Students considering enrolling on an eLearning course have many benefits and advantages, which other students may not have at their disposal. A recent UN Report on eLearning outlined the following advantages in relation to eLearning interventions: ease of access and flexibility, portability, improved student-teacher contact and discussions, and increased discussions with peers. We summarise the benefits of eLearning and Distance Learning Courses below:

Self-paced

• eLearning is self-paced, which allows a student the ability to learn at their own pace, whether that is slow or fast. This eliminates the student feeling left behind, or ahead of a standard classroom.
• Learners can also pace their courses around their own lifestyle, family circumstances and work demands, rather than the other way round.

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Lower cost

• Cost is a very important feature of the eLearning programme. Students often end up paying high fees on course books, stationery and travel expenses by enlisting on a standard educational course. This can be a huge financial drain on students, but with eLearning, some of these costs may be eliminated.

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Safe to fail

• Students have the freedom to fail at home. While they work towards completing their course, the idea of failing in a classroom environment is eliminated, leaving the student in a relaxed state and learning from their mistakes much more productively than in a classroom.
• UN research also found a higher rate of student-teacher contact with eLearning.

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Flexibility

• Learners can study at their leisure at home, at work, or on the move.
• The flexibility eLearning brings to students is invaluable, as they are allowed to work when and how they like. This can be especially useful for students with jobs or children, as the stress of having many things to juggle, on top of having to attend seminars and lectures, can lead to students dropping out no matter how diligent.

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Retention

• Greater flexibility can also improve student retention and attainment rates.

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Effectiveness

eLearning has a positive influence on an organisation’s profitability. It makes it easy to grasp the content and digest it:

• It results in improved scores on certifications, tests, or other types of evaluation.
• A higher number of students who achieve ‘pass’ or mastery’ level.
• Enhanced ability to learn and implement the new processes or knowledge at the workplace.
• Help in retaining information for a longer time.