E-learning unleashes its real Power

Years back as a new entrant to the e-learning industry I found professionals going gungho about the benefits of e-learning. Today after all these years of learning on e-learning I realize that even at that time there were very few (in India) who could actually summarize the benefits of e-learning beyond the usual ‘global reach, lesser costs’ theory. Few could actually peer on futuristics.

E-learning today is working wonders. David Dewhurst, the Professor of e-learning at Edinburgh University has achieved a rare feat of actually saving thousands of animals from being slaughtered through his powerful computer simulations.

As always, I maintain that the key to a successful e-learning initiative is to understand change, understand that learning should be freed from the parochial clutches of professionals who do not want to look beyond Instructional Designing. Today, one has to think about the frontier. And to that end a professional experience in e-learning can replace the cognitive rigours of academics. Its the scholar who can unfolding knowledge from the darkest legions of the human mind.

Perhaps this will take a while to change, bogged as e-learning resources are with offshored work that goes little beyond working on Instructional Designing and development. Perhaps it will come at a later time when Indian e-learning professionals will realize that what they have missed in their long career in e-learning is the ability to think out of the box, of the far-fetched, innovative possibilities. Right now the issue is about survival, of feeding dependants, of two square meals a day.