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Advantages and disadvantages of e-learning in comparison to traditional

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 Annals of the University of Petroşani, Economics, 10(2), 2010, 289-298 289

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF E-LEARNING

IN COMPARISON TO TRADITIONAL FORMS OF
LEARNING

MIRJANA RADOVIĆ-MARKOVIĆ *

ABSTRACT: Internet education is soon to become the dominant form of education in

the world. A lot of effort is being devoted into furthering the work methods and communication
among students and professors, aimed at bettering the quality of this kind of studying.
Moreover, further development of virtual education in the future will depend on the advance of
contemporary technologies and the Internet. Having this in mind, the author of this paper has
tried to explore to what extent the previous results have been accomplished, as well as to
classify the different modalities of this kind of learning and to ascertain their advantages and
disadvantages. A special emphasis has been put on the great utility value for all developed
economies, which have made great progress in the development rate and in the spreading of
virtual faculties’ network. At the end of this research paper, recommendations are given, and
further trends of Internet education are established, juxtaposed to the classic forms of studying,
based on the latest research results in this field. The author especially emphasizes the fact that
faculties with “classrooms without walls” will not fully replace traditional faculties. The value
of this paper lies particularly in the fact that it builds not only on the contemporary research
findings, but also on the author’s personal experience as a professor engaged in this form of
student education.

KEY WORDS: Internet education; knowledge; syllabus; e-learning; learning

models; students; women; USA; Serbia

JEL CLASSIFICATION: A22, I20, L26

1. INTRODUCTION

The education system provided via the Internet is being improved year after
year and has been enhancing along with the development and advance of Internet
technologies. The advance of e-learning has, to a great extent, been affected by the
development and application of wireless Internet.

*
Full professor, Ph.D., Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia, mradovic@gmail.com
290 Radović-Marković, M.

Furthermore, the advance of e-learning has been influenced by numerous

software programs, such as the Blackboard system, and others. By means of these, as
well as other programs, students are enabled to be in constant contact with their virtual
professors.
Most often, they have lectures or consultations with their professor live, twice
or more times a week, whereas during other days throughout the semester, professors
ask students questions, initiate discussions, send additional reference materials, assign
topics for seminar papers, etc. Yahoo voice messenger, Skype and similar programs,
where the professors’ voice may be heard, along with video conferences, are used for
lectures.
However, certain faculties do not offer this means of communication among
professors and students; instead, they use readymade software packages which are
bought by students along with the tuition fee at a certain faculty (for example, Lacrosse
University), and he/she may contact a professor in regard to covering the syllabus
material, when the need arises. At the end of the semester, the student takes the
examination, most commonly in a test form, also performed online and writes an
independent final paper defended orally.
Depending on whether the student has chosen a certified or a non-certified
program, upon completing the study program, he/she will or will not be awarded a
diploma. However, what is most important to many students graduating from virtual
faculties is the fact that the diploma most often does not state the type of studies, that
is, whether he/she studied online or face to face. The reason for this lies in the fact that
these two methods of studying are regarded fully equal and no distinction is being
made among them in terms of employment.
In spite of the fact that virtual faculties have been in existence around the
world for about ten years, not much research has been conducted showing to what
extent the knowledge acquired in this way differs to the traditional knowledge
acquisition, in respect to quality, pedagogical methods used, and other matters.
Furthermore, there are still doubts about what is considered e-learning, what
the e-learning process is, and what has to be included in order to create a quality online
study program. Bearing this in mind, in this paper, we will endeavor to provide an
answer to these questions, based on the latest research conducted in the past several
years in the world, as well as first-hand experience and personal research.

