Before e-learning

Before e-learning and podcasting

IN THIS ARTICLE

Cursed as a skeptic
Principles of e-learning aren't as new or radical as some think
Media has always played an important role in learning
Developments in mainstream media have, however, opened more opportunities
The new flexible learning

By Jonathan Halls

Forgive me. I can't hold lofty claims as an early adopter when it comes to e-learning. Or podcasting for that matter.

In fact, while many were jumping on the bandwagon of what was considered the latest advancement in learning, I was what one can only describe as an early skeptic.

Perhaps as a former journalist, who learned never to accept the surface reality and to dig for the truth, I had no option but to resist the temptation of a new vocabulary of jargon that meant little to the average person.

Or perhaps it was my academic training in learning theory and psychology, in which the process of questioning everything thoroughly was drilled into me, that cursed me with the inability to blindly follow the latest fad.

So does that make me a luddite? Someone who smashes any new ideas because it threatens my future livelihood which is based on outdated ideas?

Not at all. It just makes me a realist. So perhaps I should explain why. It's all to do with ideas and activities learning professionals have tried over many years.

My 'realist' position which makes me a skeptic is founded on learning theory that is as old as the hills. And the practice of using media in learning over decades.

But my 'realist' position is also founded on the well-tested view that the revolution of media, as we are experiencing outside the learning realm, is opening up even more opportunities for learning.

Principles of e-Learning aren't as some think

I was at my highest level of skepticism at the turn of the century.

People everywhere were saying that e-learning will replace face-to-face training. Meanwhile, the luddites were saying it was a preposterous thought.

It was also the period before people really understood how expensive it is to produce really good e-learning.

During this time, streaming audio was OK but streaming video was woeful in terms of quality. Web video in those days suffered heavily from the limitations of bandwidth and development of streaming technologies.

People made video following either the tried and tested production values of television or self-taught, wobbly techniques of home video. Neither of which were suited for video that was blurry and confined to a window the size of a postage stamp.

However, I think the biggest factor that fueled my skepticism was the sprouting of new theories of learning.

Many of these 'new' theories came from people who had not studied learning or didn't understand the relatively short history of the academic discipline of learning. And were re-inventing time-tested theories. And inventing new jargon for them.

Many of the benefits that e-learning is said to bring, read like a list of benefits of distance learning.

Many of the definitions today gloss over these facts and focus on the use of computers in distance learning. (Including the wikipedia page I linked to in the previous paragraph.)

However, if you dig out some academic themes from before the mid-1990s, you'll discover everything we talked about with the advent of e-learning was being discussed by academics in terms of distance and flexible learning.

In fact, distance learning has been argued to have started in 1728 in Boston. So when I heard people being wowed by new ways of 'doing learning' online, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Key factors of distance and flexible learning

What were some of the key factors?

Time - learn any time you like - in the morning before work, or during your lunch break. You don't have to go to a college class at the same time each week and fit your schedule around learning. Now you can fit your learning around your schedule.
Amount of time - you can choose to learn in one-hour chunks or choose to spend a whole day learning. Your choice - it wasn't set by an academic institution or corporate training department.
Pace - some people learn quicker than others. So if you want to spend three months studying something, that's your call. Alternatively, if you want to knock it over in a weekend, what's stopping you?
Geography - learn anywhere you want. No need to be in a classroom or corporate university to learn. Learn in bed before you go to sleep. Or take your learning to a library, cafe or back yard. Your choice.
Non-linearity - want to start with the theory or start with the practical exercises? Your choice - do the learning in any order you want. You're not limited to when a class is scheduled by your corporate learning department or college.
Media - different mediums enable you to learn away from the traditional classroom. These include books, radio, television and CD Rom. Classic example here is the broadcasts used by the Open University. Transmitted before 5am in the low ratings period, learners would set their VCRs to tape them. Remember, this was before DVDs.

Of course, technology has greatly improved these principles for obvious reasons. But the concept of flexible, distant learning has been around for decades.

Role of media

Probably most relevant to us here at Podcasters Portal is the use of media in learning which is integral to e-learning. And has been imperative for distance learning facilitators over the years.

Two examples spring to mind. First, the phenomenally successful Sesame Street which as well as having terrific educational content also has incredible brand recognition around the world.

It premiered in 1969 on the National Education Television network in America. It is a contemporary pioneer of using television to educate. In the case of Sesame Street, it is aimed at pre-schoolers and almost 80 million American adults watched the series as children.

Probably what makes this so successful is that it combines both education and entertainment to make learning a positive experience.

The National Education Television network in America started in the early 1950s and broadcast adult education programs to America. This is another early example of television being used for education.

Earlier than that, we can look to the arid continent of Australia. The option of a classroom just didn't exist for thousands of children who lived on homesteads or ranches in the middle of the country.

