ABSTRACT

Online learning is not about taking a course and putting it on the desktop. It is about a new blend of resources, interactivity, performance support, and structured learning activities. The key benefits of e-learning solutions are: (1) Increased quality and value of learning achieved through greater student access and combination of appropriate supporting content, learner collaboration and interaction, and online support, (2) Increased reach and flexibility enabling learners to engage in the learning process anytime, anyplace, and on a just-in-time basis, (3) Decreased cost of learning delivery, and reduced travel, subsistence costs and time away from the job, and (4) Increased flexibility and ability to respond to evolving business requirements with rapid roll-out of new and organizational-specific learning to a distributed audience. Often an e-learning program will involve development by a number of people simultaneously. Therefore design and development of standards need to be put in place to ensure consistency and transferability of skills. Students are also far less forgiving in terms of inconsistency of user interface and ease of use than with classroom material. The present chapter is a study on the growth of e-learning in engineering education as the most important objective area of science apart from the medical science. Using the definitions and aptitudes of e-learning we tried to find a more specialized way to develop e-learning in engineering education. To this aim, we have investigated the progresses being made on engineering e-learning, and the benefits and difficulties of implementing e-learning in engineering education. The study has focused on the importance of e-learning design for engineering education; therefore, the concept of instructional design has been reviewed and oriented for engineering e-learning. In this regard, application of information systems success (ISS) and ADDIE models parameters in engineering education has been introduced and analyzed. This study also presents an overview on International potential for designing e-learning, with selected case studies of developing countries.