the beautiful, messy, inspiring, and harrowing world of online learning
DESCRIPTION
Keynote at the 2014 BCNET conference in Vancouver, BC. In this presentation I shared stories of learners' and scholars' experiences online, arising from multiple years of qualitative research studies, and framed in the context of the historic realities of educational technology practice. These stories illustrate how emerging technologies and open practices have (a) broadened access to education, (b) reinforced privilege, and (c) re-imagined the ways that academics enact and share scholarship. They also illustrate the multiple realities that exist in online education practice, and the differences between reality and potential and beautiful vs. ugly online education.TRANSCRIPT
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The Beautiful, Messy, Inspiring, and Harrowing World of Online Learning
George Veletsianos, PhD Canada Research Chair, Associate Professor
School of Education and Technology Royal Roads University
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Islands
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School of Education and Technology http://tinyurl.com/RRUMALAT
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You probably know of it because of its unparalleled beauty…
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• Serve & support working professionals (i.e. what most
Schools/Colleges of Education do in Canada/US)
• Focus on outcomes and the learning experience
• Guided by social learning theory
• Refined by learning sciences & education research
• Learning designers working with faculty members
• Flexible
• (1-3 weeks Face-to-face + online = Hybrid) OR (Online)
• Prior-learning assessment, flexible admissions policy
But, here’s what you really need to know…
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We live in fascinating times
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Universities are facing numerous powerful forces that may shape
their future.
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a worldwide economic downturn
globalization and competition
changing demographics
reduction of public funding
accountability pressures
impact of emerging technologies
(Morrison, 2003; Schwier, 2012; Siemens & Matheos, 2010; Spanier, 2010).
Questions around the purpose of education
Rebirth of edtech
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“I feel like I’ve been here before”
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1922: “motion picture is destined to revolutionize our education system …in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks”
1999: “education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail usage look like a rounding error”
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Techno-enthusiasm & techno-determinism
e.g., Technology will ____________
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Educational Technology suffers from
exuberant positivity and optimism
(Selwyn, 2011a)
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“curious amnesia, forgetfulness”
(Selwyn, 2011b)
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Our memento moments
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With respect to beliefs…
what we have is two opposing perspectives
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Online learning as wondrous
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Online learning as monstrous
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They coexist.
Both are accurate.
Both capture the realities of online learning.
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Realities. Plural.
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Beautiful
Messy
Inspiring
Harrowing
Online learning can be…
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Synonymous with:
appealing. caring. empowering.
flexible
Beautiful Online Learning
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Beautiful Online Learning
“Examples of
outstanding [online] instruction
are hard to find.”
Wilson, Parrish, & Veletsianos, 2008
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Beautiful Online Learning
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• Engaging students in knowledge production
Beautiful Online Learning
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• Engaging students in knowledge production
• Creation of worthwhile digital artifacts – E.g., E-books and online textbooks
Beautiful Online Learning
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Veletsianos, G. (2013). Learner Experiences with MOOCs and Open Online Learning. Hybrid Pedagogy: Madison, WI. Retrieved from http://learnerexperiences.hybridpedagogy.com
Beautiful Online Learning
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Beautiful Online Learning
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Beautiful Online Learning
“My oldest [child] will be 4 this June, and I'm thinking about her education and…what resources I want to be able to offer her…so I'm looking at spending my time in [open courses] acquiring some of this knowledge, so that I can enable her education”
Female, 38, homemaker Engages w/ online learning through iPhone
during “downtime” described as “feeding and nursing and stuff”
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Beautiful Online Learning
“My oldest [child] will be 4 this June, and I'm thinking about her education and…what resources I want to be able to offer her…so I'm looking at spending my time in [open courses] acquiring some of this knowledge, so that I can enable her education”
Female, 38, homemaker Engages w/ online learning through iPhone
during “downtime” described as “feeding and nursing and stuff”
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Beautiful Online Learning
“A routine visit, friendly chit chat … and then suddenly a quiet chill in the room, professionals looking at each other but not at me, an emergency biopsy, a result. I’ve had a thyroid scan, a chest X-ray, a CT scan, and tomorrow I’m having a bone scan.”
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Harrowing Online Learning
disempowering. student as
consumer. detached. replicates f2f.
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Harrowing Online Learning
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Delivering education
Designing Learning Experiences
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Harrowing Online Learning
“My most vivid memory was this huge argument that broke out at the [open course] discussion board about an assignment that I submitted… [I received] this absolute torrent of rudeness, just vicious personal attacks that I never experienced on the internet before… I mean, I know that they happen on YouTube, but I did not expect that in a class at all! The professor was totally checked out, he never visited the discussion board… and it was just depressing and discouraging”
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Harrowing Online Learning
“I posted a comment stating that the grading was incorrect. [One] of the teaching staff [scolded me] stating that it was obvious I hadn’t viewed the lecture. While I didn’t expect staff to instantly take my word that there was a mistake, I certainly didn't expect negative and condescending remarks...[I was] left with a partial sense of accomplishment and feelings of hollowness and incompleteness.”
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Inspirational Online Learning
creative. original. innovative.
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Inspirational Online Learning
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Inspirational Online Learning
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Inspirational Online Learning
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Inspirational Online Learning
Students collect water data in the field and upload it to a database.
Students post blog entries describing what they are learning
and experiencing on their expedi8on.
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Inspirational Online Learning
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See http://www.slideshare.net/veletsianos
COHERE 2013 and ELI 2014 & Collier/Ross for more on this.
Messy Online Learning
varied. complex. real.
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Messy Online Learning
To understand the messiness of
learning, the reality of what it means
to learn in digital contexts, we need
empirical inquiry that uses a variety
of methodologies.
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Digital learning environments, that replicate traditional
classroom approaches often result in “showcase
environments that are often not much more than computer
assisted page turning” (Kirschner et al., 2004, pp. 47-48).
The reality
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• Educators, researchers, and designers working together
• Collaboration, not competition (e.g., institutions to
collaborate on offerings)
• Use the affordances of the technology & the affordances
of openness, to change practice
• Understand the history of educational technology
• Learn from the existing research on learning technologies
• Offer solutions, design the future that you want.
Potential approaches to rectify this…
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Thank you!
www.veletsianos.com
www.veletsianos.com/publications
@veletsianos on Twitter
veletsianos at gmail.com