from Jan Schwartz
I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately and snooping around social networking sites, all having to do with elearning or learning technology–truthfully I spend a fair amount of time doing this. In addition to books, it’s how I learn about new stuff, new trends and how to “do it” better. It’s tough to figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff sometimes, and I’m glad I’m not a newbie to elearning and learning technology.
I’ve noticed that a little bit of knowledge transferred in a confident manner has the effect of having people who know little or nothing believe all that is said, by the person with a limited amount of knowledge. In other words people come across as experts in the field, when in fact they may only be experts in their limited area of knowledge and experience. We all come from our experiences and if we have limited experience I think we need to say that. So I’ll say that I have limited experience in some areas of elearning, but I also have a lot of experience and knowledge in other areas of that subject. The behind the scenes working with the applications is definitely not a strength of mine, and you won’t find me trying to explain that stuff, but it’s ok because my partner is quite experienced in this area. On the other hand, the androgogy of online learning (and face to face too), the theories behind the design, educational philosophies, and how technology can be used in education are areas that I am comfortable speaking to.
To say that elearning is easy is misleading, because there are a lot of elements to it. To say that anyone can teach a certain course online is to say that that course will not be very good–a monkey could teach it. Think about teaching as a profession, one where individuals learn how to do something and then experiment with the process in their own creative and dynamic ways; think about outcomes and measurements; think about the technologies involved–and they are not all the same for the various forms of elearning–and think about how you get people enrolled and supported in the online environment. There are lots of moving parts in this endeavor we call online education. Far too many moving parts to say it is easy.
Photo credit: Flickr, Mai Le
