South Korea, Mr. Wong said, was the most advanced Asian country in terms of e-learning, with a number of universities delivering courses entirely online.
This paper evaluates the design and implementation of a UK university's global blended learning MBA programme which combines e-learning with face-to-face teaching.
The concept of laboratories for distance (e-learning) with remotely controlled laboratory set-ups or virtual laboratories with different simulations have an important role in industrial engineering education and training.
When comparing group 3 (sandwich e-learning) with the other groups (post-course learning alone, pre-course learning only, and classroom-based), no significant differences were found both in test D and test E (p = 0.3; p = 0.5) (Fig. 3).
Therefore blended learning combines e-learning with standard teaching methods or, rather, various teaching/learning media.
These results were in accordance with a meta-analysis of 201 trials comparing e-learning with other methods.
Various authors have shown that greatest benefit and student satisfaction is achieved when combining e-learning with face-to-face courses, as blended learning[ 2- 4].
EBM requires mastery in knowledge acquisition [ 4, 5], and e-learning with live web links to relevant information sources can lead trainees to directly obtain relevant learning experience.
Importantly, a meta-analysis of studies comparing e-learning with face-to-face teaching revealed that although e-learning is significantly better than no intervention, in most cases it is equivalent to 'traditional' teaching methods [ 10].
In these discussions the students had doubts about the usability and efficiency of e-learning (with regard to costs, handling of ICT, but also learning efficiency) while they still acknowledged the possibilities of ICT support with respect to visualization, simulation, self-quizzing, and fast information retrieval from several sources such as encyclopedias or Web pages.
The final survey (Table 5) revealed that students with an interest in e-learning or with prior knowledge would like to spend significantly less time with a case (p < 0.019 and p < 0.021, respectively).
