E-Learning Leads to Future of Education
(posted 10/25/04)
by Alexis Franklin, senior journalism major
E-learning is enhancing education at
With e-learning, students and teachers are able to communicate online, take tests and access course material online.
Currently, many of the teachers at Southwestern are taking advantage of e-learning in their on-campus classes. They have posted their Syllabi, class notes, power point presentations, and have used the system to enter and update grades. Students have responded to teacher’s efforts positively.
“E-learning is the best system the school has come up with yet. It’s convenient because we don’t have to worry about tons of paper since it’s all online, and if we miss any of the notes in class we can just go online and get all the information from there,” said Tabitha Green, a business major.
Even a few of the professors have expressed their views on the program. “I like it very much. I couldn’t imagine being without it,” said Erwin Sicher, a social science professor. Sicher uses the program for students to get the notes before class and then add on to them during his lectures. Other professors have encouraged students to use E-learning in other ways. “Students who are interested, can go into the program and answer quiz questions for extra credit in my class,” said history professor Steve Jones. Once students submit their answers, they receive immediate corrections to the questions and the information is sent directly to Jones.
Even with the many advantages, e-learning hasn’t been adapted by all professors at Southwestern. Some have expressed the disadvantages they face with the program.
Sicher is not able to give tests or quizzes through e-learning because of the large size of his classes, and the limited number of computers found in one location at the University. He has also said that due to the graphic nature of his notes the download process for his class material is too slow through a modem connection.
Murray Cox, assistant professor of mathematics, uses e-learning for just about every aspect of his class, including hints for quizzes, homework solutions, and review for tests. "But it's time-consuming to type all of the material," said Cox. "I just have to keep thinking of the advantage I’ll have next year, because I will not have to re-type the information.”
E-learning at Southwestern was created as a course management system in 2000 by Jerry Chi, a business professor, and two SWAU students. It has been revised once since then.
The professors at Southwestern have been using e-learning in different ways. The Adult Degree Program is actually distance learning by video, where classes are
videotaped and then sent to the homes of the students. Teachers then contact students to arrange for tests and quizzes to be taken. “E-learning is the future of our Adult Degree Program,” said Bunch.
For the Adventist Distance Education Consortium (ADEC), the purpose of e-learning is for online classes to be posted by individual schools, providing any student the opportunity to purchase the class and take it from any location. ADEC is used for marketing and provides a “better service for advertising classes,” according to Bunch. So far there are 60 courses posted on the system. Southwestern is joined by three other Adventist colleges and universities,