KALEIDOSCOPE: Musings on The Multifarious Nature of Life

non-existence of internet access in some schools or organisations. As cited in Arkorful
and Abaidoo (2014), e-learning may also lead to congestion or heavy use of some
websites, and this may bring about unanticipated costs both in time and financial
disadvantages (Collins et al. 1997; Klein and Ware, 2003; Hameed et al, 2008; Almosa,
2002; Akkoyuklu & Soylu, 2006; Lewis, 2000; Scott et al. 1999; Marc, 2002). For
example, a huge number of students using the same e-platform concurrently may cause
heavy traffic on the server, thus hampering the teaching and learning process. Although
there may be some technical solutions for this problem, it would definitely cost more
time and money. Hence, in the conducting of examinations, this would lead to more
issues such as longer exam durations and replacements, which waste both students’ and
instructors’ time and energy.

Although e-learning is known for its efficiency, in that it reduces time and
energy, it is not necessarily always the case. In other words, e-learning could actually
be time consuming in the teaching and learning process. As mentioned by Spurlock-
Johnson et al. (2004), e-learning is time-consuming especially when it comes to giving
individual feedback to each student. This situation appears problematic when
instructors give online courses, in which they tend to fully occupy students’ time with
extra work due to their understanding that e-learning is fast and efficient, and that
students could complete their work fast. In doing so, the instructors do not realise that
they would have more tasks or work which need to be checked at the end of the day
(Spurlock-Johnson et al., 2004). It is not only from the perspective of instructors, but
also students who find e-learning time-consuming. This is supported by a study done
by Agal et al. (2010) where they found only 37.4% of students were able to keep up
with their assignments and tests and manage their time well. This circumstance may be
due to the overloading of tasks given by the instructor who perceived that since e-
learning allows for fast and efficient task completion, more tasks can be given to occupy
students’ time, which ends up only consuming more time for everyone. Therefore, the
poor interactivity, socially and culturally, among students and instructors may present
various other difficulties in e-learning and show that e-learning is not adequate and
effective enough to replace conventional learning.

The perspective which holds that e-learning is not ready and unable to replace
and completely eliminate conventional face-to-face learning also stems from the reason
that not every instructor, or even many of them for that matter, is well-trained and
equipped with essential technology related skills. The carrying out of effective e-
learning classes requires credible and competent instructors to guide and teach students
through an efficient and smooth teaching and learning process. As cited by Spurlock-
Johnson et al. (2004), instructors are lacking in many necessary skills such as technical
knowledge and the ability to move chalkboard content into an application or integrating
them with e-platforms. One example is the abovementioned issue of giving individual
feedback to each student, where it is considered time consuming. If the instructors are
capable and skilled in the use of technologies, such problems will not occur. However,
the reality is that instructors find it difficult and costs them time and effort to manage
e-platforms. This is also proven in the study done by Abunowara (2014), where he

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stated that instructors may spend enormous amounts of time to learn the constantly
changing and updating software programs as well as to locate authentic materials. He
also added that having technology facilities such as computer labs is pointless if the
instructors themselves do not have enough time to experiment, explore and implement
new practices in e-learning. This circumstance may occur among the senior instructors
who have been exposed to conventional approaches, strategies and techniques of
teaching, but encounter difficulties with the modern approach, which requires them to
learn the new ways of conducting a lesson. According to Abunowara (2014), this
situation where instructors are new to the world of technology are referred to as the
“digital immigrants” whereas the students are regarded as the “digital natives” or Net
Generation, as students occupy most of their time and surround themselves with
gadgets, the internet, videogames and other technologies. He then elaborated that even
though instructors are totally aware of the notion that technology offers new ways of
teaching and learning for all involved in education, a large part of the negative attitude
the instructors have towards technology comes from the lack of confidence, lack of
facilities, or lack of training programs. Therefore, this issue will result in the inability
of the instructors to see and reap the benefits of using technologies in the classroom. “I
am forced to teach from the textbook”, “I don't know how to locate useful websites”,
“The place where I teach has no budget for media”, “I teach skill areas such as
composition and reading to advanced levels and therefore don't need to use media”
and so forth; these are the negative attitudes or statements made by the ESL/EFL
teachers from various research papers, including Gebhard (2009), Dudeney and Hockly
(2008), and Brinton (2001) as cited by Abunowara (2014).

Training the senior instructors is definitely feasible, but it appears there have
been challenges, which explains the many claims that there is still a lack of training
programs. This is due to the cost of hiring a highly qualified and technically skilled
person to train the instructors, which is something that needs to be considered as well.
This is supported by Kamsin (2005) who stated that the remuneration involved to hire
a group of experienced personnel to provide technical and e-learning training to the
class instructors is extremely high. Therefore, this issue is an encumbrance to the
faculty or university; it has been proven that the implementation of e-learning to fully
replace the conventional classroom is expensive and not doable.

In teaching, especially in the procedure of preparing lessons, the saying “there
is no one-size-fits-all” is well-known and often considered among educators. It refers
to the belief that there is no specific set of learning strategies that are effective for every
student. This is because different students have different learning styles as well as
different learning preferences. For example, visual, audio and social learners may be
able to adapt their learning to e-platforms, but there is no guarantee that solitary learners
who prefer to work independently, who are also prone to doing self-analysis and writing
will be able to adapt to e-learning. In the conventional learning process, there is at least
the possibility of a teacher or instructor using the individual teaching approach; if the
lesson does not fit a student’s learning style or preference, the educator may be able to
attend to his or her individual learning issues.

