Some strengths of e-learning have been presented above. However, there are some weaknesses of this learning method such as the online environment itself
can limit the levels of synergy. With large groups more than 20 people, the dialog becomes somewhat limited. The virtual environment is not suitable to all
kinds of education, for example public speaking, surgery, or sports. Putting up an online curriculum and learning environment cannot directly transfer the old
courses into virtual ones to obtain a high quality e-course. The need of qualified professionals to develop distance education programs is often overlooked.
2.1.2.2. Teaching, Instructing and Evaluation in Online Learning
According to Fahy 2004, online learning teaching and instructing can be used as synonyms because the interaction is often delayed and happens through an
interface. Routines related to teaching are made mainly beforehand in an online environment and many traditional teacher’s tasks and roles are replaced by
hypermedia objects and communication tools. Ally 2004 proposes five important roles for the teacher in an online learning environment as presented
below. 1 The t
eacher’s role as a motivator is emphasized because the online environment lacks the typical motivation aspects of the traditional learning.
To maintain the motivation, the teacher should provide: enough challenging tasks, current and quality learning material, versatile interactions, and social
contacts. 2 The teacher is also a networker who creates communication and expert
networks demanded by learning.
3 The teacher is an organizer. She organizes the didactic challenges according to learning such as the used tools and applications.
4 A communicator is one o f teacher’s roles in the online environment.
Communication in online learning is done via e-mails, chat groups, forums, and the Internet pages.
5 The teacher should actively follow and guide the students and act as a tutor because there is no chance of face-to-face communication. Guiding is very
important in the online learning and it is based on discussion. Online learning demands strong self-steering, motivation, and empirical
atmosphere. Therefore new ways of acting are needed in evaluation. How can learning be evaluated comprehensively when the teacher and the student may
never meet? Practices on evaluation should be in the same line with other actions in an online course. In the online learning, it is possible to use various evaluation
methods by using information from forum discussions, exercises, quizzes, feedback questionnaires, learning diaries, and portfolios. One form of evaluation
is a web-examination. It is an evaluation that is done by the students by completing or doing the tasks in the website. Self-evaluation is a practical tool and
also peer evaluation can be used where students evaluate each other.
2.1.3. Industrial Internship
