An Evaluation of Web-Based Education: Leading Trends Towards E-learning and It's Effects

Abstract

Web-based education is a technology that plays an important role in modern education and training. Its great importance lies in the fact that it makes learning content readily available at any place at any time. Until recently, many educational journals have debated the issue of the "virtual university" as one of application areas of web-based education. As technology is improving and evolving, such "virtuality" becomes a reality. The forecasts are that, in the not too distant future, it will be possible for courses to be completed solely by the use of the World Wide Web or Internet. The main contention of this paper is that technology undoubtedly will offer many benefits for the learner, however, the pitfalls need careful consideration in adoption of Web-based education at various levels of study.