On line class : Norm among talagana state

Manu Sood1, Virender Singh2

1
Department of Computer Science, H.P. University, Shimla
[email protected]
2
GGDSD College, Sector-32, Chandigarh
[email protected]

Abstract - Education through internet is becoming one of the most domineering forms among all other forms of
education. A lot of effort is being put in to improve the quality of learning and to improve the relationship among
learners and their teachers. Advanced development in the field of virtual education relies on the technologies being
used on the internet. E-learning has become very popular in western countries in the past few years but developing
countries like India have not yet been able to keep pace with their western counterparts as far as adaptation to such a
concept is concerned. Keeping this scenario in mind the authors in this work have tried to find how do the students

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of technical courses in the higher education in North India use this new learning methodology and how do they react
to it. It is in this context that this paper analyzes the usage of e-learning tools by these students of technical courses.
It brings out the response analysis of the same set of students (those who use traditional learning methods only as
well as those who, in addition, use e-learning methods) on the issues about the role of e-Learning in their studies.
Keywords: e-learning, issues in role of e-learning, e-learning tools, e-learning methods

Introduction sector especially the industrial sector is progressively

ICT revolution has given a boom to ‘learning switching over to e-learning methodologies for
economy’ whereas the real strength of an individual training their staff and preferring e-learning
or institution, region or a country is determined by techniques over a workforce of large number of hired
the way it reacts to new knowledge and make the best trainers. This ensures the optimal use of two of the
use of it [1]. This has increased the demand for e- most crucial resources i.e. money and time in any
learning at the formal as well as informal sector of organization. Even in the formal education sector of
education. E-learning supports use of Information higher education nowadays, many universities/
and Communication Technologies (ICT) [2]. institutes are offering a number of online courses to
Therefore, e-learning is based upon anywhere- its students in two modes – 1) as a support to their
anytime learning content generated using videos, traditional courses and 2) as pure online courses. The
audio, text, animations and/or simulation to enrich students enrolled in these online courses can even
the learning process. appear for their examinations online saving lot of
At present we can feel that the knowledge is available hassles for them as well as the educational
all around us and it has been possible through the institutions.
techniques of e-learning. In the informal education

E-learning is made possible through Internet, It provides learning platforms to people who have the
intranets, even CDs and DVDs or their combinations. quest to learn anytime and anywhere. It also includes

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learning online from the experts as an alternative to which include teachers such as Nanayakkara in [3],
face-to-face training. E-learning provides training or Yuen & Ma in [4] as well as some students such as
educational courses with the help of some electronics Keller, et al. in [5] and Masrom in [6] through their
equipment such as a) a computer or a mobile studies conducted have thrown some light on the
computing device like a notebook, a tab or a smart concepts and usage of technology for the purpose of
mobile phone, b) some multimedia support e-learning. But incidentally, these studies are
equipment in the form of mike, speakers, video restricted to the developed nations only where the
camera, LCD projectors, CDROMs/DVDs, touch availability and affordability of technology support
screens, light pens, smart boards, video-conferencing for e-learning is not much of an issue. But
etc, c) some communication and telecommunication availability and affordability of technology in the
support equipments used in addition to Local Area or developing and under-developed countries are two
Wide Area Networks. In addition to these electronic very critical issues and India too, is no exception in
this case. The authors find from the available
literature that no extensive research has been
conducted in this direction as far as Indian students
(especially North Indian) are concerned. This
equipments, e-learning also needs a solid support research paper is an attempt to achieve the following
from some very accurate quality softwares. objectives. Both qualitative and quantitative
Many software programs are being developed for approaches have been associated with this work so as
supporting the concepts of e-leaning and efforts are to achieve these research objectives.
on to replace the blackboard-chalk system prevalent 1. Understand the meaning of e-Learning
in the more traditional education systems in the 2. Highlighting the usage of tools of e- Learning
developing countries, to say the least. The e-learning among students of technical courses.
has also introduced the concept of virtual teachers. 3. Response Analysis of the students on issues
Although some or all of these virtual facilities are about the role of e-Learning in their studies.
available in India, especially the North Indian part for (The survey data includes the responses of the
past so many years but the status of usage of these e- students of technical courses who use only
learning facilities has not been in the public domain traditional methods for learning and of the
till date. The authors could not find any authentic students who use e-learning in addition to
literature either on the usage of e-learning tools by traditional methods of learning.)
the students of technical courses in higher education The research tool used for the purpose was the
or on the issues involved in the role of e-learning as questionnaires and the target audience was the
far as the formal education of these students is students of the following courses: a) Bachelor of
concerned. Computer Applications (BCA), b) Master of Science
In order to popularize e-learning, the concept of the (Information Technology) i.e. M.Sc. (IT), and c) Post
technology involved in it must be first popularized Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications
among its various stakeholders. Various researchers (PGDCA). These students belonged to a) Department

of Computer Science & Application, Punjab University (PU), Chandigarh, b) GGDSD College,