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In the case of e-learning, although different learning styles may be able to be
catered to, the majority of the students do not prefer the online environment as educators
may not be available physically and even if they were available, the concern would be
more on technical issues rather than on individual learning issues. This is proven in the
study by Spurlock-Johnson et al. (2004), where he found that 88.8% of the students
stated that their experience in the conventional setting was better compared to the one
online. Not only that, Spurlock-Johnson et al. (2004) also found that 79.4% of the
students felt that they learnt more from the teacher's face-to-face explanation regarding
certain concepts. This indicates that the majority of the students prefer a conventional
learning environment as compared to e-learning or online learning.

The reason why e-learning is less preferred is due to the role of the teacher who
functions as a facilitator who just basically observes and guides, instead of teaching and
providing in-depth information on the subject matter. This is supported by Easton
(2003) as cited in Spurlock-Johnson et al. (2004), in which it was stated that the role of
the instructor in e-learning is more like a facilitator who keeps the course moving and
answers questions or handles conflicts and students would have to learn independently
and from peers by sharing in discussions. Due to that reason, according to Meyer (2003)
as cited from the same study, not all students are self-motivated and self-determined to
manage their online learning. Hence, without the educators’ explanations and guidance,
students would not be determined or motivated but instead, may find learning on e-
platforms less meaningful and helpful.

Apart from that, e-learning does not cater to all fields or disciplines in education,
for example, it may be implementable for language learners, however science, medical
and mechanical engineering students would be struggling to fully utilise e-learning as
their fields involve practical tasks. According to Arkorful and Abaidoo (2014), the e-
learning techniques are not applicable to all fields and that researchers have argued that
e-learning is more relevant in social science and humanities courses than courses such
as medical science and pharmacy, where their focus is more on developing practical
skills. From this issue, it is evident that e-learning fails to accommodate all types of
learning styles as well as disciplines in education.

Subsequently, in the development and implementation of e-learning tools or
platforms such as educational games, websites and other e-learning materials, it is
always essential to know one’s learners. Learning styles, learning preferences as well
as the learners’ background are important to be considered and identified by conducting
analyses. This approach will help both instructors and learners to avoid issues such as
lessons not being engaging enough for learners, which can result in ineffective e-
learning. In this case, it is vital that the instructional design models introduced by the
researchers and field experts be applied in developing e-learning material. One of the
most well- known instructional design models is known as the ADDIE model, that was
introduced as one of the models of developing an online course, which encompasses 5
phases: Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate. The first phase in this
model, Analysis, is the most vital stage as it describes the significance of knowing

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learners prior to the development of the e-material. This forms the first letter in the
acronym ADDIE. Other instructional models such as the Dick and Carey and ASSURE
models also place emphasis on analysing the targeted audience, which are the learners,
before proceeding to the next phase in developing an e-learning material. In the
Analysis phase, developers are required to distinguish between the learning gaps and
current abilities of the learners to focus on what is more essential instead of having
redundant and less important skills be focused on. Therefore, a few examples of the
questions that may be considered in this phase include, “Who are the learners and what
are their characteristics?” “What is the desired new behaviour?” “What types of
learning constraints exist?” “What are the delivery options?” “What are the
pedagogical considerations?” “What adult learning theory considerations apply?”
“What is the timeline for project completion?”

As suggested by Aldoobie (2015), in order to identify the learners’
characteristics, desired new behaviour, learning constraints and so forth, analyses such
as surveys, interviews, pre-tests, and pre-assessments may be conducted to collect data
from the learners. This approach will help developers to have a clear idea on the
learners’ learning expectations and gaps before moving forward to the phase of
designing, implementing and evaluating. Besides, according to Kurt (2017), the
Analysis phase is considered as the “Goal-setting Stage” as the results gathered from
the needs analysis will help in the process of stating clear and measurable learning
objectives and outcomes. Thus, analysing the learners prior to the development of e-
learning material is vital in the concept of e-learning, and by doing so, educators would
be able to prevent issues such as failing to cater to learners’ preferences and styles.

In a nutshell, it is undeniable that e-learning provides benefits towards
education, as it prepares learners for a constantly changing and developing world,
concerning the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As for the challenges in the
implementation of e-learning, they must be acknowledged and overcome for a better
teaching and learning experience for both educators and students. Hence, this paper
aimed to discuss the problems and difficulties encountered by instructors and students,
and the teaching and learning process which results from the implementation of e-
learning to understand its unfeasibility to fully replace conventional learning.

All in all, e-learning is not able to replace and substitute conventional learning
as a whole as e-learning reduces social and cultural interaction, and that not all
instructors are well-equipped and well-trained with adequate technology-related
knowledge and skills. In addition, e-learning fails to cater to all the learning styles and
preferences of students. Lastly, although e-learning is unquestionably beneficial in
some aspects of learning, the obstacles that emerge along the process of implementing
e-learning support the idea that it should not be implemented wholly in education.

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References

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Agal, Sanjay & Devija, Pooja & Dave, Prof Dr Krishna. (2010). Can E-learning replace the traditional
classroom? A case study at a Private college in Udaipur. Aishwarya Research Communication.
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Aldoobie, N. (2015). ADDIE Model. American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 68-71
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Arkorful, & Abaidoo. (2014). The role of e-learning, the advantages and disadvantages of its adoption

in Higher Education. International Journal of Education and Research , 397-404.
Kamsin, A. (2005). Is E-Learning the Solution and Substitute for Conventional Learning? International

Journal of The Computer, the Internet and Management , 79-89.
Kurt, S. (2017, August 29). Educational Technology. ADDIE Model: Instructional Design:

https://educationaltechnology.net/the-addie-model-instructional-design/
Odhaib, M. F. (2018). Does E-Learning Give a Better Result than Traditional Learning? International

Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, 29-36.
Spurlock-Johnson, Zhang, & Allen-Haynes. (2004). Can E-learning Replace the Traditional Classroom?

A Case Study at A Private High School. EDSIG.

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