2. THE SPECIFICS OF E-LEARNING: ADVANTAGES AND

DISADVANTAGES IN COMPARISON TO TRADITIONAL LEARNING

As far as e-learning development is concerned, American faculties, which have

more than a decade long tradition in this field, have made the biggest advancement.
Firstly, this fact may be explained by great investments being made by the American
state for online studies development and encouragement of professional education for
e-learning activities. About 13 billion US $ has been allocated from the American
budget for this purpose.
However, such big investments into e-learning follow significant research, the
purpose of which is to determine the policies of its further development. In accordance
 Advantages and Disadvantages of e-Learning in Comparison to … 291

with this, recent research has been conducted in the US, covering a sample of 990
educational institutions, organized by Sloan Consortium.
The aim of this research was to find the answer to several crucial questions, as
follows:
1. To what extent does e-learning improve the process of knowledge
acquisition, by juxtaposing this educational model with numerous
other models?
2. What are the prerequisites in terms of the technical infrastructure and
logistics for e-learning?
3. What models of e-learning are in use and which ones give the best
results?
4. To what extent is the role of the professor-instructor modified in
working with students who opt for this model of education?
5. What are the costs compared to the profit earned at faculties
organizing Internet studies?
Based on the results of this research, which is considered one of the most
comprehensive and recent of this kind in the world, indicative data for this form of
education have been collected. The most significant indicators include:
 It is only 18.7 % of all educational institutions in the USA that do not offer
some of their study programs via e-learning.
 About 2.4 % of state educational institutions in the USA have not included
this kind of knowledge acquisition in their educational models and have
kept to the traditional forms
 Students at more than 90% of virtual faculties are satisfied with this kind
of education and knowledge acquisition
 All the faculties that provided an adequate training for the professors, as
well as other members of virtual faculties, have managed to adapt to the
new method of work in a fairly short time and achieve the desired results
 Educational institutions have made significant savings in terms of human
and other resources utilization, and thereby have increased their profits.
For example, at the Wisconsin-Madison University, 172,000 US$ have
been saved, due to savings in professors’ time, who previously had to
spend much more time in teaching sessions in order to cover for large
groups of students; in addition, the number of traditional classrooms has
been reduced, and thereby costs necessary for their use.
On the other hand, by designing an online program, many faculties,
which previously did not have their business site, managed to save large
sums of money for buying their business premises, an example of which is
the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. According to their estimate,
they managed to make a savings amounting to more than 5 million US$,
by not making investments into business premises.
 Furthermore, the number of students has increased, and a higher study
efficiency has been achieved. For example, some American faculties have,
owing to varied and high quality programs, succeeded to reach the number
of 800,000 students showing further growth tendency.
292 Radović-Marković, M.

 E-learning has enabled a higher degree of interactivity among professors

and students and easier study material coverage in both undergraduate and
graduate students. Furthermore, professors and assistants have developed
their students’ critical thinking and have given them more freedom in their
choice of discussion topics and mutual exchange of ideas and information
and knowledge expansion
 Students have shown a great adaptability to this kind of studying. Namely,
e-learning has proven to be a very popular and acceptable way of studying,
owing to its flexibility, as well as its higher degree of innovativeness in
terms of introducing new and contemporary programs in comparison to
traditional faculties.
In addition, many faculties that have opted for e-learning have started
implementing various software packages supporting online learning, and
applying different studying modalities. University of North Texas (UNT),
for example, which started offering online and onsite courses in 1995, has
significantly improved its activities since their introduction. Namely, by
using video conferences they managed to link all the locations in a radius
of about 40 miles from the University’s headquarters.
Since 1997, this University has developed a Center for providing
services to other faculties for establishing and developing online study
programs. The Center combines the technological resources with expert
consultancy services.
Beside this, this University had about 29,000 students in 2003
attending more than 4,000 online courses. The University of Phoenix also
offers e-learning courses for more than 140,000 students earning a clean
profit to the amount of about 5 million US$ annually. This University
enrolls 500 students from more than 53 countries worldwide, on a monthly
basis.
 Many prestigious world universities have long withstood this kind of
education, such as Stanford, yet despite this, even this University has not
resisted to this new way of education, and in 2005 it also offered this kind
of studying. It has entered the market with the highest quality world
programs in e-leaning as well, and has thus maintained its decades long
standing high rating.
 Research has revealed that both students and administrators believe that
the quality of e-learning responds to the traditional teaching methods in
terms of quality. According to this research, three quarters of leaders in
state faculties and universities trust Interned-based learning quality to be
the same or even better than face to face learning. This research has also
shown that universities offering online studies have so far had more than 2
million students and that the number has been increasing by 25% on an
average every year.
 Compared to traditional ways of studying, study efficiency is increased in
this way, as a result of continual learning, so that studies may be
completed in a time frame shorter than assigned.
 Advantages and Disadvantages of e-Learning in Comparison to … 293