Their homesteads were thousands of miles from a a local school. So starting in the 1940s, authorities started to provide their education using radio broadcasts.

Perhaps this paragraph is a moment of self-indulgence, because my own grandfather was one of the pioneers of educational radio in Australia.

British born A.J. Halls (pictured above in the ABC's Perth radio studio in 1940) spent much of his life in Australia where he set up schools broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

What I personally find fascinating, as I read some of the newspaper articles written about speeches made by him back in the 1940s, is that they say the same sort of things me and my colleagues say about the future of education, only using the Internet.

These include how the new media - remember, that's what it was back in the 1940s - can enhance the learning experience and give it life. They also comment on the link between pedagogy and radio.

More out of historic interest than anything else. I've re-published some of these on this site. These include:

Giving life to the dusty bones of curriculum - 29 November 1941, ABC Weekly.
Radio to play bigger role in State education Unidentified date and publisher.

I'm always inspired by the Biblical phrase, "there's nothing new under the sun." In an argument I make in speeches around the world to media companies, and that I include in my forthcoming book, The Liberated Journalist, I think that storytelling, another key tool in the educator's toolkit, is returning to its origins.

However, there are a number of things that are new under the sun when it comes to distance and flexible learning. These are due to the radical changes taking place in today's mainstream media world.

What is different about e-learning?

There are many ways to describe these new changes. I would suggest just a few to keep it short and focused. These are:

Multimedia - our message of learning does not need to be confined to just one medium. When we need a visual to teach a concept we have pictures and video. Something we didn't have when a communication method - such as audio - was merely a medium like radio.
Interactivity - we are now able to interact with our content. Instead of traditional one-way communication that was all we had with radio, television and newspapers, we now have a conversational model for communication. It's this ability to interact that is inseparable from our third characteristic, non-linearity.
Non-linearity - perhaps we should call this the dip in/dip out phenomenon. Classic pedagogy was often didactic. That is, linear. Every lesson had a middle, beginning and an end. Of course, this meant certain frustration for people who already knew parts of a topic, but had to endure repetition when they could quickly skip to parts they didn't know. Interactivity meant that we could now offer highly personalized learning opportunities.

There are a few other characteristics, but I'm already worried about running dangerously long in what is supposed to be a quick opinion piece about e-learning.

How e-Learning and learning theories interact

What is interesting, is that these three characteristics dovetail nicely into a number of different educational theories. No, they're not always a glove fit. Sure, in some cases they may be more about synergy than analogy. However, just think of the following.

Multimedia - learning styles, multiple intelligences, neuro linguistic programming.
Interactivity - games trainers play, dialogic learning, interaction, activity-based learning.
Non-linearity - learner-centered learning, self-paced learning, self-directed learning, 'just in time' learning.

When I think about e-learning - or learning facilitated by computers and the Internet - there are many practical examples of how to create learning experiences.

Multimedia: audio, video, text, animation, images (pictures & diagrams). This will ultimately extend to new platforms such as mobile phones.
Interactivity - non-linear content, games, databases, chat rooms and forums. Of course Reuters has a news bureau in Second Life - how about some classrooms?

My skepticism starts to fade when I see the way in which e-learning does draw on distance learning models, but also brings those theories together with the emerging new grammar facilitated by the Internet. When the frigidity of useless jargon thaws to become more real and practical, there are numerous benefits.

But we shouldn't be blinded by sheer optimism, either. Oh, gee, I just can't lose my skeptics nose, you're probably thinking. But think about it. Good e-Learning is expensive to produce. It does take time and proper project management.

And more often than not, it will be a greater burden on a training department wanting quick results and flexible changes to curriculum. But a department with proper resources will make it incredibly valuable. And as costs continue to drop, it may not be so.

The other thing is that e-Learning is also not the only tool a trainer should have in her toolkit. Yes, it is one. But face-to-face, or what was referred to as "contiguous learning" when I did my masters degree a decade ago, will also be important for some types of learning content and far outweigh e-learning.

Challenges

So what's my point in all of this? I think it's fair to say that when it comes to e-learning, we need to have a balanced view that is skeptical but neither veers to the extreme evangelist or extreme ludite perspective.

It's fair to say that e-learning opens up some incredible opportunities for learning practitioners to expand and enhance the way they deliver learning. But it's not the be-all, end-all that some may think.

From my perspective - and you can read thus into most of the articles you find on Podcaster's Portal - the key comes down to understanding the medium and the methods of communication that work and don't work on that medium.

It's about knowing when not to use a method as much as when to use it. I also believe there is much innovation required to take us forward. Integrating games and other forms of interactivity are exciting ways to expand learning possibilities.

But as we do this, we need to also remember that games have been a key tool trainers have been using for decades so reflecting on the core principles that make them successful will also help with e-learning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////