The hype on e-learning in education. Was it all smoke and mirrors?

“Why Did the Boom Go Bust?”

E-learning failed to deliver on its earlier promises as there was very little research done into how best to use the new technologies. “E-learning took off before people really knew how to use it.” (Zemsky & Massy, 2004 p.3). After the smoke had settled from the hype about the benefits of information technology in education, research showed that it had not raised academic achievement as first claimed.

Previously, we were over zealous with the rush to get new technologies into the classroom and according to Carol Twig (as cited in Zemsky, R., & Massey, W.F. 2003) we adopted the “hope for the best strategy”.

According to Cuban “after and steady and perhaps excessive promotion of technology, computer use in the classroom was uneven and intermittent…access to machines was maximal, change was minimal.” (Cuban, L 2001)

Some recent studies have shown a number of reasons why e-learning technologies were not maximised in education:

1. Most educators are still teaching the way they were taught (Zemsky & Massy).
2. Educators and students are not ‘digitally literate’.
3. Very little research from e-learning designers was done into what students and educational facilities expect from e-learning software and technologies.

Cuban’s critical examination of how computers are currently being used is very relevant and valid. Even at my school, we are continually changing the way our students use ICT. Activities we once thought were beneficial are now seen as having very little educational value.

* Cuban, L. ( 2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

* Zemsky, R., & Massey, W.F. (2004). Why the e-learning boom went bust. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50, B6.