Applications of Web-based Learning for Power Engineering in the World

This paper will give an overview of the status of web-based learning for power engineering in the world. The descriptions will include the concepts of power engineering programs study using web-based learning typical to different countries. Use of advance presentation methods (multimedia, videos, etc.) and application of computers in power engineering education will be discussed. In order to demonstrate recent experiences of web-based learning for power engineering worldwide and to evaluate modern strategies for the current online learning system, investigation is conducted using the English-language literatures of the last five years, based on papers published in well-known power engineering education e-learning journals. Trends in web-based learning for power engineers in the next five years will be discussed. Mature technology makes the development slowing down and stable but it might be not the best solution anymore. The economical, environment and electrical power problems are dynamic and giving impact to the whole world nowadays. Web-based learning shares the available knowledge to larger groups of people and tries to promote good practices on renewable energy [1, 2]. The continuous study will develop new understanding and awareness [1]. It is expected that the continuous study will give a better vision to the student and society about Distributed Energy Resources (DER) technologies, applications and the environmental effects [3]. Web-based learning is well-known as an alternative low-cost solution for education [4]. It is ideal for use in selected learning application environments for training or studying and it immediately simulates the learner as the subject to the learning system [5]. New way of learning is introduced by using interactive animation, video and simulation, in which they create interactive training environment and partly replace classes and laboratories [6]. This method will reduce the required number of trainer and teacher. It is also common to have advance features, such as video conferencing, web-conferencing and remote-laboratory in the system [7]. All of this stimulates a self study. Too much complex system will not help the learner to study. Moreover, to force all available courses into web-based learning will be costly for the education institution without giving a significant increase of effectiveness in total [8]. There is no doubt that it can attract more number of learner [9]. The contributions of web-based learning for power engineering will be discussed in the paper to renew the aims and focus of the development by conducting a systematic literature study from related e-learning publications. This paper opens a wider vision by presenting possible ways to use online learning technologies in actual fact.