E-Learning: Old Wine, New Bottle?

E-Learning: Old Wine in a New Bottle?

Mark Bullen

Expo E-Learning, Barcelona

March 20, 2009

Main Point

E-Learning is not newhistory is important

What is E-Learning?

Looking to the Past

Much of what we think is new is not

Looking to the Past

John Dewey (1859-1952) Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Constructivism

Looking to the PastLearner-centered education

Socrates Confucius

Looking to the Past

E-learning and distance educationHas its roots in distance educationDates back to the 1700s correspondence educationAudiovisual devices - early 1900sEducational television - 1960sEffective course development model

History: Pre-Internet

Early online learningComputer-mediated Communication (CMC)Collaboration, knowledge construction

Many-to-many communication, time and place independence

Asynchronous text-based communication as a facilitator of collaboration, knowledge construction

(Harasim, 1990; Harasim et al., 1995)

History: The Internet Era- Web 1.0

Internet, course management systems (CMS) changed our understanding of online learning

CMS not about communication, collaboration, knowledge construction

CMS about efficient distribution of contentTeacher-centered Internet as a delivery mechanism

History: The Internet Era - Web 2.0

A return to the pre-Internet era?

Architecture of presentation

Architecture of participation

History: The Internet Era - Web 2.0

Harnessing the potential of easy to use tools

Facilitating collaboration, production

User-generated content

Openness

E-Learning Today

E-Learning 10 years ago

Education in the New Millenium

E-Learning Today

E-Learning Today

Dominant instructional design model information transmission supported by asynchronous

online “discussion”

Blogs

Wikis

Social Bookmarking

Virtual Worlds

…..casting

Synchronous Communication Tools

Web conferencing

Instant messaging

E-Learning Today

But are these tools changing the dominant instructional design paradigm?Online delivery remains primarily text-based,

information delivery Constructivist, collaborative, online knowledge

building community is rareTechnology still largely being used to replicate earlier

modes of teaching - the electronic classroom

The Future

The Future

Radical change or status quo?

Technology is changingContinuing development of Web 2.0

Learners are changing…we think

Learner Changes

Net generationBorn after 1982Never know life without the Internet

CharacteristicsDigitally literateConnected ImpatientExperiential

Learner Changes

Characterstics of Net generationSocialTeam playersNeed for structureVisual and kinesthicNeed for interactivityCommunity minded

Learner Changes

How accurate is this portrayal?

Different social and technological context

BCIT research

Learning 2.0

• Focus on learning processes

• Focus on communication & interaction

• Co-developed with learners & instructors shaping the design

• Customized/personalized

• Focus on knowledge & understanding

• Learner-paced

Learning 2.0

Collaborative: one to many, many to many

Feedback rich

Technology 2.0

Less reliance on enterprise solutions

The web as platform

Easy to use, free, often open, tools

Personal Learning Environments

“A facility for an individual to access, aggregate, configure and manipulate digital artifacts of their ongoing learning experiences.” - Ron Lubensky

http://members.optusnet.com.au/rlubensky/2006/12/present-and-future-of-personal-learning.html

Concluding Comments

E-learning is not as new as we think

Current e-learning practice is fairly conservative

Changing technology, changing learners

Heterogeneity of learners

Check assumptions

Technology potential not always realized

ReferencesBates, A.W. (2000). Managing Technological Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bereiter, C. & Scardamelia, M. Catching the Third Wave. Queen's Education Letter, Issue #2: Integrating ICT in Teaching and Learning

Bullen, M. & Janes, D. (Eds.)(2007). Making the Transition to E-Learning: Strategies and Issues. Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.

Harasim, L. (1990). Online Education: An Environment for Collaboration and Intellectual Amplifcation. In L. Harasim (Ed.), Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment (pp. 39-64). New York: Praeger.

Harasim, L., Hiltz, S., Teles, L., & Turoff, M. (1995). Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Oblinger, D.G. & Oblinger, J.L. (2005). Educating the Net Generation. Available at http://www.educause.edu/EducatingtheNetGeneration/

Sinclair, G., McClarin, M. & Griffin, M.J. (2006). E-Learning and Beyond. Discussion paper prepared as part of the Campus 2020 process for the Ministry of Advance Education.

Zemsky , R. & Massy, W.F. (2004). Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to E-learning and Why. The Learning Alliance.

For Further Information

Mark BullenMark_Bullen@bcit.cahttp://www.markbullen.cahttp://www.bcit.ca/ltc