Educator's Voice

Volume 5, Issue 8
August 11, 2004

Thwarted Innovation or Premature Prognostication

In a recent paper given fairly wide exposure, Robert Zemsky and William F. Massy (2004) of the University of Pennsylvania reported on a study conducted at six institutions -- Foothill College, Hamilton College (NY), Michigan State University, Northwest Missouri State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas (Austin) -- over a 15-month period. Based on their findings, they proposed that educational technology and the e-learning "boom" has gone "bust" -- at least for now. Despite the rapid development of online education, they further suggested that: 1) many instructors at U.S. colleges do not use innovative technology in their courses; and 2) there has been little gained from the investment in educational technology.

While I find that the report is certainly worth reading and thinking about, I also believe that from my humble position as someone in the trenches, i.e., as one who has worked with well over 1000 instructors and 100 or more educational organizations over the last six years, it might be useful to provide additional perspectives on some of the more dramatic assertions made by Zemsky and Massy.

• "If we build it they will come -- not so; despite massive investments …. there has yet to emerge a viable market for e-learning products … Only Course Management Systems… and PowerPoint have been widely employed."

  I do agree that those overly exuberant dot-com investment folks who promised miracles were naïve. Of course, most mature educators never really believed this sort of exaggerated, simplistic thinking. They knew and continue to know that if you build something that truly meets a real need -- e.g., courses designed for adult learners who want to learn and who, due to time and geographic constraints, find it difficult to get to a campus -- students will come. They also knew and continue to understand that if you adequately identify those students in need; market to, communicate with, and support them appropriately; they will adopt the technology and come. Think, for example, about single moms, nurses, police officers, military, etc. Check out the numbers of students at schools such as Corinthian Colleges, Park University, Strayer University, Capella University, Walden University or DeVry University Online.

• "The kids will take to e-learning like ducks to water -- not quite; students do want to be connected, but principally to one another… E-learning at its best is seen as a convenience and at its worst as a distraction…"

  What kids are we talking about? Certainly, "kids" who do not have a felt need for online learning courses are not likely to find it as something that's worth the effort. If you look primarily at campus-based "kids," particularly those who may not be in need of the convenience of asynchronous online courses (especially those who may enroll in an online course because they are required to or that they expect to be "easier" online), and those who find that they will have to work as hard, if not harder, in a good online course, it should not be surprising to observe that they drop out and/or report dissatisfaction. Similarly, if you invite feedback from campus-based teachers, many of whom do not necessarily want to learn technology and/or new ways of teachings (on top of all the other competing demands they perceive), adoption and satisfaction rates will be minimal. However, if in contrast you confer with those teachers and adult learners who are most in need of online courses, who are committed to creating good online experiences, who have good support systems, who are pursuing or providing a certificate or degree program, and who stay at it long enough to get comfortable and conversant with the various tools and strategies used in most e-learning venues, my experience is that enthusiastic adoption and satisfaction is not only possible but likely. Learning to drive a stick-shift is awkward at the outset, but watch how automatic it becomes with a little time invested and experience under your belt.

• "E-learning will force a change in the way we teach -- not by a long shot." … "Most faculty teach as they were taught. … E-learning will become pervasive online when faculty change how they teach, not before."

  I agree that changes in teaching are not about to happen that quickly or easily. Again, I believe that most mature educators knew this claim that technology would coerce change was bogus. People generally keep doing things in their work life that they have been doing. They invest in new ways of viewing and doing things when they perceive that it's reasonably possible and in their best interest. In many contexts, teachers and students have been thrust into courses with inadequate preparation and little support. When asked to create and lead courses with next to no training, remarkably insufficient preparation time, and incredibly inadequate incentives, many instructors have found e-learning to be considerably less than attractive. However, talk to faculty at organizations where time, training, decent compensation, ongoing mentoring and/or instructional design support is provided. Many of them will tell you that they find online learning challenging, but also very rewarding. Many also note that, as they have experimented with online learning, they have become better and more versatile teachers -- in both the face-to-face and online classrooms.

  What's the bottom line? As I've thought about this study, given how early it is in the development of the e-learning field, I wonder about the usefulness of asking "Why did the boom in e-learning go bust?" It seems a bit premature. I can't help but think that in the early part of the last century, if you asked most travelers (particularly those using horses and trains) what they thought of air or automobile travel, I would suspect that most would have provided relatively negative reports. As Zemsky and Massy noted in their concluding paragraphs, "we believe that the story of e-learning is still unfolding -- no one really knows what tomorrow will bring… [But] we suspect that computer-based learning technologies will continue to serve as a major catalyst of innovation." I heartily agree.

         -- Edward H. Ladon, Ph.D.

  References:

  Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to E-learning and Why
  Robert Zemsky & William F Massy
  http://www.irhe.upenn.edu/Docs/Jun2004/ThwartedInnovation.pdf

TIP

The Next Time Around

No matter how many times you've taught a course, it is always a good idea to ask yourself some questions. How did your students in your course react to being taught in the online environment? How did you like being an online instructor? After you have some time away from the course, think about these important questions and then make those all-important course enhancements:

• If you taught the course again, what would you change? Why?
• If you taught the course again, what would you keep the same? Why?
• Did policy/procedure issues that arise that should be placed in the syllabus?
• How could you improve content so that the course material would be more easily understood?
• How could you improve assignments so that they would be more relevant or useful?
• How could each page in your course be improved visually?
• Were there technical issues or problems that need to be resolved? If yes, who do you need to involve in the process?

Your course should evolve as you teach it, just as your course would in a classroom. By following this process you can constantly enhance and improve your online courses. While there is no such thing as a perfect course, after a few terms of course enhancement, many courses will be outstanding for instructor and students alike!