This document discusses e-learning versus traditional learning and proposes elements for an effective e-learning design for basic and high school education in scenarios with low student motivation and access issues. It suggests that e-learning can work if courses are structured, include online content and practice material, and provide centralized monitoring and testing. Specifically, it recommends tailored online courses, interactive practice quizzes, shared access to devices, both supervised and unsupervised learning, real-time monitoring of student progress, and online exams to replace in-person testing. The goal is to design hybrid digital and human-supported systems that use technology to supplement trained local teachers and proctors.

1. April ‘20
E-learning
:some thoughts & ideas:

2. E-learningvstraditionallearning
• Learning happens in a context and for a purpose
• It takes different forms depending on its goal
• But the end goal is always to get a more educated student
• Designing an effective e-learning ecosystem will depend on understanding the
underlying ecosystem and its goals
It’s not very different

3. Whatkindoflearningdowewanttotackle
Some scenarios
Mass eduction for primary/
secondary students
Training people on the job
for a specific skill
Specialised skills for
motivated adults
Self study for general
learning

4. Whatmodesoflearningdoweuse?
And do we need to test ?
No testing
Self-testing
Formal testing
Certification
Self-study
Lecturing
Tutoring
Learning Mode Testing Mode

5. So where does e-learning fit ?
It depends.

6. Scenario1
• Students are likely to be distributed
• So access to course work is an issue
• The coursework is regimented and specific
• So the courses must be very structured
• Motivation levels are low
• Specially in poorer communities, there has to be a strong element of supervision
• Monitoring needs are high
• Unless strict testing in done at a mass scale, there is no real way to determine progress
Mass education for grades 8-12

7. Scenario2
• Motivation levels are relatively high
• People have to sign-up for these course, they are not automatically recruited like
in mass primary education
• Passive supervision would be sufficient
• The course material is likely highly technical
• High interactivity for understanding
• There is already a standardised test that learners can take
• No testing needed - learners will take the routine certification exam
Specific skills for a certification exam like B-tech

8. Let’sdigintoscenario1
• Large volumes - virtually all children need to be enrolled
• Need a scalable solution
• Dispersed students
• Need access
• Low motivation, low participation, high dropout rate
• Still need human interaction and followup
• Mass / regular / consistent testing needed to monitor progress
And see if e-learning can help

9. Elementsforagoode-learningdesign
For Basic / high school scenaio
Online Course
material
2
• Course material needs to be tailored to online presentation
• Condensed, bite-sized, one session at a time
• Use online opportunity to add video / audio content
Online Interactive
practise material
3
• Self-paced quiz material with progress tracking
• Motivated students can go the extra mile to practice
• Unmotivated students can be assigned and queried
Access to online
1
• Goes without saying that internet access is a pre-condition
• Tablets / devices at low cost
• But lack of access can be mitigated through directed classrooms where fewer devices
can be shared and projected

10. Supervised as well
as un-supervised
4
• In areas with good school infrastructure, local teachers can be trained to adapt to e-
learning
• In area of low access, volunteers can be recruited and trained to set up ad-hoc
learning centres, their role would be more of proctors
Centralised /
Realtime Monitoring
5
• The enrolment, progress monitoring, attendance, etc of each student can be centrally
reported in near-realtime
• Location data / video-feeds / biometric verifications etc. be used to avoid fraud /
ghosts-school phenomena
• This affords powerful opportunities for interventions and course-corrections
Centralised online
testing
6
• There is no point in having massive on-line teaching if student still have to cram into
exam centres (which might not even be locally available) for final exams
• Designing an online exam system which is free from cheating is a technical challenge
• A hybrid system - teacher / proctor supervision coupled with online exams would
probably be best
• The goal should be to get to a point where matric / FSc exams can be conducted
reliably in this manner - indeed this should be made mandatory at public level

11. Recap
• These are just some ideas on how to set up an effective e-learning system
• There are many other variables and formats that can be tried - the good thing about
digital ecosystems is that they allow experimentation
• But the main idea is to
• Tailor the solution to the scenario
• Use hybrid systems with (re)trained teachers as well as technology
• Focus on making the course content fit for a digital medium
• Utilise connectivity ‘both-ways’, i.e. not just to send content but to collect metrics and
create processes around these metrics

12. farid98@gmail.com
Thanks!