Monday 18 August 2008

My top 5 list of agonising eLearning Myths



Through the last decade some myths got their paws on eLearning. And although a lot of us try to get these myths banned, they keep popping-up whenever I have an introduction talk on eLearning. Because these myths keep on roaring their ugly heads, I have written down my top 5 list of agonising eLearning myths to use them in a small booklet I am working on. I also added my short reply to these mythical questions.


I bet you know (some of) these myths and I am especially interested in your replies. Please feel free to make your own list and send me your blogpost so we can share expertise (or laughs).


1. It is all about Technology

No way, eLearning is all about engaging humans and using technology as an instrument to help people learn. It is a misconception that an eLearner has no social contact with other e-course members. Well-constructed eLearning is about human interaction (discussions, group work...) and monitored and/or guided by tutors, subject matter experts and peer learners. eLearning is all about Learning and human interactions.

2. Everyone knows what eLearning is!

Not at all! Everyone has her or his own definition, even between eLearning professionals there are discussions on what eLearning is or should be. Before starting an eLearning project it is essential that you discuss with all the stakeholders of what there definition of eLearning is and how they see the project being developed.

3. eLearning saves money!

Would not that be nice! Unfortunately eLearning costs. It demands a financial investment in hard- and software (the latest can be kept to a minimum), infrastructure and last but not least in teachers, tutors, developers. In a lot of cases corporations and institutions ask for ROI (return on investment) but what you definitely also need to consider is return on human investment. eLearning costs, but it has definite learning and human benefits.

4. eLearning saves time!

Luckily eLearning takes time. If you want learners to learn content, you would want to invest a lot of time thinking about content, learning objectives, pedagogical methods and all around interactivity. eLearning takes time because it is about teaching people new skills and getting them to rearrange the knowledge they have with updates, new ideas and so on.

5. eLearning is putting text online and adding multiple choice questions!

Argh! There is no course on earth that will have great learning outcomes if this is the only thing you provide to your learners, so why would this approach work for eLearning? eLearning is about interactivity, addressing different learner skills, challenging learners and making them take initiatives... keep your learners active and do not mock them by delivering them boring old-school mash.

‘Cartoon by Nick D Kim, nearingzero.net. Used by permission.’

6 comments:

  1. The first myth: "its all about technology" is one of the strongest myths. If you as an e-teacher have no contact with your learners almost all your effort can be lost. You must interact. Learning is also a social activity.

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  2. Nice list. I especially can relate to #2.


    Here were my thoughts a couple of weeks ago.
    http://brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/?p=730

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  3. @jago indeed, what is left behind once eLearning is stripped from its myths? That is something I will try to decypher.

    @hadiepa I completely agree!

    @Janet thank you for sharing your list, very recognisable.

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  4. You have summed up the major myths perfectly. Thanks for getting the conversation started.
    Cheers!
    Brent

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  5. 1- It is all about Technology

    It is all about knowing how to rule the technology so that it serves your teaching purposes not letting the technology rule you. I once met a professor who was telling her assistant to put 90 PPT slides for each week of an online course. Well actually the JPG image of slides. No, I'm not joking.


    2. Everyone knows what eLearning is!

    An occasional look at the abstracts of last EducaBerlin conference proceedings book was enough to persuade me that after about 10 years eLearning is still in its infance and people are still confused. The current situation seems to be mish mash of ideas and implementations without much established theory and standards.


    3. eLearning saves money!

    Depending on the situation it can save a lot of money, for example Istanbul Bilgi University has been running its online MBA programme (eMBA) for about 8 years and it would be impossible to educate and help so many students were it not for the online infrastructure we have developed [1].

    On the other hand, preparing a new course for the system is not an easy task and requires a lot of thinking and designing especially on the instructor side.

    4. eLearning saves time!

    "Please do not start a new course unless you'll spend enough time on designing it." That's what we (programmers) say to our professors when they want to start a new course.


    5. eLearning is putting text online and adding multiple choice questions!

    Laziness may be a virtue for programmers (as Larry Wall, the creator of Perl programming language, once put it) but not for everybody and all the time. Unfortunately the current tools generally either provide a very simplistic template system and direct instructors to create boring courses or overwhelmingly complex systems which direct the instructors... you know, to create boring courses ;-)


    1- http://www.bilgiemba.net/en/

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  6. Thank you Brent!

    @Emre what a great reply! And indeed, I was too quick in blocking of the money bit, in the longrun it certainly saves money. You are lucky to work at Istanbul Bilgi Uni.

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