Greetings goblins and ghouls! Welcome to the Halloween edition of Brian's weekly blog. This week kicks-off the beginning of CEDO550 which is also known as
Online Facilitation: Taming the World of Online Learning. The new course is where we start pulling it all together from previous work in the program. This week we've examined online learning not only from a teaching perspective but also through the eyes of students and parents. Many people see online learning as the panacea for all that ails current educational systems. There are benefits and disadvantages to online learning and the course is helping us identify where those may lie.
Since this is the Halloween edition, I feel the need to be scary. Have you ever seen
Fahrenheit 451 or read Aldous Huxley's
Brave New World? Both portray
dystopian worlds where benevolent technologies lead to oppression of human free will. But what does that have to do with online learning? Well, online learning can do many wonderful things by making courses available at flexible times across geographic boundaries. Learning Management Systems can reduce administrative overhead by automatically grading student performance and soon these systems will be able to parse student essays. Teachers will have more time to focus on their students and learning will become exciting and invigorating for all involved.
So where's the monster?
Economics and recent history tells us that increasing capital can reduce the quantity of labor. Instead of having a 100,000 teachers we could save costs by recording all instructor-led classes and reducing the variety and quantity of educational modules. Industrialization brought us investment in heavy machinery and processes ensuring products were to specifications. What if we were to unite the mindset of
No Child Left Behind with automated education of all students in the United States? Wouldn't society benefit from all students working on the same online studies and taking the same tests? Everything would be so uniform and neat. Employers would always know what they were getting.
Are you scared, yet?
Actually, I think online learning is a huge positive and can lead to equitable education within the United States and abroad. The knowledge that is being circulated around The Internet is amazing and grows every single hour. What a wonderful and incredible world it will be as we conquer the digital divide and education flows freely. Think '
Teachers without Borders'. And no, I am not referring to a book store chain.
And since I want to end on a more upbeat note, let us look at the good works of George Lucas and
Edutopia. Although Lucas' first film,
THX 1138 was about a dystopian future in which all aspects of society are controlled, the Edutopia site is filled with positive examples of collaborative learning which emphasizes critical thinking skills for students. Perhaps George Lucas' THX 1138 provided him with an insight into a possible future and he felt the need to counteract it with Edutopia. I hope I didn't scare you too much. Happy Halloween!
Brian, I always enjoy your comments and blogs, too. You always have interesting perspectives. I too think about the day when teachers are secondary to the functioning or operation of classrooms. In the early years of children's education, when they are still very dependent, things may not change much. What may change, however, is the need for full-time teachers in the classrooms for older, more independent students. I wonder how far off in the future before that becomes a universal format.
ReplyDeleteI, like you, see online education creating a more equitable experience for all students. I know a lot of people fear that teachers will no longer be needed, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. i do, however feel that education is going to move to a more blended model, with students working at their own pace and level, but with teacher and peer interaction in the classroom environment. i am looking forward to the day when education is more learner centered.
ReplyDeleteI have had a teacher come to me many times over the last few years to discuss this topic. As we put more technology into the school he feels that some day he will be less important in the classroom than the technology. I don't see that happening any time soon. Education is always far behind in these things. How long have we had laptops, wireless, or broadband Internet access in the home? I still know lots of schools, both public and private, who do not have these things. I think education is a subject that is too big to adapt and move quickly on these things. If it does happen, it will not be soon.
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