E-Business: What is it? - Free from FutureU.Com

The term "e-education" refers to the application of Internet technology to the delivery of learning experiences. E-education takes place in formal electronic classrooms, on corporate intranets used for just-in-time training, audio and video teleconferencing and in a variety of other technology-mediated learning spaces. The primary tools of e-education are e-mail, e-meetings, e-expeditions, and the methodologies of a pedagogy known as e-learning.

E-mail makes it possible for individual learners to communicate with each other and with an instructor, when appropriate.

E-meetings that take place in real-time are known as chats and those that take place independent of time are called discussion forums or conferences. Both of these types of meetings make it possible to carry on facilitated explorations of learning topics. These electronic meetings can be supplemented with other tools such as electronic whiteboards, slide shows, video and audio clips, and so forth.

E-expeditions take participants on adventures into cyberspace or local space to more deeply explore specific topics. These jouneys can include virtual visits to information rich Web sites or face-to-face visits to companies, laboratories, or other environments that best illustrate a particular learning subject. As with e-meetings, the participants can get together in real-time chats, telephone, or video teleconferences, and time-independent, text-based discussion forums—but all accessed from a central Web site or "portal" created especially for the expedition.

E-learning is what happens when participants learn together in an environment that is enriched by technology. E-learning usually involves interaction between learners and materials, between learners and an instructor, and among the learners themselves. In depth exchanges of information facilitated by email, "chat" and "discussion" software are commonly used to create the e-learning environment. In e-learning, learners are often responsbile themselves for the nature, direction, and timing of the learning so that they are able to integrate personal, work team, and organizational needs into a comprehensive learning program.

e-mail + e-meetings + e-expeditions + e-learning = e-education.