{"id":473,"date":"2010-11-06T13:36:25","date_gmt":"2010-11-06T17:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.montclair.edu\/crdirector\/?p=48"},"modified":"2019-05-28T09:42:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T13:42:45","slug":"online-learning-the-virtual-process-as-real-as-todays-headlines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/creative-research-center\/2010\/11\/06\/online-learning-the-virtual-process-as-real-as-todays-headlines\/","title":{"rendered":"Online Learning – The Virtual Process As Real As Today\u2019s Headlines – by Neil Baldwin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Creative Research Center <\/a>Attends the 16th<\/sup> Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning<\/em> – November 3-5, 2010 – The Caribe Royale Hotel \u2013 Orlando, Florida<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cQuite honestly, the higher education industry in the United States has not been tremendously successful in the face-to-face mode if you look at national graduation rates,\u201d [said Joe Glover, provost of the University of Florida.] \u201cAt the very least we should be experimenting with other modes of delivery of education.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0From \u201cStill in Dorm, Because Class Is on the Web<\/a>,\u201d by Trip Gabriel, The New York Times<\/em>, Front Page, November 5, 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cApologists for the lack of retention and intuition by students argue that what really matters is that they are being taught \u2018how to think.\u2019 The reality is that because students have ever larger gaps in their knowledge as they progress, they learn to get by through pattern matching and memorizing. They learn to fake understanding, not think.\u201d\u00a0 From \u201cYouTube U. Beats YouSnooze U<\/a>,\u201d by Salman Khan, The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em> Online Learning Special Issue, Chronicle Review<\/em>, B36, November 5, 2010.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

It started as soon as I\u00a0got into the back\u00a0of the\u00a0cab at Orlando Airport. My driver, a well-spoken young man named Pierre, glanced in the mirror and asked me where I was heading. When I told him, he launched into an extended dramatic monologue on the American higher education system. Growing up in Haiti, Pierre had excelled in Physics and Algebra, and still had ambitions of becoming an electrician. As soon as he had saved up enough money, he was going back to school.<\/p>\n

In Pierre\u2019s view, \u201cthe online<\/em> aspect of education should be theoretical<\/em>;\u00a0and then<\/em>, when it comes to hands-on, you can be real<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

After settling\u00a0at the hotel, I walked over to the vast Exhibit Hall.\u00a0 The vibe was intense, all about selling ways to reach educational constituencies and “decision-makers,” striving to interest the “consumer” in platforms, delivery systems, learning management programs. Annenberg, Colloquy, Waypoint, FigLeaf, Link-Systems International, Toolwire, TaskStream, Bisk, MediaSite\u2026I fell into a lively conversation with Mitchell Syrkin, Regional Sales Manager for Follett Virtual Bookstores<\/a>. I agreed that students hate lugging around $100 textbooks.\u00a0\u00a0 I just published an ebook myself<\/a>, which makes me an early adapter. I\u00a0told\u00a0Mitchell how I\u2019ve begun to build \u201cWebliographies\u201d into my syllabi instead of \u201cBibliographies,\u201d and how the students seem to like that route.<\/p>\n

[Note to Self<\/strong>: I am overwhelmed, leafing through the 120-pp. convention program, by the plethora of concurrent sessions. There\u2019s a sense of frenzy — so much to do, so little time<\/em>\u2026but that depends upon what you want time for<\/em>. \u00a0To develop the right pedagogical approach and\u00a0become more usefully informed about online learning was my mission; not to find ways to monetize education. \u00a0Yet, how effectively could those intents be separated?<\/p>\n

A quasi-traditional pedagogue in a Web world,\u00a0I recognize the benefits of\u00a0education on the Web; but am still finding my way, in terms of how to apply a growing fluency in and\u00a0understanding of the medium to learning and teaching. Many of my dedicated colleagues feel the same. I keep\u00a0returning to the basic fact that I like being with my students. When I am not in class, I\u00a0think about them, and as distinct individuals<\/em>. \u00a0This semester I have more than 50 students in three very different undergrad and graduate classes, and can conjure up each person\u2019s face, voice, style, etc.<\/p>\n

How could I teach someone without knowing the person?<\/p>\n

The only way I can get my mind around doing this is if the course were a \u201cnontraditional<\/a>,\u201d abstracted, distanced experience with students — i.e., they existed appropriately in my virtual world because they were in positions\/places where they could not physically get to the university, and I was offering\u00a0 a professional or creative subject that lent itself to the medium. Perhaps\u00a0nonprofit management…or\u00a0an expository writing course \u00a0\u2013 focusing upon their work and my commentary, back and forth in drafts and critiques.<\/p>\n

Whereas, if the intention were to make a shift involving the everyday students to whom I am accustomed, right now, I would say absolutely not<\/em>. This a key factor: The constituency needs to be determined. And bear in mind the cautionary proviso that we at MSU <\/a>\u2013 and, I am sure, elsewhere — don\u2019t want these two teaching modes to infringe upon or take away from each other.\u00a0 We do not want to present an alternative that is seen as \u201cbetter\u201d or \u201cpreferential.\u201d Rather, online and face-to-face are different\u00a0channels that might be right for\u00a0some people and not others.]<\/p>\n

