Behind this term of online course, we can hear a large number of things: in particular, we talk about e-learning, online training, online learning… These are, among other things, websites with an educational scope, teaching based on telematics, and distance learning… we might think that online training is just online training, period. However, no! It is considered to be officially part of ICT, information and communication technologies for education But is this method, this cyber-pedagogy advantageous? This is what we are going to see.
Do not confuse online courses and distance courses
The main difference between the two formats lies precisely in the use of the virtual. Distance learning courses, of which we know a few, well-known ones, the CNED for example, do not use the Internet and online communication. They instead use the telephone for human contact, mail for sending files, courses, and homework of all kinds, and – at a pinch – e-mail for certain information to be transmitted quickly. But in short: no virtual, ergonomic, and virtual platform for monitoring the training.
When it comes to online training, it’s the exact opposite situation: everything happens on the Internet. More precisely, everything happens on a digital platform that students and teachers have access to. Who sets up these platforms? An institute, an organization, a school… any structure authorized to provide courses as part of official education, provided that it is included in the curriculum of a traditional school and can provide access to diplomas recognized by the State.
The online course, a polymorphic model
It can take many forms, to suit all types of students, and all types of training sought. In addition, in general, it has been the subject of intense reflection for several years: we wonder how to maximize the potential of the virtual format while giving learners the desire to continue their training and above all, the means to improve! Solutions have emerged in a few well-thinking minds. Here are a few:
- Gamification: this barbaric and fully assumed Anglicism designates the act by which we will make an online course fun, and interactive. We understood this in marketing, we understood this in video games, and now, we understand this in education: including the learner, the pupil, or the student in the process of developing and formulating the data to be learned, has the effect of making memorization easier, greater interest, more certain the desire to persevere;
- Storytelling: in this case, it is about telling a story. We integrate a character or even several, and then we set the scene, a situation, which we make evolve. Immersed in the story, wanting to know the end, because he identifies with the character, the student begins to learn – without even realizing it – the data of your training module! A method that has proven itself, and has done so for a long time.
Proven results?
Without a shadow of a doubt, online courses prove that they are, at least, up to par, and at best, much more effective than courses taught in a cold, dark, frightening classroom. First, a study published by the North American Department of Education revealed that, on average, students who received their training online obtained better results than those following normal schooling.
Very objectively, the online course is not better than school education because the training is of better quality: it is better because the attention paid by the learners is greater. Because the virtual allows for a new playful interaction, a healthy relationship that is not very convenient to establish in a physical setting, the students are then almost always tempted to perceive the teacher as a big bad guy, the school as a prison, and their classmates, as companions in misery.
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