, which are also relevant to Nigeria HE. Furthermore, the benefits of e-learning claimed by researchers from Nigeria include accessibility to information, consistent content delivery, effective knowledge passage, personalized

instruction, content standardization, individual self-pacing, improved

collaboration and interaction (Aboderin, 2015; Osang et al., 2013).

Whilst all the above stated objectives and benefits being reaped in developed countries with the help of advanced technologies, one of the main objectives of e- learning in many developing countries is to provide necessary education to students at

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a cheaper rate (Arkorful and Abaidoo, 2015). While many developing countries have expressed an interest in, and are starting to implement e-learning, it is still at an early stage and its implementation faces obstacles such as insufficient funding, poor infrastructure and technology, technical resources, lack of adequate support from institutions, inadequate legal backing from government, poor policy development and monitoring, and cultural barriers (Nawaz, 2013). Most of the m-learning obstacles mentioned by Nawaz (2013) were relevant to m-learning in Nigeria and were similar to those being encountered by HEIs in Nigeria.

According to Clark and Mayer, (2016) education through e-learning methods could be classified into synchronous and asynchronous learning. The classification also includes online support and knowledge databases. Synchronous learning occurs real- time, in which the instructor and learners are present virtually at the time of learning content delivery. Students log in at a pre-arranged time and communicate with the instructor and with one another. They can also (for example) raise cyber hands during lectures and view a whiteboard. Typical examples of synchronous learning environment are via internet sites, audio- or video-conferencing, and internet telephony. In asynchronous learning, the lecturer and students are not present at the time of content delivery. There is a good interaction among students and the instructor through discussion boards, email exchanges and online blackboards (that is posting of lecture notes and assignments online). A knowledge database in a self- paced hypermedia based learning environment is where learners receive the content media, along with step-by-step instructions for performing specific tasks and study at their own space and time. Learning materials could be recorded on a medium like CD ROM and DVD. It could also be delivered via intranet, internet or the web. Learning could be moderately interactive aided by step-by-step instructions for performing specific tasks with links to reference materials (Ramakrisnan et al., 2011). Online support is part of an e-learning package which offers learners help and advice in the form of (for example) forums, chat rooms, live instant-messaging, discussion groups and tutorials. It gives the chance for more specific questions to be asked with

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immediate answers (Ramakrisnan et al., 2011). These techniques of e-learning can change the approaches in teaching and learning and serve as a viable alternative to classroom education. They encourage motivation and provide new ways of learning and thinking among students. The effectiveness and efficiency of e-learning create innovative methods to deliver instruction through a virtual environment.

Recent developments are transforming teaching strategies in e-learning with extra focus on students and their needs. Additional attention is given to individual learning objectives to make e-learning more effective and efficient than other methods of knowledge delivery. Current trends in modern e-learning education and teaching include adaptive e-learning, personalised learning, games as learning tools (Arkorful and Abaidoo, 2015). Adaptive e-learning is an emerging topic with the aim to develop learning content based on the needs of a particular learner. Brusilovsky states that modern e-learning systems should be clever to integrate different learning content that could be specifically adapted to individual knowledge of the subject, to enable full participation and interaction of the learner in the learning process. He further states that the e-learning navigation space should be suited to respond to the actual learner’s need by limiting browsing space, suggesting relevant links and providing adaptive comments. The e-learning systems that are developed and built to integrate the changing individual user’s needs are known as Adaptive Educational Systems (AES). The AES are able to deliver personalised views of documents based on a user model and a perceived model of the learning environment. The two models are used to make decisions on the contents and navigation space to give to the learners and how best to view the contents (Kim et al., 2013).

Adaptive Educational Systems not only provide for the need of each individual learner, adapting to their learning goal, knowledge level, educational contexts, preferences and learning styles (Kim et al., 2013), but also structure the contents to facilitate instruction and information dissemination to the specific user. During the development of AES, a user model is designed with some parameters which are

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determined by assessing the needs, interests and problems of the user. While most systems use deterministic parameters such as age, personal attributes, and previous knowledge, many systems use cognitive models like learning styles or educational strategies. The challenges of the AES are getting the user model parameters and making the configuration in real time.

Another new development in e-learning is the change brought by the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, which focus on people interactions and collaboration within a community. Web 2.0 technology has the prospective to provide students with personalised learning activities according to students learning styles and gives learning experiences that are personally meaningful, collaborative, and socially

relevant(Kurilovas and JUŠKEVIČIENĖ, 2014). Web 2.0 applications which include

blogs, wikis, social media or social networking sites, allow a learner to interact with other learners, gain from one another experience and develop their own knowledge. According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), social media comprise of internet-based applications which are built on the ideological and technological fundamentals of Web 2.0 and they also permit the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

The emergence of Web 2.0 came along with e-learning 2.0. While Web 2.0 technologies use social media for socializing and connecting friends, family and collaboration within a social community, e-learning 2.0 caters for the educational aspect, and it is an improvement on the previously known e-learning platforms. Rather than essentially receiving, reading, and responding to learning content in a conventional e-learning environment, e-learning 2.0 permits learners to create content and to collaborate with group peers to form a learning network with delivery of content creation and responsibilities (Wu and Zhang, 2014). Furthermore, it makes use of different source of content aggregation into learning experiences and a variety of tools such as online references, courseware, knowledge management and collaboration.

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As e-learning gains acceptability and maturity, m-learning emerges. M-learning is considered as an integral part of, and a derivation from, e-learning (Ozuorcun and Tabak, 2012). The next section discusses m-learning in detail. Although m-learning and e-learning are closely related and share many similarities, there are still some distinctions between the two platforms. E-learning is considered to be “tethered” (connected to something) and presented in a formal and structured way. In contrast, m-learning is usually self-paced, un-tethered and mostly informal in presentation. Mobile learning can be thought of as mobile devices integrated with e-learning, so that the mobile technology will provide benefits for students in studying both inside and outside the classroom, allowing access to course materials and interaction with their teachers and classmates through websites and mobile apps.