E-Learning and the Younger Generation

When I think about e-learning, I tend to first think about applications for college-level courses and corporate training applications. However, e-learning is catching on in all types of educational settings.

While working on a project for one of my clients, I came across information about an organization called Time 4 Learning, that specializes in e-learning applications for K-12 education encompassing the areas of language arts, math, science, and social studies.

Time 4 Learning’s products are designed for use as part of a comprehensive home school curriculum, as well as for after-school and enrichment learning.

It makes sense e-learning is an excellent tool for engaging children in active learning. As adults, e-learning is still new to us. That is why we look at e-learning and compare it to traditional learning. Traditional learning is only traditional because it is what we know.

When I was a kid, watching Sesame Street on television was a multi-media learning experience, and looking up something in the encyclopedia meant getting World Book down from the bookshelf. To the school-age children of today, Wikipedia may be the only encyclopedia the ever encounter, and television certainly isn’t multimedia.

It’s interesting to realize that to the generation that is school-aged now, e-learning won’t represent a radical deviation from traditional learning at all.

Just something to think about as we’re deciding to resist or adopt technology.