Stephen Downes
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Is e-learning failing in higher education?
Tony Bates notes, "The World Economic Forum's Global Advisory Committee on Technology and Education at its meeting in Dubai (November, 2008) commented: 'Education is in a state of transition from a traditional model to one where technology plays an integral role. However, technology has not yet transformed education.'" Perhaps not, but one wonders whether that is the fault of educational technology, or whether that is the fault of governments and entities like the World Economic Forum. Because from where I sit, far from the seat of power, I see a lot of transformation and change, but also, a lot of resistance and caterwauling from the top. he writes, "Terry Anderson commented in his blog that he was saddened by Canada's 'lost decade in e-learning'." From my perspective, in my work, it has been a very productive decade. Yes, I understand the concerns being raised by Bates - but in the analysis to follow, let's look at all sides in the discussion. Tony Bates, Weblog, June 17, 2009 3:03 p.m.. [Link]Comments
Re: Is e-learning failing in higher education?
Actually it depends on where you gather your statistics. Many universities still resist the new technologies like E-learning and want to protect their brick and mortar model of education.
A few Universities have been rapid to embraced the new model of delivery (Memorial, Laval, Athabasca ...) and have opened up amazing new markets locally and internationally. On the other hand the demand for online accredited programs has grown exponentially. This creates a large gap in the education market that many private program and more aggressive college and universities have been very happy to fill. Just do a web research for MBA program and do not be surprise if you find more online programs the traditional ones (including Harvard.
I think there is still a lot of magical thinking in Universities where it is believed that online learning will be a passing fad, but with technological demands of the new generations that are coming to higher education and the workplace, it is a bit delusional to think that these technologies will just go away. With global availability of credited and non credited program, learners from everywhere have much more choice then their local institutions.
Have a look at England and Australia where they have created national policies for distance learning. The real question should probably read: "Is higher education missing the boat by failing to recognize the importance of the different types of distance learning as the demand grows exponentially?
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Re: Is e-learning failing in higher education?
Having worked in Higher Education and Technology I think there are some common themes: lack of integration. Technology is added as needed and without a holistic view of the institution and growing needs. I have read in many places that universities frequently have millions of web pages. Often times they've been created by different content management systems (CMS). Eventually the school decides to update and create a common CMS instead of different "schools" within the university having their own CMS. But then they run into integration issues. I recently witnessed the result of a CMS integration (well actually the move from one CMS to another) and the internal IT group couldn't overcome some issues by the launch date. So when it went live the interface was a mess. Everytime I tried to add content I was calling the IT dept - and I've used quite a few CMS. You might want to read the whitepaper on this page about using OpenText / RedDot CMS in Higher Education: http://www.oshyn.com/resources/whitepapers.html
Beyond that there are lots of issues with using multiple systems that don't speak to each other. I have watched the entire process of initial request for information for a MBA program - through on to the process of submitting the "online application" which is actually in the form of a PDF...to the hoops of recruiters etc trying to log into their multiple softwares to track the candidates, send interview information, update status, send acceptance offers. It really was rather antiquated. [Comment]
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