OilWeb : ELearning Online Application Description

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Another time is upon us now, new ways of doing things and new ways of understanding! (Siôn Simon - West Midlands, 2011) New ways driven by technology, internet and web technology! I am here to chat about the future of education, eLearning! The first online teaching started in the early 1980s, based on the invention of computer conferencing by Murray Turoff in 1970 (Hiltz and Turoff, 1978).

Computer conferencing or computer-mediated communication (CMC) enables asynchronous communication between dispersed individuals. Asynchronous means that the user can communicate at any time, because messages from all participants are centrally stored, ordered and accessible on demand.

Early computer conferencing depended on local computer networks, usually within a single institution. One of the first institutions to offer teaching through computer conferencing was the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the USA. Using specially designed computer conferencing software called ‘Virtual Classroom’, between 1985 and 1987 Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff constructed ‘a prototypical virtual classroom, offering many courses fully or partially online (Harasim, 1990).

The popularity of eLearning is growing as internet speed becomes faster; and cost of computers and mobile devices drops. The initial cost of developing a very robust eLearning tutor could be very high when compared with developing classroom teaching materials and retraining the instructors.

However, because of delivery cost – web servers and technical support - are lower than arranging classroom facilities, learners’ travel cost, job time lost and instructor time (Valentina and Nelly, 2014); eLearning tutor is economically better, so will OilWeb.

Additional advantages (War Child Holland, 2015) OilWeb will offer is the wider reach, so course instructors or facilitators can reach dispersed participants that are:

• in difficult to reach places, like war zones;
• busy at work or have family commitments;
• hindered by cultural and religious beliefs;
• limited access to transportation.

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The idea of this site is that of my supervisor Dr Ines Arana,
Postgraduate Programme Leader for the School of Computing
Robert Gordon University,
Garthdee House,
Garthdee Road,
Aberdeen, AB10 7QB, Scotland, UK

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The practical and technical responsibility of this work is that of mine, Mr Uchenna B. Chinwe