E-learning through technology 'is motivational'

Technology is beneficial for improving skills and in the form of online learning can provide a fun and interactive way for people to learn, according to one expert.

Child and educational psychologist Teresa Bliss suggested it is inevitable that students today will use technological equipment to boost their reading and writing skills as well as other qualifications.

She said that using e-learning and other technological resources could complement what is learned in professional working environments or in academic settings.

As an example, Ms Bliss mentioned that children are particularly susceptible to improving their literacy skills by using software on computers or tablets but this extends to adult learners as well who will be equally motivated by interactive and enjoyable means of taking in information.

She commented: "If modern technology helps children and young people, particularly those who struggle, to acquire the necessary skills of decoding to enable them to become efficient readers then so much the better."

Males and females often learn in different ways, according to Ms Bliss. She added that young men often get more engaged in online resources, which enables them to concentrate more on what they are doing and that even at a very young age boys are often the most difficult to motivate.

Despite millions of pounds' worth of funding being pushed into schools by the government, many children are still leaving education without the proper standard of literacy, which could affect them in later life or when trying to get a job.

E-learning for adult students who have below-standard levels of reading and writing skills could provide an easy-access, flexible alternative to evening classes or a one-to-one tutorial environment.

Miles Berry, senior lecturer in ICT education at the University of Roehampton and vice chair of Naace, the ICT Association, suggested technology that houses methods of e-learning can provide essential support for people who struggle to gain sufficient knowledge from teachers in the physical classroom.