 This kind of studying also leads to a higher quality of professors’ work, as

they have to observe students’ work on a daily basis. Furthermore, at the
end of each semester the professor’s work is always evaluated by both
students and the supervisor, who oversees all posts, comments, questions,
and overall activities and the professor’s work quality. Unless he/she
receives good grades and recommendations, it is not possible for them to
carry on their work and sign a new contract with the faculty. This highly
motivates professors to invest into their knowledge and their work with
students.
 Estimates show that online faculties earn 17.6 billion US$ annually, which
is four times more than traditional faculties.
 Although the popularity of online learning has been on an increase
worldwide, many traditional faculties use extensive e-learning, i.e. they
use it as a supplement to traditional ways of learning, and few are willing
to organize exclusively independent online programs.
This is particularly characteristic of faculties with the highest rankings.
They are reluctant to abandon the traditional teaching ways and are not so
keen to invest money into new programs and new technologies required to
support online programs.

3. WOMEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING

The changes in women’s educational and career attainment may have

multifaceted characteristics. Women might have increased their enrolment in colleges
compared to men, but women may still differ in terms of the types of subjects in which
they are enrolled. Distance learning is becoming increasingly attractive for women, as
shown by some research studies. Namely, more than 60% of those over 25 years of age
and female opt for this type of development and education in the world. The reason for
this lies in the fact that this method of learning offers numerous advantages. Among
the most prominent benefits, the following may be pointed out:
- the flexibility of the learning process (students study at the time
most convenient to them);
- achieving a better balance between personal and other
commitments (they may spend more time at home with their
families);
- minimizing costs (both time and money savings are made);
- a deeper sense of self-fulfillment (acquiring relevant and useful
knowledge and achieving professional goals).
Furthermore, women at a certain age, over the age typical for students (18-22
years of age), consider virtual classrooms to minimize the embarrassment and
alienation factor (Capogrossi, 2002). In addition to these advantages provided to
women by online studying, it also enables women to choose a certified course, offered
by more than 90% of faculties in the world (Radovic- Markovic, 2007).
294 Radović-Marković, M.

Accordingly, women are given the opportunity of choosing some of the

programs from a broader range, the ones that best suit their professional interests and
goals, without the requirement to move geographically. In other words, women are no
longer limited to the local educational institutions, but have at their disposal a more
comprehensive choice of educational programs offered worldwide.
Also, studying over the Internet enables women permanent development thus
reducing the educational gap in comparison to men. At the same time, the social status
and life quality of women are being improved. Higher qualifications enable women to
contribute more to their community.
In her research, professor Radovic-Markovic tried to measure the role of online
learning and how much it is accepted among students and entrepreneurs in Serbia.
She asked respondents the following questions:
 What do you think about online learning?
 What do you think about virtual professors?
 What is the interaction between students, students and professors?
 Does new technology isolate students from teachers?
 Do you prefer Online Learning than Face-to-Face? Why yes or
why not?
 Does Gender Matter in Online Learning for entrepreneurs?
 What are Online Learning Outcomes vs. Face-to-Face?