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(affiliated to PU), Chandigarh, c) SGGS College transactions management etc. It is not just helpful to
(affiliated to PU), Chandigarh and Dev Samaj the students but for also to the
College (affiliated to PU), Chandigarh. The students teacher/instructors/trainers as well as to the
belonged to two categories: 1) ones who use the administrator. Two basic forms available for virtual
traditional methods of learning and 2) the ones who learning environment are: a) commercial mode and b)
use e-learning as a support to their traditional non-commercial mode which also supports the
methods of learning. The data obtained from the concepts of open source. Some of the e-learning
students through the questionnaires was stored in environments which are extremely popular among e-
SPSS V16 software for further data analysis and learners are WebCT, smart class and Modular Object-
inference of results. Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment
(MOODLE).
E-Learning As such, there is huge difference between the
E-learning is also known with a lot of other names traditional method of classroom learning and e-
depending upon the purpose for which it is being

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learning in a virtual environment. Virtual learning at
times, takes a toll on the learner because the onus of
learning is squarely on learner himself/herself.
used, such as: Learning Support System (LSS), Although the learners have anytime anywhere
Learning Management System (LMS), Managed accessibility to the learning material, it is absolutely
Learning Environment (MLE), Virtual Learning learner’s own choice to decide on up to what extent
Environment (VLE), Learning Platform (LP) and the learner wishes to make use of it. Virtual learning
Course Management System (CMS) [7]. On one environment focuses predominantly more on the
hand, the countries like United States of America use solutions to the problems that may occur to a learner
the term CMS to represent e-learning system, on the at various levels of subjective learning and its focus
other hand, in the European countries it is referred to is lesser on the subject itself. The learning content
as VLE. The purpose of e-learning is served by a remains the same for all types of learners unlike the
computing system that integrates a lot of software, traditional class room teaching where the teacher has
hardware and networking components in order to the options to accommodate various types of learners.
provide a simpler but effective user interface to fulfill In the traditional learning the learning is a long
the requirements of different levels of stakeholders in process which requires dedication and hard-work
the easiest possible manner. A number of learning from both ends i.e. learner as well as the teacher. A
tools such as multimedia, still graphics, video, music, teacher does not only have to play the role of an
text, moving graphics and many more can also be the guide but also of a motivator in case the student
integral part of an effective e-learning system. needs periodic push and encouragement, not just of
Along with the provision of a user interface, virtual an instructor but also a mentor who shows the right
learning environment also takes care of database direction to the learners at the right time and also
handling, files management, feedback management, warn the learner in case the teacher senses something
content management, content delivery, financial

odd. It is largely the teacher’s responsibility to judge the behavior of the learner and act accordingly.

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E-learning originated around 1980 as a support to the guidance and unawareness. Although e-learning was
traditional learning only. It was believed at that time not found to be successful to a great extent in the said
that e-learning only includes mechanical ways of rural areas, the authors nevertheless suggested that
teaching such as instruction and rules [8],[9]. But the future could help in decreasing the gap between
Ellis in 2004 stated that it also included training rich class and lower class in these areas.
through visuals and audio [10]. Ellis suggested that The following are some of the most important
online learning was possible only through tools advantages and disadvantages of e-learning:
which were web-based as technological traits were Advantage of e-learning
inherent in the literal meaning of this term and 1. Full time availability (supports anywhere-
discarded the argument given by authors like Nichols anytime concept)
in [11] who did not consider the web at all as a part 2. Better clarity of concepts due of the presence of
of online learning. In 2004, Tavangarian et al. [12] as additional resources in the form of videos, audios,
well as Triacca et al. [13] firmly argued that the animations, simulations, blogs, experts’ help etc.
technology could never replace the classroom

