Home > Company > News > eNewsletter > Educator's Voice

Educator's Voice

Volume 3, Issue 8
August 21, 2002

We've Gotten This Far...Now What?

With our latest releases, it got me thinking about where we've come from-from the fresh start-up, Real Education, to the publicly traded entity we now know as eCollege. I've been here since 1998 (and, if "Internet years" are, in fact, like dog years--as I've been told--then I've been here a good 15 years or so!), and I was teaching an online Research Writing course for CU Online, using Real Education System 2.7. Yes, really.

In 2.7, I had to code everything in HTML-of which I knew none, initially--and I had only a few options in how I could present material: Reading, Lecture, Threaded Discussion, Exam. That was it. There may have been a Syllabus area. I don't remember. What I do remember, though, is how I thought that that system was so advanced and so robust! And, I suppose, in 1996, it really was advanced and robust… Compared to what we're offering now, though, it seems quite elementary. I can liken it to looking at video games today and comparing them to Pong.

Now, the eCollege system offers a Dropbox; Whiteboard functionalities; a Visual Editor (now with an Equation Builder, too), nearly eliminating the need to know HTML; and a whole host of other tools and features that didn't exist only a few years ago. The fact that you can create customized Content Items and Unit names, etc.--that's a huge addition right there. But, when I first started online courses, all of these features may have really overloaded me. My head was spinning enough with just the idea of presenting my content wholly online!

It seems like our platform is advancing along with users' comfort levels. While there are still a large number of instructors who haven't taught online, and maybe never will, the ones who are teaching online courses--or even have some online aspect to an on-ground course--are generally much more sophisticated as well.

Stephen Downes, author of The Future of Online Learning, says, in fact, "Online learning is [still] in its infancy. As pioneers struggle with new technologies and new practises [sic], the discipline evolves almost daily. An online course that was considered state of the art twelve months ago is today considered to be out of date. Technology employed only by early adopters last fall is this summer in wide circulation and in danger of becoming obsolete by the fall semester" (1998).

Basically, all of this just got me thinking about the future: the eLearning industry (along with computer and Internet technology, as a whole) has seen huge change in a few, short years-what are we in for in another couple of years?

One of the issues surrounding online learning is that, usually, technology is driving the content. The course management system often dictates the way people teach. It should be the other way around, shouldn't it? Shouldn't the content, and the ways in which instructors want to present that content, drive the technology?

We tend to look at material in terms of the course management system. All things revolve around the idea of a "course." This is true for the eCollege unit-based platform. And, for other platforms, too, the content must be managed into pieces that make up these platforms/courses: folders, assignments, discussions boards, etc.

"Technology...should not drive content. However, when technology is the bottleneck through which instruction must be delivered, then technology, if it does not drive content, most certainly limits content. Today, institutions offering online learning must live with the reality that instructional material must be delivered through narrow pipes to underpowered computers running dubious software. In the future, this will all change" (Downes, 1998).

What Downes says is, of course, true. As a platform-provider for online learning, eCollege definitely recognizes this need, and this will continue to be addressed. How will this "course of the future" look? Downes continues, "To identify trends in education, perhaps the best methodology is to identify trends which work well today, whether technologically based or not. In other words, identify the tools people actually use today, and examine how computers of the future will evolve these tools for use in the future. We say this because, while technology changes rapidly, people do not. People will want to use tools which look and feel like the tools they've always used, but which provide expanded capabilities."

In this respect, the online learning industry will still revolve around the ever-evolving technology that is available and most popular. "The tools most widely used in education today are remarkably simple, having remained unchanged for the last several centuries. They include books, notepads or paper, writing implements, blackboards, and teachers. Of these, obviously, the role of the teacher is the most complex and will have to be discussed in detail. The remaining tools, however, will be absorbed by the new technology in a very straightforward fashion: the PAD [Personal Access Device]" (Downes, 1998).

