I have developed and run a MOOC; and have another in development. I run a fully distance learning MA. I did my PhD on a theme related to the Internet. You would think I would be in love with new technology and eLearning. My secret confession is… I have never been in love with it. It simply started as an affair. An affair that felt exciting at times and wrong at others. It felt like I was cheating on my real love – the adrenaline and buzz that comes with classroom based teaching. Now eLearning and I are ‘going steady’; our relationship is maturing and I feel more comfortable talking about it.
So what have I learnt? Perhaps, most importantly, when it comes to eLearning being a skeptic is healthy. I remember at one memorable conference dinner being sat next to the White House chief technology advisor. He blew me away with his conversation – predicting the end of schools as we know them. He painted a picture of ‘super teachers’ piping the very best learning through virtual reality headsets to millions of children at a time. There would be adults employed as minders – simply there to keep the headsets on. I am sure the wine was talking and he was trying to blow my mind…but the image has stayed strong in my head. It looked and felt like a dystopian nightmare.
Yet I keep finding myself coming back to that dinner time conversation. What if elements of the vision could be actualised? What if, for an hour tomorrow, all children could learn interactively, through dynamic headsets, about space from Tim Peake, or anatomy from our very own Alice Roberts? This sounds more exciting. This is how I have learnt to become comfortable with my affair; by being open to the possibilities of technology enhanced learning while, at the same time, remaining questioning and critical. I believe this requires all of us, to ask (and then try and answer) some challenging questions.
We need to work out which aspects of the technology genuinely improve learning and teaching, which are simply a distraction – and be aware that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is probably unsuitable. We need to be honest: eLearning brings many benefits for teachers and learners but these (currently) come at a price. Is this a price always worth paying? We need to think harder about how we can ensure eLearning remains essentially human and keep trying out, embracing, and also being prepared to jettison, new innovations. We need to be excited about the possibilities of bringing together a global audience to discuss, debate and, hopefully, unite as a community of learners to address the big questions of the day.
To address these challenges and big questions will requires us to be innovative, take risks and properly research impact. It will require investment. But we are in a great place to do this – as I believe innovation and self-evaluation should be the watchwords of any good University – now and in the future.
For me, Tom raises a particulary interesting point:
“We need to think harder about how we can ensure eLearning remains essentially human…”
Thoughts on how to do this?
It is a really important point – technology is an important enabler in which we need to invest, but definitely not a means to an end. The challenge is to identify appropriate tools and techniques that enhance the experience rather than dilute it.