Comments on: Online education experiences

By: Lars-Erik Jonsson

Lars-Erik Jonsson — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:09:27 +0000

I have read the discussion initiated by Georte Siemens about online learning. I believe very much in what Tony Bates says about teaching and technology; its a matter of teacher presence. At the University of Gothenburg I have been able to create quite a good interest among university faculty for a mandatory course in “higher education pedagogy”. The participants are professors, physicians, lecturers and doctoral candidates. From my experience teacher presence i a key to success. Every participant needs to be seen and it takes a lot of time for me as the course leader. We use a traditional LMS and our discussions are almost entirely text-based. Still they become interested. Text might seem old-fashioned to some but it is my conviction that you have to adapt the medium to your participants. University staff are not particularly technically interested generally and I think many of them consider the LMS rather high-tech. Most of them are totally unfamiliar with a LMS. As to text-based discussions I think that academic content in most cases requires text. I believe that also courses at masters level fit very well into this way of organizing courses. See f.ex “The Online Seminar as Enacted Practice” by Säljö and myself (http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/Chapter.aspx?TitleId=23881)

By: Mike Caulfield

Mike Caulfield — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:46:29 +0000

Your last point becomes more and more important everyday. I don’t know if you have read The Shock Doctrine, but it’s basically what’s going on with education right now — there’s a bunch of very powerful and wealthy people behind the scenes whipping up a “crisis” the solution to which will be “let’s start from scratch”.

Except of course it won’t be from scratch. The plans are already drawn up. The future of education, if the vandals get their way, will look roughly like the home mortgage industry.

By: Thomas Sheppard

Thomas Sheppard — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:53:57 +0000

I wonder how much of this argument is influenced by attitudes about distance education. You’d think by now that we could have moved beyond the debate about quality education between f2f and DE. Yet, I know some of my colleagues that take online courses and equate their bad experience not to design of the course or even the instructor but the fact that it was online. Yet, the never seem to blame a bad experience in the classroom on the fact that it was delivered f2f.

By: Keith Quinn

Keith Quinn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:24:48 +0000

Absolutely agree with your comments about learning design. Too often, people confuse content with learning experience. Nor do they understand that creating good learning experiences takes time, effort and a high degree of skill.

I don’t see this changing until people stop seeing elearning as a cheap option rather than an alternative (but equally rigorous) approach to learning.

By: Fernando Luís Santos

Fernando Luís Santos — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:14:08 +0000

The problem lies in little or no pedagogical training of teachers in higher education.
There is no course to be a teacher at this level of education and often breed practices and methodologies that have resulted (and not necessarily the most correct, if that exists). In the online environment these weaknesses become more evident because they are more visible and subject to criticism.
I am part of a team that implemented an online education project and the problem ends up being the system and not people, because fortunately (and we have had cases of these) people are smart enough to change their practices …

By: Ethel Enstrom

Ethel Enstrom — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:41:50 +0000

Yes, I agree that the design of online courses is very important, as is the active facilitation of the online learning experience. Online facilitation (or teaching) is a skill set that needs to be acquired and practised. As Tony Bates reminds us, “Good teaching may overcome a poor choice of technology, but technology will *never* save bad teaching” (cited at http://www.tonybates.ca/).

By: Marc Frencken

Marc Frencken — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:26:50 +0000

It’s never in the system, as I found out trying to implement Blackboard ,odules amongst colleagues, but in the people. I experienced online learning myself and made great discoveries, even thought out an e-learning concept which we’re trying to deploy now. It’s not the system that keeps good developments from maturing, it’s people, unable to look over a period longer than let’s say 12 to 24 months. I can understand your frustration about the tendency in discussions. Overseas in the Netherlands there are few platforms on the e-learning topic that do not give in, and keep up the productive dialogue on i.e. virtuality (SURF-SIG). Connectivism is inavoidable! Development of interesting and interactive stuff will proceed. And even now people are learning online without even noticing what special competences they are earning. (avoid the answer, follow the question)

By: kuriousmind

kuriousmind — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:24:30 +0000

I agree with your comments, but find after more than a decade teaching in higher education (‘students’ and ‘faculty’) that most are, at the least, seeking education to “prepare [them] employment”… and too often, we are failing and just that utilitarian goal.

But, to be sure, your comments about the design of learning are sound.

In higher education online environments now, too often, I see a continued focus on the threaded discussion as the quality-indicator in courses (much discussion! must be great quality learning!) when in the real-world it’s evidence of thinking and quality “doing” that is most valued, and can be shown in multiple learning outputs.