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3. It saves money as well as time and helps in the
development at individual levels through
teaching. They used the constructivist theoretical personal interactions with teachers/experts.
model to show that there was a complete 4. Students always have a number of alternative
transformation in every aspect of an individual resources to satisfy their learning needs.
through e-learning. The authors in [10],[13] proposed 5. Each individual learner can learn at his/her
that there should be some interactive sessions convenient pace. There is no need for this pace to
associated with e-learning so that the learners can static or constant which can also vary dynamically
truly benefit from it. Although the authors in [13] for each individual.
also believed that the concept of e-learning is just 6. It provides a faster mechanism to the learners
online learning. get their progress evaluated at different levels
Anand et al. conducted a study in 2012 to find out the and by different set of teachers/experts.
effect of e-learning on the growth of an individual 7. The learners can get faster feedbacks and solutions
especially in rural areas of India [14]. The main to their queries.
findings of this study were that the proper bandwidth Disadvantages of E-learning
in the networks was not available there, and e-trainers 1. The human touch is missing.
were not willing to deliver knowledge to the learners 2. There is always a danger for de-motivated
due to various reasons. It was found that only 48% of learners to be left behind.
the people have benefitted by using e-learning in any 3. The developing countries lack in proper
form in the areas of getting better jobs, getting infrastructural support like networks, cheaper
employed and other aspects of life. Some of the bandwidth, availability of working
stumbling blocks in the path of successful usage of e- infrastructures, power etc.
learning as pointed out by the authors were improper

4. As there is no scope of face-to-face interactions the absence of direct social interactions.

most of the times, the learners are bound to feel 5. Interaction with teacher/instructor/expert may not

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 always be possible. collected through the questionnaires so as to find out
6. The role of the teacher is being usurped by the the type of uses of different techniques of e-learning -
trainers who may not be an expert in the area video-conferencing, emails, search engines,
concerned. audio/video tapes, virtual class rooms or
7. The learning content is mostly the same for all CDROMs/DVDs. It has been found that 54% of
the types of learners. students never used video-conferencing and 15% had
8. Unreliable Internet connections are the biggest somehow used it at their coaching centers. It was
stumbling blocks. only 11% students who were using the video-
9. Managing learning software can involve a conferencing facilities regularly for their studies.
learning curve. Electronic mail was being used by all students and
10. It is really difficult to offer traditional courses around 97% students admitted that they definitely
through e-learning mechanisms.

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used search engines to find out answers to their
queries related to the courses of their respective
studies.
Always Occasionally Once Only Never
Table 1: Data on Usage of E-Learning Tools
11. Not so much tech-savvy learners may feel initial Video Conferencing 11.0 15.0 20.0 54.0
Emails 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
hitches while starting the e-learning process. The
Search Engines 97.0 3.0 0.0 0.0
developing and underdeveloped countries have a Audio/Video Tapes 10.0 31.0 0.0 59.0
large segment of population that is not tech-savvy. Virtual Classrooms 0.0 0.0 2.0 98.0

12. The availability of the courses of your choice in CDROMs/DVDs 0.0 0.0 5.0 95.0

a specific language or context is also an issue. The audio/video tapes were also not found to be
The courses largely cannot be tailor-made. much popular since 59% of the students had never
13. There are no national or international quality used these. Only 31% were using it occasionally and
standards in place for the e-learning course it is only 10% students who used these tools on
material and/or their content. regular basis. As one can see in table 1, the virtual
14. The learners, at times, cannot afford the cost of class rooms are not at all popular among the students
quality e-learning courses. since 98% of the students conveyed that they had
15. Some other social issues such as lack of never used the one. Almost the same is the case with
acceptability of e-learning courses in reference CDROMs/DVDs. Therefore, it can be inferred from
to employability, especially in Indian context the table 1, that barring the emails and search engine,
may produce resistance to this type of learning. all other tools were not popular among the population
of our data source. All other e-learning tools seemed
Usage of E-Learning Tools to be something out of the world to these set of
The knowledge and skill of the set of students as students since these were unknown to the majority of
mentioned above were analyzed from the data the students.

