When initially introduced, elearning was met with a lukewarm response. Students and teachers had difficulty accepting it as a credible method of learning. There were several barriers such as infrastructure and accessibility to the internet. However, it is because of the proliferation of technology and its use in business that elearning received a reboot. Business education was suddenly looking towards the benefits of elearning and by changing the approach in elearning and making it more student-need focused, it has now reached a stage where its on the upward trend.
Business education requires students to be practical, disciplined, focused and self-motivated. While traditional education follows a set pattern and may not be able to provide these qualities to a student, elearning provides a platform for learning as well as developing these qualities. This is because elearning requires the student to set his/her own timetable. This means if a student is to really gain benefit through a course online, the student must be disciplined and self-motivated.
Businesses across the globe are looking for such individuals who make an effort to go the extra mile. A student who has learned an essential business skill through his/her own effort innately displays this quality. Such a student may stand a better chance at landing a job in comparison to someone with traditional education. Thus, elearning and business education go pretty much hand-in-hand and are truly complementary to each other.
An important factor that makes elearning a preferred learning method increasingly among the business education segment is its interactivity. The engaging student platforms, interactive videos, gamification and animations take away the monotony of a lesson and make learning fun. Many of the students taking online courses are those who are already working. For such students, traditional education is not usually an option as they cannot quit their jobs. Moreover, often they wish to learn a specific skill. Several renowned universities and colleges have recognised this need and now provide fully-accredited online courses to students. This has also improved the acceptability of such courses among employers, thereby increasing the number of students opting for online courses.
The online courses offer the opportunity of accessibility in remote areas, convenience of time and place, scalability as well as affordability. Any traditional course involves, apart from the course fees, the travel, parking and at times residential expenses. This is added to the cost of doing the course. Elearning reduces these costs as it allows a student to do the course from a place of his/her choice. By filling these need-gaps and making courses more student-focused, elearning is definitely poised to become a much-preferred method of learning, especially for business education.