Exploring eLearning in the Software Development Context

Everyone everywhere is talking about eLearning. It’s no wonder online learning is having its moment. The coronavirus outbreak upended almost every aspect of our lives at once, including work-based and academic education. It wasn’t just a move from offices and classrooms to computer screens. Schools tested ideas about attendance, instruction, and testing while businesses looked for ways to launch fully remote training programs. Both had to rethink the role of technology and the human connections holding it all together.

As we’ve already developed custom education software and collaborated with different eLearning businesses, we understand it’s important to prepare thoroughly before you get into the eLearning industry. We’ve analyzed a bunch of statistics, surveys, and search trends and have drawn from our own insights to craft our eLearning Software Development 101 guide. Get comfortable and enjoy!

What is eLearning?
Before we discuss modern eLearning examples, it’s important to clarify what eLearning actually is.

eLearning is a new approach to delivering training and learning through digital devices.

The concept of eLearning is comparatively new. The term itself emerged in 1999, when Elliot Masie first mentioned eLearning during a CBT Systems seminar. The name stuck.

In the early 2000s, businesses started to use eLearning to train newcomers and develop employees. Companies hosted their learning resources on internal intranets instead of paying a pretty penny for training workshops and seminars.

OpenCourseWare (OCW)
The first giant step towards high-quality and open education was when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched OpenCourseWare (OCW), a web platform that contained nearly 50 courses with recorded lectures and tasks from MIT instructors. Anyone could access OCW and watch, share, and edit resources. In 2021, OCW was used by more than 210 million unique users.

Udemy
Another important milestone was the launch in 2010 of Udemy, an online learning platform designed for adult professionals and students that was founded by Eren Bali, Gagan Biyani, and Oktay Caglar. The idea of Udemy was to make high-quality learning accessible to everyone, connecting learners around the globe to the best instructors.

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