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Asynchronous e-Learning lets people learn at anytime.
Self-Paced Courses
The obvious advantage of a self-paced course is convenience. People can get the training they need at any time. This can include just-in-time training where a person gets exactly the training he or she needs to perform a task. Self-paced courses are created with e-learning authoring tools. Self-paced courses can be delivered in many ways including:
- Internet
- Intranet or Local Area Networks
- CD-ROM or DVD
- Wireless
Self-paced courses usually have these features:
- Multimedia: A mix of text, graphics, animation, audio and video to enhance the learning process
- Interactivity: An instructional strategy that helps a learner practice what they have learned
- Bookmarking: Lets the learner stop the course at any time and restart it from the same point
- Tracking: Report the learner's performance within a course to a Learning Management System (LMS)
Some self-paced courses have these advanced features:
- Simulation: Providing practice with a mock-up of a real system
- Online Experts: Provide access to experts through chat or online discussion
- Multiple Bookmarks: Designate one or more pages of the course to access while on the job
- Search: Search through a course to find information required to complete a task
- Notes and Highlights: Mark one or more parts of a course that contain the most important information
To use self-paced courses successfully, you will have to overcome some challenges. Many people need external motivation to take and complete a course of study. Since self-paced courses can be offered without a teacher and without a required completion time there may be many learners who will not enroll or complete the course work. You must be sure that there are professional and/or personal incentives for your learners to take and complete self-paced courses. Some people need help understanding the learning material presented in a course. Since self-paced courses can be offered without teachers, those people may fail to learn. You will need to provide experts who can answer their questions.
Discussion Groups
A discussion group is a collection of conversations that occur over time. Other names for discussion groups are message boards, bulletin boards and discussion forums. A discussion group might start out as a question from an individual. Some time later, another individual responds to that question. Others can respond to the question (creating a thread) or they can start their own conversation (forming another thread). A threaded discussion might also start with a teacher asking an open-ended question that leads to a class discussion. Discussion groups can be used to support a group of people taking the same class or can be used to support people performing similar tasks.
A discussion group is a very efficient way to provide provide expert answers to a large group people. A single answer to a common question can benefit many.