Portals - New Learning Highway

Portal… I always associate it with an “entry” or “gateway”. In learning, it’s an “entry to knowledge” or a “library”. The word "portal" is derived from the Latin word porta, which means “gate”. In the strictest sense of the word, anything that acts as a gateway to anything else is a portal.

There was a time when the only portals I knew were those I encountered from playing games over the internet or other off line devices. In such games, you may play as a warrior battling for forces – “masters” or “the boss”, so to speak. You use a magic scroll or you’ll have some special powers for the battle to open a dazzling, if not, a mysterious gateway to lead you to the next stage of the game or acts as a gateway to the warrior’s base. In the network, the portal server acts as gateway to the enterprise.

Never have I thought that portals could be associated with various terms and tools; not until internet or the World Wide Web was introduced to us. The evolution of portal concept can be traced back from its early beginnings.

Ever since internet users discovered online courses, learning portals have been sprouting like mushrooms all over the web. A learning portal is a collection of off-the-shelf courses and/or knowledge from different vendors and references. It serves as an on-line library where you could get information you need real time. It makes it easier for users to locate online courses. You can find tutorials, training programs and academic courses. As others perceived learning portals to be focusing on computer and technical courses while in reality, it hosts an endless spectrum of all possible topics catering to general audiences. Some learning portals also offer books and discussion groups. Individual learners can sign up, pay for and take variety of courses at a single site to save themselves from trouble of queuing, look for references or books, signing from the traditional library and return the books at a specific period of time.

Learning portals nowadays give business intelligence for collecting and analyzing business information. This includes the technology used and information obtained from an organization’s processes. Some learning portals focus on the concept of on-line service and customization can be extended to a whole new level. In the workplace, lower administration costs, better efficiencies and higher employee satisfaction can be offered. On an individual perspective or practitioners, it makes it more convenient for them to work on their own and have more information gathered than usual.

By and large, portals can help deliver learning to a geographically solitary workforce effectively. This sturdy training solution is particularly well-suited for small and medium-size businesses that don't have the need or resources for full-scale custom course development, learning management software, or a large implementation and all boils down to one objective – “to extend knowledge and information to a wider range of learners around the globe in the most convenient way.”

By: Kay Ching

e – Learning – Its Importance & Present Scenario

Several years before the term ‘eLearning’ was coined, researchers set out on conducting studies to find out the most effective medium for education and training –From Socratic dialogues to the education of the cane, from drill and practice to group work and open learning – all different Instructional Design patterns. Unfortunately, all these studies pointed to one basic result – there is no significant difference between types of media used in terms of their effectiveness of delivery. This result points us in the direction that choice of medium does not guarantee effectiveness. Having that in mind let us look at one of the most frequently used terms in recent times when it comes to learning mode – eLearning – some of its major aspects, its major advantages and some issues associated with it.

Multimedia and the internet have opened up a totally new angle to look at things. Computer-Based Training (CBT) and Web-Based Training (WBT) are the common forms or names that eLearning has had in its short period of existence - a little more than 2 decades. As opposed to this, e-Learning precisely refers to ‘computer enhanced learning’. As we know, Knowledge transfer or K-Transfer is the basic idea of any learning or training process. But any intention of keeping abreast with the modern day technologies and ever-evolving trends makes it inevitable to foster knowledge on the fast track. This is where eLearning can be of great help and has admirably gained enough ground in today’s training scenario. Like any other topic of major discussion, eLearning has its own strong points and issues in various aspects. We will discuss some of its highlights and sign off giving some important issues that you must consider before choosing eLearning as your mode of learning.

Knowing about the eLearning types is essential for the purpose of understanding its importance. eLearning can be delivered through two major ways – offline and online. Offline learning refers to training materials delivered to the learners in the form of audio visual presentations through CDs while online learning refers to web based training where interaction between learners and the trainers is possible.

A strong case has been made on how eLearning can greatly help Organizations in today’s marketplace, by a lot of research out there. Here are some not-so-new but underlying factors supporting that idea.

• Most people in today’s workplace environment have very little time for enhancing their knowledge. However, the demands of increasing workplace competence keep escalating. eLearning offers the ease of Self-paced Learning so that the learners can use their least productive hours in a day for getting trained

• “Adults learn by doing, not by seeing” is a cliché, especially if you are from the performance improvement area of business. eLearning can provide the Active Learning Experience that people need, through multimedia interactivity making it more interesting engaging and compelling for the learners.

• “People learn differently”- eLearning takes this very component to its advantage by empowering the learners by providing a gamut of resources in their field of study and making their experience more personalized.

While the number of reasons here look too minimal for you to accept a paradigm shift from face-to-face learning to eLearning methods, this just about sums up the whole idea.

Save time, Cut down costs and still improves competence.

Looks like the best bet... But how come it is not so prevalent?! Like any other issue, eLearning has lot of factors that keep it from being completely viable.

• Appropriate technical infrastructure – eLearning requires the learner to have access to the computer and sometimes the internet, during the training session and it might not be completely possible in every Institution for all the trainings. Evaluation of the personnel based on the trainings can also become a pain if proper procedures are not followed.

• Basic knowledge about computers & internet – Having the technology is one thing and being able to make use of it properly is another. So apart from having access to the appropriate technology it is also important the learner gets familiar with how to use it.

• Personal interest & motivation – Above all the technical and competency requirements, the motivation level of the individual learner plays a major role in making the eLearning program effective, simply because of the lack of physical presence of a trainer or mentor.

This article summing up the strong points and problem areas might just be another page that you flipped through or the first time that you ever came across eLearning. At the end we just want you to take home, the point that we mentioned at the start.

When it comes to training and education, there are few "rights" and "wrongs", but there is a lot of "suitable" and "unsuitable". And it's the task of instructional designers and educational strategists to find out what's suitable where and when. So, let’s face it: there is no right way of learning (or teaching)! But today, with the modern multimedia technology offering a variety of opportunities and avenues for learners to improve their skills, we have more opportunities than ever to make learning interesting, fun, challenging and useful - eLearning is definitely one of them and in our opinion stands right on top.

By: Dr Til, Kay & Karthik