Here we are at the end of our seventh course in the master’s program for instructional design and technology. This current course has focused on distance learning which essentially encompasses several delivery systems: correspondence, audio, video and online methods. The most popular form today, because of the impact of the computer in our schools and homes, is obviously online instruction. And that has been the area of greatest focus.
This particular form of distance learning has been used in a variety of ways including corporate training, higher education course and degree programs, and K-12 blended and virtual instruction. The formats for these programs have been synchronous and asynchronous, involving standard web tools as well as cutting edge web 2.0 tools to foster social and collaborative aspects of learning and instruction. These new tools have caused education to revise its “best practices” for effective instruction, and the influence has been so great that one can predict that we can never “put the genie back in the bottle.” Because the benefits tend to outweigh most of the challenges, society will probably never want to revert from the telecommunication age back to the simple information age of the last century.
Perhaps some readers will remember the 1983 movie Educating Rita with Michael Caine as the cynical, bored professor who through Open University is assigned to tutor a young woman from Liverpool seeking a “higher education” without knowing what that really entailed. The movie has many themes but here it is a metaphor for the idea that each “world or personality” is influenced by the other. Education is influenced by technology which has already influenced many of today’s students. So education must change. It no longer can be the elitist view of the Harvard and Princeton educated but must also consider the practical knowledge obtained through ITT Tech or ECPI which offers training for technology and for medical careers and the culinary arts.
I recall starting this degree program last September and signing up for a number of online newsletters in the computer technology field in order to educate myself on the latest trends in the field. In December there was an article indicating the importance of mobility in the industry (2010). Of course, kids have been playing their iPods for years, but the idea here was an educational application and a transition to other tools being accessed through wireless mobile technology. For education this means the interest is in accessing instruction through the ipads and iphones instead of sitting in the stodgy classroom.
A newspaper publisher recently told me that the ipad will eventually replace the desktop and laptop computers, given the many apps that can be downloaded. I also recall attending two webinars last year also on mobility and education. One was a research experiment that provided audio feedback to students on their mobile devises for returned written assignments (March 2010). The research team contended that the students enjoyed the tech form of feedback more so than the traditional written feedback in the margin of the paper. Students also thought they’d implement the suggestions for improvement as a result of the audio feedback.
Another area that seems to be gaining importance as an educational application is the use of gaming programs to generate involvement. Online instruction stresses the importance of interactivity and gaming processes applied to classroom activities will surely generate the involvement that can make learning, even online, more enjoyable and beneficial. Another area that is fast becoming an important application for education is the use of virtual worlds. These programs are used to generate virtual meeting places but also can be used to reinforce skills and concepts in just about any type of lesson. A more authoritative source providing some trends in e-learning for the next 10 years comes from WorldWideLearn.com in an article E-Learning Trends (2011). The trends it foresees concerns gaming, integrating e-learning into company infrastructures, cuttings costs and equalizing the playing field, government involvement in e-learning, and wireless technology.
Personally when I consider the distant future for society and education, I can’t help but think about the world created by Gene Roddenberry with broadcasts of the different Star Trek series. Each presented a society that was based on the use of computers and for education seemed to provide a limitless possibility for self-development or for seeking academic degrees. Whether it was through an ipad or through a holo-deck, an individual could surely find a way to improve himself.
When I consider what I would like to see in education for the future, I’d like to see greater opportunities for open education. If we want a society that can think more philosophically about the world’s problems and work to solve them, we need to make access to all types of courses, academic or practical “how-to” courses and tutorials, so that the diverse population of the world can operate on an even playing field and equalize the idea of opportunity.
What part in developing such a future or at least in providing quality instructional programs might I play? I would hope that my 37 years of classroom instruction might have provided some experience, but certainly pursuing this degree has helped jump-start my perspective such that I can easily consider newer and different techniques and tools for instruction – the 21st century tools of technology. The application of what we’ve learned easily extends beyond the traditional classroom. With a master’s degree the impact can extend to the creation of training and instructional programs. Such a degree also opens the door to teaching opportunities in higher education. These two avenues provide the opportunity to influence those who are and those who will become the teachers of tomorrow.
Although online learning has been available since the latter part of the last century, there still are pockets of resistance to the idea of this form of education. Working with these teachers to ease their transition into technology-based or online instruction can be another way to influence the field of instruction. Utilizing the points mentioned by Dr. Siemens in the Laureate video Facilitating Online Learning, we can make the transition to online instruction easier for the college professor, the elementary school teacher, or the corporate trainer and thereby influence the quality of the instructional program they develop and use.
References:
Gilbert, L. (Producer & Director). (1983). Educating Rita [Motion Picture]. With Michael
Caine and Julie Walters [actors]. United States: Columbia Pictures.
Caine and Julie Walters [actors]. United States: Columbia Pictures.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2010). Facilitating Online Learning [video]. George Piskurich [ interviewer]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5693699&Survey=1&47=5871191&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.
Staff writer (2010, December). Top 10 Wireless Predictions for 2011 [PowerPoint]. IT Business Edge. Retrieved from http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/show.aspx?c=85597
Staff writer (2011). E-learning trends: Top ten trends in e-learning. Retrieved from http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning-industry/trends.htm
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