I thoroughly enjoyed the first eight chapters of Weller’s (2020) book 25 Years of Ed Tech. I had never considered the origins of educational technology, despite having grown up with the internet and taking online classes in university. Reading about how long education technology has existed and developed over time was fascinating. Although the first eight chapters provided a wealth of valuable information, chapter 6 caught my attention since I believe some of this mindset is still prevalent today.<\/p>\n
In 1999, Weller was a part of the initial team to create the Open University’s first online graduate course and investigated the feasibility of delivering a fully online course. The course was a success, resulting in an entirely new paradigm shift in the possibilities of e-learning.\u00a0 As a result of this success, conversations began on E-Learning costs. Noam (1995) believed that curriculums could be created once and offered electronically to not only one hundred students but thousands worldwide without fully understanding the fixed and variable costs of creating E-Learning courses. \u00a0In essence, the concept was that while E-Learning may have a high initial cost, it may be relatively inexpensive to replicate, implying that prices would not increase as student numbers increased. However, this does not consider the variable costs of increased student numbers, such as tutors or moderators.<\/p>\n
At the end of this chapter, Weller (2020) did note that the low cost of e-learning myth keeps reoccurring, however, and was a motivation for much of the investment in MOOC.\u201d (p.47). However, I would challenge this statement because I do not believe it is necessarily true. Some industries, such as higher education, understand that E-Learning is not necessarily low in cost to produce, as they require more resources than previously assumed. However, most industries have little experience with E-Learning and believe it is simple and inexpensive to generate. As we move into a “post-covid” era where many businesses opt to transition to online learning, it will be necessary to properly educate some of these organizations to comprehend education technology better to properly allocate their resources effectively. Perhaps this is where we, as MALAT students, come in.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]\n