E-Learning

AKA

eLearning
Electronic Learning
Multimedia Learning

Focus

Teaching advice focused on multimedia learning

Principal Metaphors

  • Knowledge is … information
  • Knowing is … using information
  • Learner is … an information processor (individual)
  • Learning is … inputting (and associated computer-based notions, such as processing, storing, and retrieving)
  • Teaching is … transmission (of information)

Originated

1990s

Synopsis

E-Learning is focused on multimedia learning using digital technologies. E-Learning can be applied to a range of efforts to derive instructional design principles from Cognitive Science research. It is most often associated with Cognitive Load Theory, which is anchored to research into the limitations of working memory, and consequently advice is focused on minimizing distractions and focusing on learner-specific preferences and capacities. Associated discourses include:
  • Augmented Learning (2000s) – a dynamic and highly personalized form of E-Learning in which one’s environment is made to adapt to one’s learning by providing timely experiences (e.g., an appropriate sub-challlenge) and/or focused prompts (e.g., contextual information in a pop-up window) that support sense making and conceptual understanding
  • Interactive Learning (2010s) – a social-networking-based teaching approach, undertaken within urban settings (i.e., with populations sufficient for well-developed digital communications networks, a critical mass of others with common interests, and an accumulation of knowledge specific to the location)
  • Microlearning (Byte-Sized Learning; Episodic Learning; On-Demand Learning) (Theo Hug, 2000s) – Although subject to multiple interpretations and ideological readings, Microlearning is used most often in the context of digital learning environments to refer to strategies of parsing and presenting information in ways intended to increase attention and promote retention. Associated constructs include:
    • Nano Learning (Nano-Learning; Nanolearning) (2020s) – the “packaging” of a topic of interest or concept into a brief, informative, and easily accessible instructional event (e.g., a short video)
  • Offline Learning – in the context of E-Learning, Offline Learning refers to the possibility of using a course while not being online.
  • Online Learning – a phrase that is used in very many ways, sometimes conflicting, with only one clear point of agreement: learning that involves the use of electronic technologies to access information on the Internet. Beyond that point, commentators vary across such defining details as to whether Online Learning can/should be deliberate or accidental, formal or informal, individual of communal, and synchronous or asynchronous.
Theories specifically concerned with offering advice to educators on E-Learning include:
  • Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Multimodal Learning Theory) (Richard Mayer, 1990s) – a perspective on multimedia learning based on two channels for inputting information (auditory, visual) and multiple processing strategies (inc. filtering, selecting, organizing, integrating)
  • Emotional Design Theory of Learning with Digital Media (Jan Plass, Ulas Kaplan, 2010s) – a proposal to include considerations of affective/emotional image when designing multimedia learning experiences
  • Social Agency Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning) (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – a perspective that emphasizes the role of social engagement – and, specifically of social cues – in prompting and enabling cognitive processing. Twelve principles are identified:
    • Coherence Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when extraneous information (inc. unnecessary words, images, and sounds) is avoided
    • Image Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that incorporating a “talking head” (i.e., an image of the presenter) does not necessarily better support one’s learning
    • Modality Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better from the combination of graphics and narrations than from the combination of animations and on-screen text
    • Multimedia Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better from the combination of text and images than from text alone
    • Personalization Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when multimedia presentations are in conversational style (versus academic or other formal style)
    • Pre-Training Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when primed – that is, when they have been alerted to the names and some key aspects of the main concepts
    • Redundancy Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that the combination of graphics and narration is more effective in supporting learning that the combination of graphics, narration, and on-screen text
    • Segmenting Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when a multimedia presentation is parsed in segments that the user can pace
    • Signaling Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when provided with cues signaling organization of essential information
    • Spatial Contiguity Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when text and associated images are close to one another on a page or slide
    • Temporal Contiguity Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when text and associated images are presented at the same time (vs. in sequence)
    • Voice Principle (Richard Mayer, 2010s) – the suggestion that one learns better when narrations are presented in a human (vs. machine) voice

Commentary

While there are a few critical voices associated with E-Learning, most discussions of the topic are uncritically rooted in Cognitivism and linked to the aims and structures of traditional schooling. Consequently, these discussions tend to carry forward a range of uninterrogated and problematic assumptions about what learning is and how it happens. Arguably, the most common advice (e.g., on pacing instruction and attending to learner preference) is little more than familiar practice that has been dressed up as academic insight.

Authors and/or Prominent Influences

Richard E. Mayer; John Sweller; Roxana Moreno

Status as a Theory of Learning

E-Learning is not a theory of learning.

Status as a Theory of Teaching

E-Learning is a perspective on teaching.

Status as a Scientific Theory

Some evidence has been gathered to demonstrated that adhering to E-Learning principles (e.g., pacing the teaching to suit the learner and managing the amount of information presented all at once) will positively influence learning. But that should be a surprise to no-one. E-Learning thus fails to meet any of our criteria for a scientific theory.

Subdiscourses:

  • Augmented Learning
  • Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Multimodal Learning Theory)
  • Coherence Principle
  • Emotional Design Theory of Learning with Digital Media
  • Image Principle
  • Interactive Learning
  • Microlearning (Byte-Sized Learning; Episodic Learning; On-Demand Learning)
  • Modality Principle
  • Multimedia Principle
  • Nano Learning (Nano-Learning; Nanolearning)
  • Offline Learning
  • Online Learning
  • Personalization Principle
  • Pre-Training Principle
  • Redundancy Principle
  • Segmenting Principle
  • Signaling Principle
  • Social Agency Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer’s 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning)
  • Spatial Contiguity Principle
  • Temporal Contiguity Principle
  • Voice Principle

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Please cite this article as:
Davis, B., & Francis, K. (2023). “E-Learning” in Discourses on Learning in Education. https://learningdiscourses.com.


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