e-learning reflection and expectations

With all this talk about e-learning, one would think that there is no other option, that this new way is the best way. Kinks still remain in the system that keep it from being a smooth running machine. In the end, some kids like being in a class with other kids being taught by some weird guy or gal up front wearing a bizzare shirt. One of the unwritten roles (or is it written?) of public education is to provide a healthy medium for socalization for young people. Allowing many courses to be offered from remote locations is quite convenient for many people, but it could be the beginning of a slippery slope (I love that over-used phrase).

Could our teaching jobs eventually become grandiose software facilitators? Assessment will be determined through standardized rubric exemplars, where student work is actually evaluated by software that is constantly being tuned and tightened to mimic what an actual person would do if he or she had still had a chance? Will the teacher become like the goal judge: first replaced by a video camera, soon to be co-opted by technology altogther?

Certainly not! Technology is good, it's healthy, it enhances our lives, without technology we would not be able to communicate as well as we do; everyone has a cell-phone, people talk all the time and they text each other constantly. We e-mail all the time - that's real communication! We say stuff in our e-mails we would never dare say in public! Without technology we all would still foolishly using vowels, writing letters to our friends and reading books to learn things.

If I were in Grade 10 and had the chance, I would just sign up for ENG 2D with e-learning, then drink the kool-aid.

E-learning is here and teachers must adapt to its existence. If teachers are to remain teachers, we need guiding principals for e-ed to ensure that students continue to learn and we continue to teach:

• students must express what they learn, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives
• expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
• allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty
• the curriculum of an online program must be designed especially for short-term, collaborative learning
• material should be presented in such a way that it is compatible with a number of learning styles

Huge advantages exist with e-learning despite any misgivings I expressed:

• access to research material
• ability to create diversely
• ability to publish student work
• increased capacity to submit more substantial work

E-learning is the future for learning and teaching whether we like it or not. Like wine and cheese, technology improves with age. In ten years we will find that e-learning has become second nature to us all. The need for governments to pay vast amounts for overhead costs in running schools will vanish; better guidlines for student accountability will be legislated. The on-line currinculum will consistently improve.

The vehicle that I would expect to use is D2L - "dare to learn". It is widely used now and promoted by boards and the Ministry. I have seen it in use recently and it is excellent! Teachers have had very good experiences with it. It does all that WebCT does, but with a more pleasant, user-friendly package. I have made up a small module that would work well with this vehicle.

For my module students would need to have basic wordprocesing software, access to google-docs, the ability to listen to .wav files and of course they need a very fast internet connection.

To view my 5-day Media module for ENG 2D, follow this link to my ENG 2D blog.