5 benefits of e-learning

15 January 2024

In our increasingly digital era, technology has revolutionised education in many areas, perhaps most visibly through the emergence of e-learning. E-learning enables the removal of geographical barriers when it comes to professional and personal development, providing the same interconnectedness, quality, and collaboration as you would get on an in-person course.

Many institutions are adopting e-learning as a way to share their courses with a new global audience, or blending new tech with their traditional in-person lectures.

As the popularity of e-learning and online education has boomed, Warwick Business School has maintained its position at the forefront of innovative developments, with our Global Online MBA leading the way for UK business schools.

What is e-learning?

E-learning, also known as online learning or distance learning, encompasses any learning, training, or education that occurs on a digital platform. The term ‘e-learning’ can cover anything from a ten minute course on your phone, to a fully accredited university degree. Typically, you can engage in e-learning at any time and on any electronic device, whether it’s a desktop computer, laptop, or mobile phone.

Advantages of e-learning

1. Flexibility

One of the biggest advantages of e-learning for participants is its flexibility, providing the means to fit learning into your day-to-day life, and balance it alongside work, personal life, and other priorities.

This flexibility makes e-learning a valuable and accessible mode of study for busy professionals who either still want to work full-time, or have other commitments and priorities that mean they’re unable to access full-time learning.

2. Get taught by world-leading academics and experts

E-learning removes geographical barriers to learning, allowing access to world-leading experts in your area of interest, from wherever you are in the world.

Warwick Business School’s online learning is taught by the same faculty as our face-to-face programmes, enabling the same contact with experts as you’d receive if you were learning at our Warwick or London campus.

Global Online MBA participant Paul McVeigh explains the benefits:

Having the opportunity to learn and work with professors and peers with an unrivalled depth and breadth of experience on a global scale has been truly perspective-shifting.

3. You'll have 24/7 access to learning platforms and resources

Access to online platforms and resources at a time that suits you best is another benefit of e-learning. By joining an online course, you’ll get access to teaching materials, additional reading, and exclusive online business insights, alongside both live and recorded lectures, letting you decide when you learn or revise. Your cohort will be based around the globe, so no matter when you log on, someone will be there to connect with you.

At WBS, our participants have access to our intuitive online learning environment, my.wbs, which enables you to engage with lectures, watch recorded sessions, access webinars, participate in group work, and communicate with your peers, faculty, and programme team.

Dr Dot Powell, Director of Teaching and Learning Enhancement, heads up the team that ensures that our online resources and content are innovative and engaging:

We draw on the most up-to-date theories of online engagement to create interactive content to allow students to immerse themselves in the course. Learning content includes live lectures and pre-recorded video content, which can be anything from video case studies, filmed on location, to state-of-the art lightboard talks.

4. Self-paced learning

Another online learning benefit is the ability to study at your own pace, giving you the opportunity to fit study in around your other priorities – whether they be raising or caring for a family, focussing on your own business, keeping up with a fast-paced role, or anything in between.

On our Global Online MBA, our e-learning is a mix of live online lectures, and recorded sessions. You’ll be able to do readings and assignments at your own pace, and there are even opportunities to extend the length of your programme if required.

As alum Ned Lamb puts it:

It seamlessly fits around your life. Whether reading course texts before breakfast, watching live lessons in a Lagos café, or interacting with course tutors through the lesson content late at night, mostly I have the flexibility not to make unnecessary sacrifices in other parts of my life.

5. You'll join a global community

A final online learning advantage is the global community that you gain by joining an online programme. Access to the programme is open to participants from across the globe, and so your class could include cohort members of any nationality. Our participants regularly tell us that some of their stand-out learnings come from understanding the different perspectives of their cohort, a skill which is immediately applicable in the workplace. Corban Quigg, Global Online MBA participant, digs deeper into this benefit:

I have appreciated the perspective of classmates in Australia, India, Columbia, and continental Europe with group assignments and assessments, forum conversations, and WhatsApp chats. This has helped to widen my own understanding and business context on a global scale.

In addition to this, during your course and following your graduation from Warwick Business School, you’ll join a global alumni community of more than 59,000 members, from 172 different countries. You’ll have the opportunity to network and exchange ideas with graduates online and in person at networking events held around the world.

Alum Andy Cantrell discusses his experience on the Distance Learning MBA (now Global Online MBA) and how it has enhanced his career.

It’s clear that the benefits of e-learning with Warwick Business School are wide-ranging, removing geographical barriers, enabling flexibility, and providing access to a global community of learners.

Discover online courses at Warwick Business School

WBS has been a provider of online university courses and degrees for over 35 years. With this experience, we’ve developed our technology and digital delivery with you in mind. Our innovative online learning experience creates a global campus, accessible to you, wherever you are.

We’re leading the way with new technologies to support you; we’re the first business school in the UK to launch SmartStage®, which uses extended reality to embed you in the online experience.