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Conclusion

15 January, 2016 - 09:47

The effectiveness of the e-learning depends on the quality and quantity of the applied e-learning materials, the needed time for taking the course and the results at the course end.

As the time necessary for learning the new information that given course offers is shorter and the results at the end are better, the effectiveness of e-learning is higher.

Serious problem nowadays in e-learning is the lack of personalization of the teaching and learning process. In the Internet space can be found countless courses in one and the same theme, presented in different way, with different level of usage of multimedia elements, directed to different learning styles, with different duration and complexity. The user has the very difficult task – to find in the ocean of e-learning courses, the most appropriate for his learning style, basic knowledge and skills. This is not always possible, and even when the choice of an appropriate course is a fact, the chance the initial goal (gaining knowledge and skills in a given field) to be reached for a short time is not high. It is necessary to be created an approach, which will ensure knowledge (skills and competencies) acquiring and opportunity for preliminary selection from great number of e-learning modules with the aim for personalization of the e-learning environment according to the individuality of each student and his expectations about the final results.

The personalization in the e-learning may be described as a composition of procedures, approaches and techniques for giving the students the tools for self-learning, which will give them the opportunity to study according to their own capabilities, learning style, knowledge and skills, to choose the type of the e-learning material and the way of presentation of the new material, according to their own interests, needs and learning style.

One of the approaches for improving the personalization in the e-learning process is ensuring access to appropriate e-learning materials, according the individual learning style of the student. The learning style is the way of adoptions and procession of the information. Every person develops preferred and successive behavior and concrete approaches for studying. This is connected with three processes, which form the differences in the styles:

- knowledge – how the knowledge is acquired;

- conceptualization – how the information is processed;

- motivation and emotions – the way of taking decisions and emotional preferences.

One of the most important themes in psychology of learning is motivation. In order to include motivational factors in online learning, factors known as depending on the learner, assessment of the learner’s motivation is required and this is the problem addressed by this research.

As a result from the presented in this chapter research some important concepts for keeping the learners motivated could be summarized in the following list:

- Defining the target audience and their learning preferences;

- Course designers must realize that learning styles are different: visual learners, kinesthetic learners, auditory learners. E-learning courses must cater for all otherwise learners will lose interest;

- Defining clear learning objectives of the course;

- Use of interactivity/Games/Simulations - using interactivity in e-learning contents has many benefits. It keeps the learners involved, breaks the monotony of a single way communication, enhances the learning experience by participation and facilitates active experimentation;

- Use of real life scenarios - Cognitive Theories say that any new information is compared to existing cognitive structures called ‘schema’. Meaningful information is easier to learn and remember. It is very important for the students to know where they can apply the newly received knowledge.

- Assessment of the students’ motivation.

The future work is directed to finding methods and tools for increasing the use of interactivity in the e-learning matherials. The modern computer (hardware and software) technologies offer wide range of opportunities for creation of interactive multimedia e-learning resources, appropriate for the different learning styles.