Elearning - September/October 2008 - (Page 50)

Lastword Save the Planet The many ways that distance learning helps the environment W e all know the proliferation of distance learning or online learning has made life so much easier. Learners can take a course in their living rooms in Boston from a school in Colorado. It has opened up a whole world to educational pursuits. Distance learning also has opened our eyes to its positive effects on the environment. This is making distance learning appear to be devoid of any negative features. Anything that can help the environment is okay by us. Here are a few ways distance learning helps: SAVE THE TREES, SAVE THE PLANET. Can you remember sitting in a classroom and having a professor pass out hand-out after hand-out? Do you remember thinking how unnecessary all that paper was? Maybe part of you just didn’t want all the work that accompanied the hand-outs, but e-learning has eliminated all the paper hand-outs. Everything can be downloaded and viewed in your course’s Web program. STAY HOME AND PARK THE CAR. With the gas crisis growing to out-of-control proportions, the ability to stay in your home and participate in a college course on your personal computer gives us green-conscious individuals a feeling that we’re actually doing something to help the environment. Most of us live pretty far from a college campus, and if we were to make the drive it would hurt us in the pocket book while emitting those toxic fumes we fight so hard to limit in our atmosphere. ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY TRIPS. When you take an online course, you correspond with your classmates and professors through e-mail. Group projects don’t require you to meet at the library. On the contrary, you meet in chat rooms and discuss your projects there. You know that if you’re in a college course there are so many reasons that you run up to campus, but with e-learning this is eliminated. CONNECT WITH THE LIBRARY FROM HOME. For the past five to eight years, online databases have become the central source of research any serious scholar. This is another feature that eliminates unnecessary traveling. Most colleges and universities offer their students unlimited access to these databases. This article was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on online college reviews (www.collegeathome.com/school-reviews/). She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot-com. 50 September/October 2008 Elearning! http://www.collegeathome.com/school-reviews/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning - September/October 2008

Elearning - September/October 2008 Contents Editor’s Note News IBM Goes Green Green Resources Deals Trendlines Learning Leader Up to Speed Cover Story: Going Green The Green Mindset? Cutting Down Turnover Tips: EET Case Study: Pacific Pulmonary Services Case Study: British Telecom Case Study: Allianz SE Case Study: LXR Case Study: St. Elizabeth Tips: Green Initiatives New Products LMS Tools Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - September/October 2008

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