Response Analysis of Students on Issues about students through the said questionnaires on eleven issues
Role of e-Learning in Their Studies (as given in the table) about the role of e- learning in their
respective studies. The average responses of the students
Table 2 has been created from the data gathered from
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 using e-learning along with traditional learning and concept of Important Component of my Course is
the students using only traditional learning on issues 4.98 ± 0.42 which was significantly different (p <
about the role of e- learning in their studies have been 0.05) than the score of the latter i.e. 3.02 ± 0.47.
shown in the table.
The score of the former on the concept of Makes
Table 2: Analysis of Students’ Responses
Course more Enjoyable is 4.46 ± 0.25 which is
significantly different (p < 0.05) than the score of the
latter i.e. 3.04 ± 0.42. The score of the former on the
concept of College/ University not smart enough in
using the concept is 2.98 ± 0.52 which was
significantly different (p < 0.05) than the score of the
latter i.e. 4.01 ± 0.51. The score of the former on the
Students Related Issues E-Learning Traditional concept of e-learning helps in Interacting with more
p–value
about Role of E-Learning Mean SD Mean SD
Important Element of my 4.02 0.56 3.56 0.52 < 0.05 and other Students is 3.98 ± 0.56 which is
Course significantly different (p < 0.05) than the score of the
Unable to study without e- 4.12 0.47 3.43 0.51 < 0.05 latter i.e. 2.12 ± 0.42.
learning

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Important Component of 4.98 0.42 3.02 0.47 < 0.05
my Course
Makes Course more 4.46 0.25 3.04 0.42 < 0.05
Enjoyable
College/University not 2.98 0.52 4.01 0.51 < 0.05
smart enough in using the
concept
e-learning helps in 3.98 0.56 2.12 0.42 < 0.05
Interacting with more and
other Students
Computers are difficult 2.02 0.47 4.13 0.42 < 0.05
Using technological devices 2.42 0.32 3.96 0.56 < 0.05
are difficult
Getting access to 2.47 0.36 4.02 0.52 < 0.05
interconnected computers
are problem
Studying Becomes easier 4.14 0.56 2.97 0.56 < 0.05
Good to have more e- 3.96 0.56 4.14 0.52 < 0.05
learning courses Figure 1a: Average Scores of Students
(First Five Issues)

As shown in the table 2, the score of the former on The score of the former on the concept of Computers
the concept of Important Element of my Course is are difficult is 2.02 ± 0.47which is significantly
4.02 ± 0.56 which is significantly different (p < 0.05) different (p < 0.05) than the score of the latter i.e.
than the score of the latter i.e. 3.56 ± 0.52. The score 4.13 ± 0.42. The score of the former on the concept
of the former on the concept of Unable to study of Using technological devices are difficult is 2.42 ±
without e-learning is 4.12 ± 0.47 which is 0.32 which is significantly different (p < 0.05) than
significantly different (p < 0.05) than the score of the
the score of the latter i.e. 3.96 ± 0.56. The score of
latter i.e. 3.43 ± 0.51. The score of the former on the

the former on the concept of Getting access to interconnected computers are problem is 2.47 ± 0.36
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which is significantly different (p < 0.05) than the issues about the role of the e–
score of the latter i.e. 4.02 ± 0.52. The score of the learning in the studies is concerned.
former on the concept of Studying Becomes easier is
4.14 ± 0.56 which is significantly different (p < 0.05) Conclusion
than the score of the latter i.e. 2.97 ± 0.56. The advancements in internet and organizational
structures have made a great impact on the ways the
The score of the former on the concept of Good to
knowledge is transferred and it is perceived. The high
have more e–learning courses is 3.96 ± 0.56 which is
band width Internet of today supports everything
significantly different (p < 0.05) than the score of the
ranging from information in textual form to
latter i.e. 4.14 ± 0.52. Figure 1a and figure 1b present
streaming audios and videos and the simulations as
graphically, the average scores of students on the
well. E-learning as a virtual learning environment
issues of role of e-learning in their studies (first five depends heavily on this Internet. The developed
issues out of 11 issues in figure 1a and remaining six countries have long been supporting online learning

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issues in figure 1b respectively). through e-learning has a bright future ahead. The
developed countries like India have also of-late
started to reap the benefits of e-learning. The authors
of this paper have collected data through various
questionnaires from the students of higher education
in technical courses in north India and have shown
that out of the six tools considered for the response
from the students using e-learning, only emails and
search engines are the one that are popular among
these students. Rest of the tools under consideration
has not been popular among these students that use e-
learning. Also the responses of these students on
eleven numbers of issues about the role of e-learning
in their studies were analyzed. As expected, it has
been proved from this data that the perception of the
Figure 1b: Average Scores of the Students students using e-learning in addition to traditional
(Last Six Issues) learning is the same for all the eleven issues under
consideration. Also, the perception of these same set
Therefore, it is clear that there is significant of students on all these eleven issues is significantly
difference between the average responses of the different from the perception of those students who
students using e–learning along with traditional are using the traditional learning methods only.
learning and the students using only traditional
learning techniques as far as their perception on References
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