According to Downes, and to other early-adopters and experts in the field, the PAD, as it combines the functions of books, notebooks and pens, is fast becoming the favored "tool" used in online education. The eLearning providers, then, will need to take this into consideration when developing new platform features.

This will surely take the "anytime, anywhere" motto of online learning to new levels. With PADs, students and instructors could connect to the Internet, download what they're working on, get offline and work, and then synch-up next time they're online. This may not sound like much, but it could revolutionize online education in the same way that online has affected education already.

Another trend that is gaining momentum is the idea of the "hybrid" classroom. Downes describes this convergence: "The evolution from traditional classroom based institutions to online learning based institutions will be gradual, and characterized by an increasing convergence of methodologies and technologies employed by both online and classroom instructors. While today it makes sense to categorize learning as either on-campus or distance, in the future, this distinction will become harder and harder to draw."

The "companion" component, or the online component to the on-ground class, is a nice segue from the traditional classroom to the world of online learning-something still seen as distinctly foreign to many instructors and students alike. And, as physical space for holding classes is fast becoming a commodity, the eCompanion elements will continue to pick up momentum.

We should also see the online platform catering more and more to the individual student. We can see the trend going from platform-driven, to content-driven, to, finally, learner-driven.

With more use of metadata, smarter technology, and more sophisticated (and therefore more demanding) users, we should see an increase in classes that conform to each student's individual needs and learning curves. Rather than being wholly topic-driven, courses can determine the student's needs and interests, leading to potentially hundreds of different directions available in one course.

While there are many ways to look at content object management, this level of individualized, gated learning is still a bit down the line. It takes an enormous amount of material and planning and intricate platform architecture to accomplish this. And, of course, this brings us back to the role of the instructor. Certainly, there will be some resistance in the teaching community: if the computers are seen as doing all the work, what will become of the instructor?

I see the instructor as having more of a development role in these "courses of the future." The industry will need a lot of subject-matter experts to build courses this rich in content, because, as we know, content is largely meaningless if there are no connections. A string of disconnected information is like reading an encyclopedia. You can gain some knowledge, but fewer connections can be made. We need instructors to help students gain that meaning. Further, the conversations with instructors (whether it's in-person or via a threaded discussion or online chat) will always be an invaluable aspect of education.

       -- Errin Klein, MA

Reference
Stephen Downes. The Future of Online Learning. Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, 1998. http://www.atl.ualberta.ca/downes/future

TIP

Obtaining quality images from MS Design Gallery Live

Do you want to obtain an image (gif or jpg) that is of a size and quality that will be very manageable for placement on one of your course pages? If you have MS Word and an IE browser, try the following:

1. Get online.
2. Open up Word.
3. Click on Insert/Picture/ClipArt. This will bring up the "Insert ClipArt" dialog box (it may also bring up an "Indexing Clips" box that you can click to "Postpone."
4. Next, click "Clips Online" up top + then "OK" -- this will open a browser and/or take you to http://dgl.microsoft.com/mgo1en/eula.asp?CAG=1 (The MS Design Gallery Live).
5. You may have to click "Accept" and then the "Clips Online" button again in order to bring you back to the Design Gallery.
6. In the Gallery, search for an image, select one of the Featured Clips, or browse one of the Collections.
7. Once you have identified an image that you would like to download, left click (or click and hold, for Macs) the thumbnail to preview.
8. Left click on the preview picture that pops up to download it and wait as it places the picture into "Insert ClipArt" box.
9. Left click on the picture "+" on the top "insert clip" icon, or alternately right click + select the "Insert" option. The image will then appear on your Word doc. If you now save this doc as a web page (e.g. on your desk top), you will see that it has been saved as a web page, along with a folder that has one or two copies of the image in gif or jpg format. You will also note that the size and quality of the images is very convenient to view and modify.

This process may seem to be a bit convoluted. However, with a bit of practice, you will see that it is very easy and well worth the effort -- certainly if you wish to make the most of a fairly rich collection of free images.

       -- Edward H. Ladon, PhD