Enabling e-Learning is the Ministry of Education’s online ‘hub’ for ICT-related education resources and programmes in New Zealand, bringing together everything that school leaders and teachers need to improve their e-learning practice. Enabling e-Learning will continually evolve and change in response to feedback from New Zealand schools and communities. We want to hear from you what you’re doing in the e-Learning space, so please visit us regularly and share what works and what doesn’t, and all your news and views.
Enabling e-Learning is defining ‘e-learning’ as learning and teaching that is facilitated by or supported through the appropriate use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
e-Learning can cover a spectrum of activities from supporting learning to blended learning (the combination of traditional and e-learning practices), to learning that is delivered entirely online.
Whatever the technology, learning is the vital element. e-Learning is not simply associated with modes of delivery or the functionality of a particular technology, but forms part of a conscious choice of the best and most appropriate ways of promoting effective learning.
Best practice e-learning enables accessible, relevant, and high-quality learning opportunities that improve student engagement and achievement. e-Learning has the potential to transform the way teaching and learning takes place. It is about using technologies effectively across the curriculum to connect schools and communities and to provide accessible, relevant, and high-quality learning opportunities so that every student is better able to achieve their full potential.
e-Learning consultant Karen Melhuish Spencer explains the key components to effective e-learning. It is important to identify students' strengths and needs in terms of the curriculum then design learning experiences using effective pedagogy. Select technology that will support or enhance this - rather than choosing the technology first.
e-Learning and pedagogy
Information and communication technology (ICT) has a major impact on the world in which young people live. Similarly, e-learning (that is, learning supported by or facilitated by ICT) has considerable potential to support teacher actions promoting student learning.
For instance, e-learning may:
- assist the making of connections by enabling students to enter and explore new learning environments, overcoming barriers of distance and time
- facilitate shared learning by enabling students to join or create communities of learners that extend well beyond the classroom
- assist in the creation of supportive learning environments by offering resources that take account of individual, cultural, or developmental differences
- enhance opportunities to learn by offering students virtual experiences and tools that save them time, allowing them to take their learning further.
Schools should explore not only how ICT can supplement traditional ways of teaching but also how it can open up new and different ways of learning.
The multiple colours featured within the Enabling e-Learning icon represent the different aspects that schools need to consider to effectively integrate best practice e-learning into teaching programmes. The converging patterns reference groups and individual learners coming together to form online communities of interest. The symbol also reflects the action/reflection cycle of learning and the nautilus symbol of The New Zealand Curriculum.