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E-learning courses have become a significant part of corporate training through the last decade. The advantages and disadvantages are continually weighed up against each other in an attempt to accentuate the rewards of technological learning.
 
E learning clearly has its advantages in the sense that students are
not pressured to learn immediately and can learn at their own pace in
the comforts of their home. In learning face to face in a formal
classroom environment, there is the social risk of embarrassment and
pressure to fit in with the classroom behaviors and learning styles.
E learning opposes this by providing the freedom of setting pace and
independent ability to research certain information to gain better understanding
of topics. There is a negative to this as freedom promotes laziness
and students may abuse this liberty. The traditional classroom view of learners is as passive recipients that don’t require feedback for successful learning. (Chen, Chung, Crane, Hlavach, & Viall, 2001; Jonassen, 1991; Savery & Duffy, 1995) The added pressure of a classroom environment with peers and lecturers scrutinizing your responses and understanding would lead to heightened awareness and better concentration on the pupil’s part.
In e learning, all the information is delivered using a technological
framework that can be referred back to at the click of a button,
whereas in traditional leaning classroom environment cannot cater
for such a play back device and unreliable human memory is heavily
relied upon.
Because of massive leaps of technological advances in both hardware
and software, the delivery vehicle for information and leaning
materials is a lot more interactive using graphics, diagrams, tables,
pictures, movies, and the internet to make learning more interesting
and entertaining which increases the chance of material absorption and
understanding. Also the pace at which learning can take place can be
of a greater magnitude than face to face due to reading material being
consistent and precise whereas human communication is complex and
could be misunderstood.
The disadvantages of learning through a technological framework
through a home PC is that users cannot ask questions and have them
answered immediately by a professional in the topic. “Current online learning environments ostensibly deliver gains in terms of mass storage of information, yet fall short in optimizing positive student engagement.” (Edwards S L, Watson J, Farrell A, Nash R 2007 Journal of Learning Design; v.2 n.1 p.25-36) With the
traditional classroom environment, students are given a variety of
points of views from students to tutor and using such information,
formulate their own understanding of the topic whereas e learning is
limited in its scope of the topics covered. Human communication is
complex and can cater for many scenarios and learning types through
different means of communication. Face to face communication consists
of 70% body language and 30% verbal communication and being of such a
flexible nature limited only by imagination, teachers can work on
visual cues to identify problem areas in learning and address the
issue immediately by further explanation and changes in teaching styles
whereas e leaning is set (Way J, Web C 2006)
 
 E learning is set in a technological framework and is therefore limited
by the restricted dimensions of technology. If technology were to be upgraded and updated, then the restrictions that have limited e learning could also be updated, one such
problem is the communication barrier of technological interactivity that is
poor compared to the richness to interpersonal communication. Live
video communication would be a plausible solution, as it would allow
students to and tutors to communicate. In the First Aid course context a professional should be available at allocated times to communicate with students in a conference style online classroom.
 
 The first aid course could be improved by improving learner engagement, further developing learning tools and reducing the amount of download to un-restrict learners with slower download speeds. It should also consider placing a professional in a conference like situation, so students can receive feedback correctly and efficiently.

E-learning courses will continue to shift and change to satisfy the needs of the learning community. The advantages will begins to out weigh the disadvantages significantly. The First Aid course was an example of this technological development and assisted in revealing some impediments of the online framework for learning.

The First Aid course is intended as general guidance not designed to be a substitute for formal first aid training.
It’s purpose is to assist in building first aid knowledge and skills.

I expect that this course will be able to assist my frist aid skill development with correct and reliable information that will not breach my rights under the good samaritan act if i should choose to use information that I have obtained from this course.

I believe that the learning experience will be flexible and tailored to my needs as I am able to end and continue a course until it’s finished. In addition to this, the course will provide relevant information and assist in the development and refreshment of my first aid skills.

I would expect that there were additional excercises that could be used for specific topics as well as information through other reliable sources for extra reading and development.