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Hi Ebenezer,
“Do you agree that online learning is far better than the the traditional face to face teaching and learning mode?”
This sounds like the topic for an eLearning Africa debate 😉 Often I would agree – but there are lots of reasons including the relative affordances of online and face to face learning, the varieties of quality of learning design and implementation, digital literacies and cultures of interaction and learning which mean that I would also often disagree with this statement 🙂
“What do you think are some of the critical issues to be considered when setting up online learning programmes?”
I won’t say a lot here but I think that accurate diagnosis of need and good learning deign are crucial.
Good Points there Tony! On the 1st discussion topic:Do you agree that online learning is far better than the the traditional face to face teaching and learning mode?Your response is interesting.Yes as much as agree with you that affordability is crucial issue, the advent of Transnational Education is leveraging the cost of going to abroad to pay huge amount of hard currency to pay for fees and other operational cost. Not forgetting the hustling with visa issues most students face from developing world.
I also think those workers who want to maintain their work and earn degrees can also utilize online learning for their convenience.
For cultural interactions, i think we have differences platforms or fora where students can interact online.
The design and implementation of Online learning are crucial. Some online learning programs do not conform to Instructional design standards, hence they are boring and attrition level is very high. I agree with you that “accurate diagnosis of need and good learning design are crucial.” Thanks Ebenezer, I was talking about affordances (rather than affordability) ie the possibilities for action that are available in a technology eg interactions in online learning are relatively easily trackable so that is an affordance of online learning. Meanwhile it may sometimes be easier to grow a sense of learning community in face to face courses because of the access that face to face participants have to auditory and visual sensory data about each other (one of the affordances of face to face learning).
1.a Do you agree that online learning is far better than the the traditional face to face teaching and learning mode?
The “far better” phrasing makes me inclined to disagree with this statement, primarily because I do not know how we’d quantify that. I do agree that the traditional lecturing model is outdated, and does not meet the needs of students. Online learning does present its own set of challenges that make me cautious about embracing it as a ‘cure’ for all the ills of the traditional method.
1.b What do you think are some of the critical issues to be considered when setting up online learning programmes?
– The tech skills of the students and the instructor(s)
– The appropriateness of the various technology tools to the learning outcomes
– To what extent the program can/will/needs to be supplemented by offline interactionThere are lots more, but those three came to mind immediately.
Hi Donnalee, its good to see you here. I think part of the problem is that while face to face teaching and learning is sometimes terrible to the point of undermining learning there are also a lot of really bad excuses for e-learning which are mostly focused on throwing a bunch of often low quality or inappropriate content online and pretending that we have a course 😉
Dear Donnalee,Thanks for that insightful comments! Yes, i do agree with you and Tony that most Elearning programs do not meet the required standards.The issue is that most Elearning providers normally dump course materials meant for traditional face to face mode for online or Elearning mode. Forgetting that the modes have difference needs and issues.
Hi Donalee, this is very true. We do really need to question ourselves deeply around why we are using e-learning. I am finding that in a lot of discussions around the future of teaching and learning, 21st century teaching and learning is unequivocally linked to e-learning without a deeper questioning of the underlying reasons for its adoption.
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