The future of on-line learning

On-line learning is providing a vital service to learners with busy schedules, to schools facing staff, resource, and financial shortfalls, and to expanding horizons. Pulkkinen and Ruotsalainen (LeBaron, 2001) examine a pilot project for on-line learning which occurred from 1996-1997 and took place in Europe. It was primarily centered around the Lego Dacta Construction Kit involving the manipulation of Lego robots from afar. The unusual nature of this project was that groups of distance learners were to manipulate the materials from remote locations.

Problems encountered along the way are exposed. These included lack of time, lack of guidance, unclear expectations, technical difficulties with Internet connectivity and the unreliability of the Lego lab which resulted in the latter not being used very often, It would be easy from this article to conclude that on-line learning on an international scale is a pipe dream. However, if one considers Clayton Christensen’s analysis of the manner in which disruptive technologies shake and eventually overtake the industries, one gains a better perspective. In his book, The Innovator’s Dilemna, Christensen explains how new ways of doing something revolutionary at first encounter many “bugs” or “kinks” that need to be worked out. However, over time, there is improvement to this new technology and, in time, it becomes competitive enough for the traditional way of doing things to be abandoned. I believe that this is the case with distance or online learning.

On the other hand, there is the argument that distance learning cannot make up for the social interaction which occurs in a F2F (face-to-face) traditional environment. In 2000, Money Magazine conducted a survey of the top Fortune 500 companies, asking top officers what they valued most in their employees. Loyalty and interpersonal skills ranked highest. In addition, a great deal of the literature in the field of psychology has condemned the anonymity of the Internet and the affect that it has on childrens' social skills. This raises critical questions regarding the effectiveness of teaching and learning via the Internet and the long-term effects on interpersonal communication skills (www.teAchnology.com).

What does all of this mean for the future of distance learning? Pulkkinen and Ruotsalainen’s conclusion, based on survey data of the participants , was that these courses work best for students who are already by nature organized self-starters. In light of advances, this conclusion seemed rather outdated. Today the thought is that with adequate preparation and scaffolding, all learners can be successful with on-line learning.

To conclude, Lloyd Armstrong, provost at the University of Southern California, describes the future of on-line learning in this excellent way:

Novel, highly individualized, nonlinear pedagogical approaches and additional technological developments such as virtual reality have the potential to enable IMDL (Internet-mediated distance learning) to bypass the traditional lecture course in terms of learning efficiency and understanding of subject. And, like other disruptive technologies, IMDL possesses benefits not found in the dominant teaching paradigm. Among these are ease of asynchronous access, low marginal cost for additional students, opportunity to take courses from a variety of sources, and the flexibility to respond to multiple learning styles. Major efforts are being made to understand how to create virtual communities of IMDL students so as to preserve and enhance the benefits of peer interaction. The resulting experience certainly will be different from that found in the classroom of the great teacher. However, in the end, IMDL may well provide a competitive or even superior way to learn for many students (Armstrong, 2000).

Sources:

Armstrong, L. (2000, November). Distance learning--the challenge to conventional higher education. Change, Retrieved October 18, 2006, from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1254/is_6_32/ai_67884312

LeBaron, J. and Collier, C. (Ed.). (2001). Technology in its place: Successful technology infusion in schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

teAchnology. Retrieved October 18, 2006, from Is Distance Learning Feasible for K-12? Web site: http://www.teAchnology.com