Converging the reality and promise of e-learning

If you download a movie and switch between watching it on your TV, computer, tablet or phone the resolution and associated form factors will adjust automatically.

However, try accessing learning materials across the same variety of devices and you will quickly discover that the content was probably optimised for only one end-user scenario.

This mismatch between the reality and promise of e-learning is under the spotlight at the inaugural Education 2011 to 2021 Summit.

Organised by the Distance Education Hub (DEHub) and the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA), the summit is taking place from 15-18 February in Sydney.

The Australian Flexible Learning Framework is supporting the event, which comprises keynote presentations, plenary panels, symposiums and workshops.

Among the keynotes is Phil Ice, presenting ‘A story of oxcarts and airplanes: converging the reality and promise of e-learning’.

Phil is the Associate Vice President of Research and Development at American Public University System (APUS) and Vice President of Research and Development for Sage Road Analytics.

His research is focused on the impact of new and emerging technologies on cognition in online learning environments.

Phil told Flex e-News that his keynote will look at the disparities between the promise of e-learning and the actual implementation.

“It is a retrospective of conversations I have had with learners, faculty, administrators and application developers,” he said.

The major themes covered will be the application of analytics, the paradigm shift toward social learning, multi-device ubiquity for delivery and the promise of emerging technologies for delivering education to populations that have marginal levels of access.

So what does Phil see as the impact of new and emerging technologies on learning environments?

“On the one hand, we see the rise of social networks that transmit knowledge without the need for intensive enterprise applications. However, those same networks have the potential to propagate misconceptions if there isn’t some degree of facilitation to ensure quality.

“Yet on the other hand, emerging technologies are yet to have the impact that we might hope for. For example, Amazon can tell us, with a fairly high degree of certainty, what books we might like, but learning systems can’t tell learners what resources might be most valuable to them.”

Phil added that gaming and virtual environments were increasing the potential for a sense of connectedness paralleling face-to-face interactions, ie lifelike avatars.

Through his research Phil has found there is still a fairly wide gulf between the reality and promise of e-learning.

“However, the demands of the current and future generations of learners are driving institutional and governmental stakeholders to close that gap.

“In large part, this is also being driven by the emergence of a knowledge economy and having the ability to rapidly access and distil information. This is true not only for developed countries where split second financial transactions are ubiquitous, but also for plot farmers in the most underdeveloped areas in the world.

“Here it is important to note that drivers such as low cost devices and improved access are hastening the convergence of the promise and the reality. In short, there is still a gap, but we are nearing a tipping point. The bigger question though is: ‘Are we prepared to make good on the promise when that occurs?’

Other e-learning session highlights at the summit are:

Can a virtual world take the distance out of education? – looking at the experiences of geographically dispersed learners using a virtual world both on and off campus.

The webcam exam: Assessment innovations for life-long learning – looking at breakthroughs in security technology and innovative techniques which allow the delivery of secure online assessment.

Beyond the technology bungy: Designing untethered learning for today’s socially wired distance students – looking at learner demand for greater digitalisation of the curriculum and how strong vision and leadership is required to achieve it.

The summit is directed at practitioners involved in research, teaching, corporate and community oriented blended and distance education.

Read the full summit program

Register for the summit

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Published on 10/02/2011