Models for E-Learning Communities - Benefits & Drawbacks
"E-learning challenges us to reassess our practice and reconstruct the meaning of teaching and learning. We are challenged to see our students in the light of the postmodern self ..." (McConnell, 2006)
A bold statement which evokes the thought of so many challenges and so many implications. E-learning by it's very nature does not conform to one single compartmentalised format. In the same way as the modern teaching profession does not. Teaching is, and always has been, evolving, and E-learning is seen by many as a relatively new venture or indeed solution in education.
However E-learning has been with us now for a considerable length of time. Even if we look back 10 years, E-learning was becoming commonly discussed in the countries educational publications. A bold vision is outlined by Kelly in 2000 where education is not just limited to traditional establishments, but is opened up to be accessed by anyone. Pupils could access content from home and parents could purchase extra E-learning for their children to help them succeed in their education (Kelly, 2000).
The idea of a single model for these new E-learning systems was doomed from the start. The very fat that E-learning has evolved to fill a niche and fulfil an unmet requirement means that is will be different things for different people.
Transmission and dissemination
In the simplest form, E-learning involves simple transmission and dissemination of information (McConnell, 2006).
In this model, learners are not part of the content development. The 'knowledge' is already there and has been written for them. Their task is simply to receive the information and learn it. Like with any educational model this has it's advantages and it's disadvantages.
From a course organisers perspective, once the content has been added and verified there is very little 'upkeep' to be done. Several cohorts of learners can access the 'knowledge', learn it and progress with virtually no extra input required from the course organiser.
From the pupils perspective, this approach is a best 'passive'. The teacher is seen as "the 'expert', controller and arbiter of knowledge" (McConnell, 2006). Assessment is formal and summative and involves very little processional feedback.
Transmission with discussion
A slightly more advanced form of E-learning involves transmission with discussion.
Again in this model the learners are not part of the content development. The 'knowledge' is already there and has been written for them. However there is limited room for interpretation and creativity. The discussion element is often is often controlled or regulated by the teacher.
From a course organisers perspective, again, once the content has been added and verified there is very little 'upkeep' to be done. The only additional work required of the course organiser is to basically facilitate the discussion element.
From the pupils perspective, this approach is more involved than the transmission and dissemination model. The pupil is required to learn the content, but also to demonstrate their understanding of it as well. Assessment is again formal but involves assignments as well as summative testing (McConnell, 2006).
Learning community
It is this approach which is proving of interest to many individuals and educational establishments but it is also the hardest to categorise and define. In this model the 'knowledge' does not exist in advance of the course starting. It is instead constructed collectively by all the learners involved.
From a course organisers perspective this model provides a completely different set of challenges. On the one hand there is considerably less 'setting up' to be done at the start as the 'knowledge' does not need to be written and verified prior to the start of the course. However the difference arises when you look at the organisers role. Instead of being a 'teacher' the organiser now becomes a facilitator, student, critical observer and co-expert (McConnell, 2006). Indeed these events need not take place entirely on-line, a blend of face to face sessions, group discussions and on-line content has proved successful in the past (Jara & Mohamed, 2007).
From the pupils perspective, they essentially become "active constructor of their own learning" (McConnell, 2006). Ultimately they become both the student and the teacher which not only facilitates their learning but deepens their understanding of the subject material. Assessment is formative in its very nature and is judged on pupil and teacher criteria alike. Indeed with the advent of popular social networking websites, modern pupils do indeed prefer the E-learning community model as it is something they feel comfortable with (JISC, 2007)
In conclusion, as outlined from the start there are both advantages and disadvantages to any model for E-learning. In terms of the simple thirst for knowledge, there is great merit in both the transmission and dissemination model and the transmission with discussion model. Both allow many pupils to access the course and acquire knowledge without generating unmanageable levels of input from the course organiser. However, in terms of professional development and learning higher up the educational ladder, the learning community model has to have benefits outweighing it's drawbacks. Pupils becoming teachers and teachers becoming pupils all leads to a more detailed, in-depth understanding of the subject material, which at higher levels, is what education and professional development is all about.
Bibliography
Jara, M. & Mohamed, F. (2007), Pedagogical templates for e-learning, WLE centre, Occasional papers in work based learning 2, London knowledge lab, Institute of Education, London
JISC, (2007), In their own words - Exploring the learner’s perspective on e-learning, JISC and the
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
Kelly, P. (2000), It's only just begun..., Times Educational Supplement, 28th July 2000, available on-line at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=337232
McConell, D. (2006), E-Learning Groups and Communities, The Society for Research into Higher Education & The Open University Press, Maidenhead, England
Hi All
I have been doing quite a bit of reading around this topic this week. I have added 2 resources to our Google docs area. Please let me know if you can see them.
The first I found really interesting as it was viewing E-Learning from a completely different angle to what I had done previously. It it a white paper from Adobe, creators of the PDF format, outlining their intentions to infiltrate the E-Learning market. That part wasn't so interesting but they had done some great, straight to the point research (as commercial companies tend to do). Well worth a read for general research on how E-Learning communities function and how they tend to share information.
The second was an article I have read before from the TES. Dating back to the year 2000 it outlines a bold view of a future in which people would be able to complete courses on-line, without ever actually meeting. I can't see that happening, can you?!?!?! I found it sooo relevant to our topic area as we can see how E-Learning has developed since then.
I have also been reading McConnell (2006), E-Learning Groups and Communities. I am going to try and scan in some sections and upload them to Google docs in a minute so we can discuss them on Tuesday. If anyone has chance to read them, his views of learning, as determined by the E-Learning software is of interest to us (page 10). He splits them into 'linear', 'deterministic', 'closed' and 'negative in their feedback'. He also outlines several advantages of colaberative work (over traditional competitive individual educational settings) on page 12-13. In conclusion, McConnell basically splits E-Learing communities into 3 models (pages 18-19), 'transmission/dissemination', 'transmission with discussion' and 'learning community'.
The main one which I would urge you to read before Tuesday is the section on successful on-line debates (page 16). There are some great ground rules there which may make us more successful in our 'chat' sessions!.
That is my thinking so far
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)