Towards Formulating Principles for Online Education: The implications of access to the World Wide Web

Abstract

E-learning emphasizes the development of students� self-study capabilities and habits. Based on constructivist theories, it is believed that a community of students can form learning teams able to share experiences online to achieve appropriate educational objectives. The scenario poses a challenge to curricula based teaching requirements, designed around instructional strategies, aimed at allowing students to learn certain things rather than others. This traditional approach is based on the assumption that not all learning experiences that students encounter are educative. The World Wide Web (WWW) from which online education draws it content is a �network� of all conceivable knowledge and ideas that encourage informal, non-formal and formal education practices. The merger of the three forms of education is a new phenomenon occasioned by the inevitable integration of ICT in education. Since education is about acquisition of knowledge, skills and dispositions that are valued by society, its content is inherently selective. This study proposes that for e-learning to convert to online education, educators need to identify and harmonize principles that define online educational experiences.