on reflection – e-learning

The class room is changing. The image of parallel lines of desks facing a black board; teacher dispensing wisdom while pupils take notes; the so called ‘chalk and talk’ of the twentieth century is being replaced, in some places faster than others, but in every place inevitably, by twenty first digital education. For classrooms, think ‘learning environments’, Text books? Log on. ‘Syllabus? Interface design, and no you don’t have to read the manual. Significantly, the school day, the calendar by which all family functions are set, like the high street, is dissolving into the 24 hour permanently connected, always-everywhere communication society. The themes underlying this change are communication, feedback mechanisms, interaction and individualised learning.

Brett Lucas, Website Developer and Learning Technology Officer, Higher Education Academy, gave an overview of the e-learning landscape beginning with the challenges this new way of working presented to the teaching community. Where previously practice had been oriented towards research, the focus has shifted towards teaching and learning. He discussed the political and social drivers for change, and findings from evaluation studies. The overwhelming impression was that there is a lot to be gained by the education establishment embracing new technology. A telling metaphor was his comparison with medical industry. Just as the tools in medical practice have changed, so too the methods of education delivery needs to adapt to fit a digital society. However he pointed out that this change was not uncontested, for some the image of the teacher delivering before an engaged audience was still the ideal to which they aspired.

The technology

e-learning, and its associates Computer Assisted Learning (CAL), Computer Based Training (CBT) refers to learning facilitated and/or supported through technology. It covers a broad range of technologies: delivery mechanisms including the internet, support services, formal and informal contexts, tools and techniques. The earliest forms were CD based resources, some of the newer, innovative techniques involve location-aware wireless technology, podcasting and chat rooms. Interactive whiteboards are familiar now in secondary schools, email communication between pupil and teacher is routine and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), also referred to as Learning Content Management Systems or learning platforms, can provide a complete, integrated, computer environment for learning.

VLEs typically incorporate secure, differentiated access to pupils and teachers, they provide syllabus and lesson plans, student resources, discussion fora, and sometimes authoring tools. A surprising fact is that Kings College has an e-learning platform for students: Kings College e-learning. The first I heard of it was at an elective, non accredited course Digital Tools for Research in the Humanities. This perhaps identifies one of the problems with new tools: the difficulty of integrating them into traditional practice.

Kings e-learning platform can be accessed at home or at college.

Mind shift

Diane Oblinger’s influential paper, Boomers, Generation X-ers and New Millenials describes a new generation of students who are used internet and technology communication methods and expect to be able to use these tools through their education. She calls it the “information age mindset”. Rich learning experiences delivered in a variety of content formats, providing interaction and feedback mechanisms, and allowing a measure of self-pacing for the student. This is helpful in maintaining a critical level of motivation and enjoyment – the difference perhaps between success and failure for a student – and is at the core of the political and social drivers.

However, it is important to point out that there are alternative viewpoints. A recent study by researchers at University College London (Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, British Library and JISC, 2008) overturns some assumptions about the new generation learner. One also might be sceptical about Diane Oblinger’s objectivity given her current job as Executive Director of Higher Education for Microsoft Corporation.

Fit for purpose

The online course is one of the successful business models of the internet age. It fits a need for distributed and distance learning. It is also part of the transformation in society, where transparency and access to knowledge has become standard. Moreover, the experience of the social web has demonstrated the potential for citizens to engage, create and share knowledge. An interesting example is language networks where people learn from each other in informal, user negotiated ways.

Xlingo.com, example of a social network for e-learning.

In the workplace e-learning delivers training to distributed workers. My organisation of 500+ staff recently refurbished its offices. Training about the new office equipment was delivered through an e-learning package supplied by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The 45 minute scenario based tutorial, complete with multiple choice exercises was compulsory though could be taken at your own pace, over days if necessary.

Criticism

The museum and heritage sector is another area where forms of education and communication are changing. At one extreme the computer is seen as a Trojan horse, undermining scholarship and curatorship. Critics such as Charles Saumarez-Smith director of the National Gallery 2002-2007 fear that the ‘tide of technology’ will make museums redundant in the 21^st Century like zoos have become in the twentieth. He reflects that a trend towards miscellaneous, non-linear exhibition and the ubiquitous presence of the computer display will have malign consequences. At the heart of his objection is the loss of control. If the user/visitor is equally able to navigate content and their ‘experience’ given preference over cohesion and integrity of the collection what will this mean to the body of knowledge collected through painstaking research?

In education there are further complications highlighted by the UCL study. Students may be losing valuable skills of focused enquiry, concentration and critical analysis in the ‘distracted’ model of multimedia, digitised learning. There are also ethical implications in blurring the boundaries between the classroom and the social realm.

An enhanced learning experience

Ultimately it is about balance. E-learning has encouraged skills of exploration, negotiation, collaboration, and autonomous enquiry. Digital tools, such as multimedia, have been shown to be powerful in engaging students who are disadvantaged in traditional education. It is also more sensitive to the requirements of disability and accessibility e.g. dyslexia. The variety of learning spaces is more inclusive and opportunities for persistent, lifelong learning are welcome.

See also

College and University Showcase for examples of e-learning projects http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/showcase/academic.htm

Charles Saumarez-Smith “The Future of the Museum” Companion to Museum Studies, edited by Sharon McDonald (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006: 544-5)

 

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Tags: digital culture, e-learning, kcl, technology, vle