3.1. Methodology and Few key findings

 Interviews conducted from 54 people: 34 women and 20 men

 Interviewees were individuals between 18 and 30 years of age
 The majority (68%) think that online learning is great as an new alternative
for learning. It's not for everyone, and obviously every subject.
 Most respondents (95%) say that computer literacy is the most significant
for online studying.
 Women choose some computing courses when offered in combination
with other disciplines that emphasize social issues and computer
applications. At the same time they think that online studying and virtual
faculties are not so much popular in Serbia because the lack of computer
literacy, especially among women.
 Anytime, anyplace” nature of online learning suiting female students more
than male where women are fitting their education in among their regular
work was the opinion of 70 % of respondents (female and male together).
 Men and women respondents (45%) course favors women and older
students who seem more motivated, better at communicating online and at
scheduling their learning.
 The half of 54 respondents don't like to have discussions with other
students and teachers that they can't see.
 Advantages and Disadvantages of e-Learning in Comparison to … 295

 The great amount of iinterviewees (63%) haven’t heard about online

courses for entrepreneurs and are not sure how virtual faculties work.
 There are lots of reasons for taking online courses; it was opinion of 30%
of respondents. They selected low costs of online learning as the major
reason. However, the most significant contribution of online programs
particularly to women is the opportunity for working at your own pace and
at your time schedule.
Because Serbia doesn’t have longer experience with online studies and virtual
faculties, there is a lot misunderstanding how do they work and what are they benefits
for students as well as professors. If they become more popular in the near future and
commonplace, people could much real consider pros and cons of them.

4. PERSPECTIVES OF E-LEARNING

Throughout the year 2006, a research has been conducted (Pulichino, 2006),
exploring the future trends in e-learning. A questionnaire was made, covering three
groups of subjects:
1. higher education institutions
2. corporations
3. e-learning providers
They were offered a multiple choice form, dealing with several aspects of e-
learning and its future use. One of the most important questions referred to the
development perspectives of e-learning. To this purpose, subjects were offered the
following responses:
 e-learning has a big future and will continue to grow
 e-learning will show decline in its importance in the years to come
 e-learning will not develop in either of the two ways
As many as 75% of the subjects circled the first proposed answer, i.e. that e-
learning has a big future and that “it will continue to grow”, whereas 16% circled the
second answer that “e-learning will show decline in its importance in the years to
come”. During the year 2006 the same survey was conducted showing that the number
of those believing that “e-learning will show decline in its importance in the future”
has gone down, while the number of those believing that “e-learning will continue to
grow” has remained stable” (75%).
With regard to perspectives of e-learning, subjects were also offered several
items to choose from, such as “significant increase”, “moderate growth”, “same rate of
development”, “moderate decrease”, “significant decrease”, and “I don’t know”. In this
case, about 43% of all the subjects answered that there will be a moderate growth of e-
learning in the future. Additionally, opportunities for extending the use of e-learning to
other domains, where it has not been applied so far, such as employee, customer and
business associates training, have been considered.
According to the findings of this questionnaire, we can see that 38 % of all
subjects expect “moderate increase in the application of e-learning in other spheres of
its application”, whereas 20% expect “significant development”. The development of
e-learning by means of complex media (simulation models, interactive algorithms,
296 Radović-Marković, M.

databases, flash and streaming tapes) was also covered in the questionnaire. In this
respect as well, subjects expressed their high expectations regarding the application of
the latest state-of-the-art media (48%) in the near future.
Further research can continue to explore how and when online instruction is
most effective. For instance, additional investigation should look at motivational
factors affecting students in taking elective and required courses in traditional, online,
and blended approaches to instruction.

4.1. What should be changed for supporting online learning in Serbia?

According to our research it is necessary to obtain conditions as follow:

 Flexible environment to support 21st Century Learning
 Forming an international learning network
 It is necessary to invest monies in developing a cyber
infrastructure.
 Building a more inclusive distance learning environment in Serbia
involves making technological choices built on flexibility and an
ability to respond quickly to changes in constantly evolving
technology and informational resources.
 Integrate existing administration, management &learning tools
 Collaboration, involving teachers, mentors, and instructional
designers who truly represent hard to reach learners
 Start small, grow fast