Here is a selection of the sessions<\/strong> from the Conference that I attended to give\u00a0the\u00a0flavor of their diversity and interest.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0excellent keynote speaker, Barbara Means, Co-director, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International<\/a>, presented Research on the Effectiveness of Online Learning: Insights, Controversies, and Gaps,<\/strong> a lucid, results-oriented discussion of\u00a0current findings on online vs. \u201cconventional conditions.\u201d \u00a0Online learning inherently recommends itself to quantification of data. Dr. Means\u2019 astute and relevant bullet-points were well-received, and heartening to me: That the presentation-status of any course is conditioned by the subject-matter; and that we must remember to factor in \u201cmoderator variables<\/a>.\u201d She insisted early on \u2013 and I noticed many people in the Ballroom around me nodded their heads in affirmation — \u201cjust putting something online is not going to make it more effective.\u201d Online is not an educational panacea. Rather, in redesigning the so-called learning experience<\/a>, we as educators need to think about the relevance of the subject matter, and not let the medium take precedence.<\/p>\n

I was impressed by the reasoned, cautionary tone of Dr. Means\u2019 remarks as she underscored the importance of context for learning systems, and debunked hasty cost-effectiveness, gratuitous bells and whistles and \u201cextraneous media.\u201d She implied that recent research was\u00a0pointing to\u00a0\u201cblended learning<\/a>\u201d\u00a0as the best approach, virtual and actual presences alternating. She stressed repeatedly how open the field is, and\u00a0welcomed hearing about additional research, reaching out to the entire audience to send her their empirical findings.<\/p>\n

[At my laptop during a coffee break, I later took her advice and visited the superb\u00a0Carnegie-Mellon Open Learning Initiative<\/a>, with its innovative built-in, periodic assessment by students of how they are doing and whether or not they understand <\/em>what they are\u00a0 purportedly learning.]<\/p>\n

I took away that we are still dealing with epistemology<\/a><\/em> no matter what course platform we use; and in all cases, Dr. Means said, repeated cycles of \u201cdesign, develop, refine, and implement\u201d are obligatory to achieve the best course offering results.<\/p>\n

W. Warren Binford and Cheryl Cramer from Willamette University College of Law<\/a> gave a wry, first-hand account of how their traditional residential college gradually moved to an online learning presence over a five-year period in their engaging talk, Tiptoeing Online in a Face-to-Face World.<\/strong> It was a small room, maybe a dozen people in the audience, but lots of enthusiasm, because as we went around and commented, it became evident we were all in the same boat.<\/p>\n

Profs. Binford and Cramer talked with bemused expressions about faculty resistance: \u201cWhy can\u2019t I just continue to do what I have been already <\/em>doing for the past fifteen years?” And\u00a0yes, even student<\/em> resistance: \u201cOK, I can do a blog!… but Professor, how do you grade<\/em> a blog?\u201d<\/p>\n

The first step to online curricular success, they said, is faculty training; and the 2nd<\/sup> step is money \u2013 this is a labor-intensive and time-consuming journey.<\/p>\n

The Community of Inquiry Framework: Ten Years Later <\/strong>was the subject of a presentation by a diverse, expert panel.\u00a0 I had not known of this important social constructivist model predicated upon the conviction that the best classroom learning happens when people work in collaboration rather than omnidirectionally or top-down. The Venn diagram of the three key intersecting dynamic factors \u2013 social presence<\/em>\/real; cognitive presence<\/em>\/meaning; and teaching presence<\/em> \u2013 synthesized into a rich\u00a0environment of affect, and thus spoke powerfully to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood e-learning must rest upon a solid foundation of design,\u201d said Lynette Nagel from the University of Pretoria, South Africa<\/strong>. And Norm Vaughan of Mount Royal College in Calgary <\/a>stressed how much time needs to be spent in needs-analysis before an effective online program can be implemented, along with research into experiential learning as well \u2013 “what it actually is going to feel like<\/em> to be in the online class population. \u201c<\/p>\n

“Align your course development with the mission of the university!\u201d declared Beth Rubin of Rutgers University<\/a>, an advocate of the Desire2Learn LMS<\/a>. \u00a0There is huge variance in availability and implementation of tools, and this must be borne in mind when so many incoming freshmen are unprepared for college, she said.<\/p>\n

Bruce Chaloux, Chair of the Sloan Consortium Board of Directors<\/strong>, was the eminence<\/em> grise <\/em>at the Policy Issues Forum: Will Coming Changes Impact You?<\/strong>\u00a0 There was a nagging subtext\u00a0in this panel: How the current dire economic situation in America was\u00a0influencing the direction of\u00a0education policy on a macro level, an impression reconfirmed in The New York Times<\/em> piece <\/a>I quote at the beginning of this blog. Draconian budget cuts are forcing\/hurrying\u00a0universities to look into new\u00a0ways of \u201cdelivering content.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest challenge now, Dr. Chaloux said, reiterating what I had just heard from Dr. Rubin, is that preparation for college is lacking. We must do a better job attacking the disastrous completion rate: 27% of public institution students finish college in four years<\/a>; the number is\u00a048% in private institutions.<\/p>\n

