OPPapers.com

Tudents' Perceptions E-Learning

INTRODUCTION
Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are opening up new opportunities for distance
learning. The use of ICT in delivery of education has major implications for learners and institutions. It is
widely accepted that advances in information technology and new developments in learning science provide
opportunities to create well-designed, learner-centered, interactive, affordable, efficient, flexible e-learning
environments (Khan, 2005). Higher education institutions in developing countries often have problems keeping
up-to-date with advances in international science and technology. E-Learning offers many opportunities for
supporting education in higher education in developing countries such as Iran. The term e-learning embraces a
variety of electronic delivery media, for example web-based multimedia, interactive television, virtual
classrooms, video conferencing, and so forth. E-learning, as a positive reaction by universities to the challenge
introduced by IT, is characterized by: (1) separation in time and/or space between the teacher and students,
among the students themselves, and between the students and educational resources; (2) interaction between the
teacher and students, among the students, and between the students and educational resources by means of one
or more media, especially through the Internet; and (3) a process of teaching and learning not limited to the
immediate time and/or place (Oh 2003).
In this paper e-learning is defined as teaching and learning that are delivered, supported, and enhanced through
the use of digital technologies and media. We consider it mostly off campus learning through synchronous or
asynchronous which may encompass a few face to face meetings, but the default mode occurred by distance.
Every college and university in developed countries is discovering exciting new ways of using information
technology to enhance the process of teaching and learning and to extend access...