{"id":336,"date":"2025-05-18T20:32:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T23:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/?p=336"},"modified":"2025-05-18T20:34:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T23:34:32","slug":"click-watch-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/click-watch-repeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Click, Watch, Repeat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n

“Learning is not a spectator sport.”<\/p>\n– D. Blocher<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Before critically inquiring into Coursera’s learning platform, specifically one of its many “free” offerings, The Digital Divide (Goodwill Industries International n.d.), I had no experience with the site. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

My expectations were set by my familiarity with similar platforms like LinkedIn Learning and Udemy, where learning is mainly passive, based on video content, and offers minimal social interaction; Coursera was no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Deeper Look<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Like many users, I had only engaged with these platforms at a surface level. I saw them as tools for quick overviews, especially for technical or software topics, rather than as sources of deep learning. Certificates from such courses frequently appear on social media, often with bold labels like “Expert in Cloud Infrastructure,” which I find difficult to take seriously. It’s hard to imagine that watching 4\u20138 hours of video could result in expertise on that complex topic. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of having complex knowledge, skills and attitudes uploaded to our brains like Neo from the Matrix (Silver et al., 1999), “I know Kung Fu”. This popular movie quote comes to mind and makes me cringe every time I see one of these video learning certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Until recently, I hadn’t considered why these platforms felt inadequate beyond a gut feeling. However, through our research into Coursera and my peers’ investigation into YouTube, the reasons began to come into focus. Most notably, many platforms lack a foundation in proven pedagogical design, often disregarding well-established learning theories. This reflects a form of technological determinism, where the technology is chosen first and the educational experience is forced to conform to its constraints. Fawns (2022) explains that this “technology-first” mindset detaches technology from pedagogy, resulting in a mismatch between educational needs and learning environments. Although platforms like Coursera and YouTube may have been designed with good intentions, there is an opportunity to revisit and enhance both the technology and its underlying pedagogical design capabilities to better support the specific needs of diverse learners; As Fawns (2022) highlights, pedagogy and technology are inevitably entangled and must be co-designed with context, values, and purpose awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Algorithmic Content Bias<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

One of the most troubling aspects is how these platforms use algorithms to drive engagement, not social engagement, but artificial engagement to let the platform know you are willing to watch or like something. In turn, recommendations are based on popularity or what you will likely watch, creating an echo chamber, whereas recommendations should be based on the quality of education; this quality of education is correlated with likes and watch counts, simplifying the complexity of pedagogical design. This commercial logic incentivizes course creators to focus on content that will attract the most views rather than what challenges learners or promotes critical thinking. As a result, courses on politically sensitive or inherently complex topics can be underrepresented or avoided entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratization of Education<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Despite their limitations, I recognize the positive potential of online learning platforms. They offer a unique opportunity to democratize education, allowing skilled educators, who may not have access to traditional academic systems, to share knowledge, reach global audiences, and even earn a living. This openness is valuable and worth preserving. However, it places a heavy burden on these educators to walk a fine line, creating content that appeals to platform algorithms while still following educational best practices. The challenge lies in that technology companies driven by business models own these platforms focused on ad revenue, engagement metrics, and royalties, not necessarily on learning outcomes. Success is often measured by how entertaining or watchable a course is, rather than by how well it fosters deep understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate what kind of “education” gets a thumbs-up, I recall that as a K\u201312 student, some of my most exciting days were when the teacher rolled in a TV and played a Disney movie like WALL-E, a practice that still happens today. Last week, my fourth-grade child watched WALL-E at school and came home saying she learned that “we need to work hard and protect the planet or we’ll end up like them in space.” While WALL-E delivers a cautionary tale about environmental collapse and technological dependence, I wonder: does it truly invite critical thinking, or is it simply an engaging, fleeting message presented in an exciting, colourful video, a presentation that is likely to get a thumbs up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, we must ask: What kind of education are we building? If we prioritize convenience and entertainment over challenge and depth, we risk widening the divides these platforms claim to bridge. As learners, educators, and designers, we have a responsibility to advocate for learning experiences that are accessible and meaningful, and which require rethinking what success looks like in the age of digital education. How can we balance the affordances of learning platforms that bridge the gap between teacher and student through time and space, but still create meaningful educational experiences?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fawns, T. (2022). An entangled pedagogy: Looking beyond the pedagogy\u2014technology dichotomy<\/em>. Postdigital Science and Education, 4<\/em>, 711\u2013728. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s42438-022-00302-7<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodwill Industries International. (n.d.). The digital divide<\/em> [Online course]. Coursera. https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/learn\/the-digital-divide<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver, J. (Producer), & Wachowski, L., & Wachowski, L. (Directors). (1999). The Matrix<\/em> [Film]. Warner Bros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams, S. (2023, January 2). 39 education quotes to increase motivation and engagement<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Learning is not a spectator sport.” – – D. Blocher<\/p>\n

Continue readingClick, Watch, Repeat<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lrnt526","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru295\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}