And a\u00a0signal pointing to the pertinence of online learning among another specific population: There are more than 40 million working adults who did not finish college and are still \u201cout there\u201d \u2013with a million more coming on every year. \u00a0As great as our higher-ed system is, we need to do better and accept the need for change and the need to accommodate to this growing swath of our society.<\/p>\n

We need to recognize, said\u00a0Sue Day-Perroots, Dean of Extended Learning at West Virginia University<\/strong>, and another member of the panel, that \u201cthe 21st<\/sup> century learner needs new skills\u2026we live in a new era that requires a new kind of college education\u2026We live in an information society, not an industrial society.\u201d Online learning is one of the routes to explore seriously with our older, \u201cnontraditional\u201d cadre.<\/p>\n

We also need to focus on the cumulative harm of the \u201cpoor transitions\u201d in the K-16 trajectory \u2013 there are many along the way. We are good at adding but not so good at dropping programs. And what does it say about a\u00a0culture that now has more than 100 colleges and universities in the \u201c$50K Club<\/a>\u201d \u2013 tuition and room and board hovering at or over $50,000 a year. We need to\u00a0pay more attention to helping first-generation, low income, and underserved students. Again, online learning has possibilities here.<\/p>\n

At 2010: A Learning Systems Odyssey,<\/strong> we\u00a0heard how three huge state University systems \u2013 Michigan, Minnesota and Florida \u2013 took different paths toward adapting new Learning Management Systems for their students. From Web CT to Sakai to Moodle, the process was evolutionary, complex and contingent upon the individual campus culture; there is no such thing as \u201cone size fits all\u201d when it comes to LMS.<\/p>\n

The major point made by all three speakers was that \u201cfaculty recommendation and buy-in\u201d had to be the \u201cnumber one\u201d criterion. Pedagogical needs must drive the technology which, in turn, must be stringently evaluated according to its ability to further the mission of the university and\u00a0align with future institutional plans. The final proof-test, said Fedro S. Zazueta of the University of Florida<\/strong>, must be that the LMS, whatever brand, be utilized \u201cto change the culture and conduct of the university for the better, otherwise it is not worth the time and considerable expense.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in terms of the future \u2013the panel spoke of efforts going beyond LMS and CMS. Ann Hill-Duin at Minnesota<\/strong> referred to the hard work of their LMS Futures Committee [which resonates very nicely with our newly-established MSU Provost\u2019s Online Program Development Team<\/a>]. Minnesota\u2019s faculty are exploring Web 2.0, collaborative efforts, and setting up \u201cfringe cases\u201d in a\u00a0salutary way. The wave of their<\/em> future is starting now. Dr. Hill-Duin\u00a0referred with pride to open content, an open journals system<\/a>, and an\u00a0undergraduate writing class actually creating and publishing its own journal on the Web\u00a0[an idea\u00a0I will enthusiastically “appropriate” for my spring 2011 semester honors seminar in the creative process.]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next five years,\u201d declared Steve Fireng, CEO of Embanet-Compass Knowledge Group<\/strong>, in a press release distributed at the Sloan Conference Exhibit Hall, \u201cwe expect nearly 4 million new online learners will come into this market.\u201d There is a lot of entrepreneurial\u00a0rhetoric accompanying all the edgy technology out there.\u00a0As teachers, we need to think hard about how it\u00a0applies to us — and how we are going to adapt to it intelligently.<\/p>\n

Settling\u00a0into my seat on the plane\u00a0to Newark,\u00a0I closed my eyes, as the balmy weather and palm tree-dotted land dropped away…and reflected upon\u00a0this whirlwind sojourn. It is not as simple, I thought,\u00a0as conceding that the old models\u00a0are broken.\u00a0 Providing harrowing dropout and noncompletion evidence does not\u00a0mean that we have to discard customary methodology and overhaul all the ways we \u00a0reach and teach our students.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0should be\u00a0more about reaching those we have not yet reached\u00a0<\/em>when the traditional (\u201cresidential<\/a>\u201d) model does not pertain. Even in a so-called \u201ccommuter\u201d school like Montclair State, many of our commuters come from less than ten miles away.<\/p>\n

I am only one professor whose mind has been opened considerably by attending my first Sloan Conference.\u00a0 Now I have to\u00a0consider more deeply\u00a0how my University can serve those whom it has not yet served.<\/p>\n

Online learning is a\u00a0powerful contributory<\/em> remedy to\u00a0stubborn pedagogical problems that remain present and imminent.<\/p>\n

[Grateful acknowledgment to the Montclair State University Office of the Provost <\/a>and the Office of the Dean of the College of the Arts <\/a>for registration support and travel funding.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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