As I was reading the first eight chapters of Weller’s book 25 Years of Ed Tech, there were a couple of concepts that really resonated with me, both as a student who has taken courses via e-learning, and an instructor who has delivered courses using methods made possible by the innovations mentioned in these chapters. Specifically, the ideas of: e-learning having a “less-than” status in comparison to face to face instruction; and the challenges with developing consistent and practical standards to govern the quality and usability of digital resources. These ideas stood out to me, as I have encountered all of them in my own work and academic experiences.
In Chapter 6, we read about the “angst about the implications of e-learning for higher education at the end of the 1990s” (Weller, 2020). In this chapter, we see some of the history of the long-held belief that face-to-face instruction is the legitimate gold-standard of teaching and learning. Even today, we see some of the legacy of that thinking played out in our biases. As a post-secondary instructor, I have heard students and faculty raise concerns that a program or course that is offered online is somehow less rigorous, engaging, or worthwhile.
In Chapter 8, I found the ideas about standards very interesting. As someone who is at this time in the midst of creating an online course for employer, I have a keen interest in SCORM compliance as this is one of the standards of our organization’s Learning Management System. In reading about the history of attempts to create standards using meta data and other requirements, I could fully appreciate the balance between rigour and pragmatism. If standards are too onerous, they won’t be used. If standards don’t exist at all, the quality of resources will ultimately suffer and not address user needs.
Reference:
Weller, M. (2020). 25 Years of Ed Tech. Athabasca University Press