5. CONCLUSION

The development of modern technologies, the Internet in particular, on the one

hand, and the changes in ways of managing, communication and work organization in
enterprises ,on the other hand, have in the recent years resulted in changes in the kinds
of knowledge and ways for its acquisition.
Having in mind that the Internet has found its way into daily life and use, both
in various domains of entertainment and business transactions, the use of the Internet in
the education sphere is naturally expected. Namely, in the sphere of education, the
Internet offers a global platform for information storage and its presentation in textual,
visual, graphical or any other form. It also serves as a means of synchronous and
asynchronous communication (Keegan, 2000).
Taking into consideration the above mentioned statements, it is logically
expected that online studies will grow in popularity, and that the network of virtual
faculties will keep spreading in the future. Further to this, Internet education will soon
become the dominant form of education worldwide, which is to reach its peak in a few
years.
At the same time, it is to be expected that the methods of work and
communication among students and professors will continue to improve and that
efforts will be made in increasing the quality of this kind of studying. The extent to
which a country will become part of the global educational Internet network, will, to a
 Advantages and Disadvantages of e-Learning in Comparison to … 297

great degree, depend on the degree of utilization of new Internet technologies and the
level of popularization of this form of education. Namely, many world prestigious
faculties offering distance learning studies, engage famous people studying there as the
best promoters of this way of studying.
This form of studying still does not have a large number of advocates in
Serbia, since, in fact, there are no real Internet studies. In other words, Internet
education is even now considered as some form of correspondence studies. In addition,
many faculties yet lack the relevant software and accompanying equipment, as well as
adequately trained staff, which would use them in their work with students.
Furthermore, the development of Internet studies is still lagging behind in this
country, as it is still at the bottom of the ladder among countries in terms of Internet
users (about 20%). A factor further aggravating Internet studies development here is
the fact that people’s beliefs here change very slowly regarding any kind of novelty,
especially in education.
In compliance with this, most people cannot imagine a “classroom without
walls”, nor a completely different way of studying. For a large group of people, it is
unimaginable not to go to the faculty and not to attend lectures, as this would make it
impossible for them to feel as academic citizens.
The number of those among them, who are skeptical towards the quality of
thus acquired education, must also be high. As a result of this, although the Ministry of
Education has made provisions for Internet education in the Law of Education, it is still
in its infancy and has not received full media promotion.
This is why little is known about this area, which is approached with a certain
grain of salt and suspicion. In order to change the existing prejudice, it is necessary to
point out to the general public all the advantages of online education, so that both
future students and their prospective employers could get the real picture. In this way,
in times to come, this country as well could enlist among those who have developed a
new and very profitable branch of economy, by using a modern and flexible form of
education.
This does not mean that faculties with “classrooms without walls” will fully
replace traditional faculties. They will continue to exist and to attract those students
who prefer classical learning models, yet they will also have to change in accordance
with the needs and requirements of contemporary education. In keeping with this, it
may be concluded that virtual faculties and their expansion will have positive
consequences and impact on innovating traditional faculties work as well.
It may reasonably be expected that in addition to high profits earned by
faculties, students will be the ones to enjoy highest gain as they will get the education
to their order and needs, as well as suited to the requirements of their future job
positions. This is further corroborated with the fact that more and more employers do
not distinguish between those students who have graduated from Internet schools and
those who have graduated from other schools in their recruitment decisions.
 298 Radović-Marković, M.

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London
[3]. Pulichino, J. (2006) Future Directions in e-learning Research Report, [Online], Available
at: www.elearningguild.com
[4]. Radović-Marković, M. (2009) Education through E-Learning: Case of Serbia, Journal of
Business Economics and Management, 4, pp.328-338
[5]. Radović-Marković, M.; Nelson-Porter, B. (2009) The New Alternative Women’s
Entrepreneurship Education: e-Learning and Virtual Universities, Journal of Women’s
Entrepreneurship and Education, 2, pp.1-12
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[7]. Sloan Consortium (2008), [Online] Available at: www.sloanc.org/publications/view/v2n4/
datav2n4.htm

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