Dec 11 09
E-Learning Buzz
By: Kelly Shea
Recent College Grad/The SNP Part-Timer
Lately at SNP there has been some buzz about e-learning programs. My experience with e-learning has been fairly positive, but certainly not electrifying. Towards the end of my college career, I took an online math course through UC Berkeley. Sitting down to multiple hours of statistics coursework took some serious willpower, but it was convenient to be able to make my own schedule. If I had a question I could e-mail the professor. He always replied with enthusiastic, explanation point riddled messages. I’ve never really felt the need for double punctuation when discussing statistical analysis, but he sure did. It wasn’t quite true human interaction, but at least someone was behind the screen.
In some educational circles online education has earned itself a bad rap, mostly to the fault of sketchy online vocational universities that dole out job certifications. I had a friend that took an online course in which there was a research paper due at the end of the course that comprised most of her grade. After sending her final paper to the professor she realized that there had been a technical glitch and her paper had been sent as a blank document. Panicked, she tried to resend it but the deadline had passed and the e-mail bounced back into her account. A week later she received her grade, an A on the paper and an A in the class. It turned out no one was actually reading the students’ final papers. Like the wizard of oz behind the virtual curtain, the students were performing, but no one was watching.
Cautionary tales such as this one have left some people wary about e-learning programs, but there are an increasing number of fantastic online programs available. Ivy leagues such as Harvard and many Fortune 500 companies offer lectures, classes and training programs. E-learning has opened classrooms to the public that were once only populated by the elite.
I have worked as a teacher, and anyone who has spent time in a classroom (as a student or instructor) understands that the gateway to knowledge is personal engagement. An online course is only effective if the instructor can engage the students in any setting, business or personal. The basics of quality education remain the same, whether the student is online or in a classroom. The most advanced e-learning modules are live and students and the instructor can interact just as they would in a brick and mortar classroom. Is e-learning the future of all education? Doubtful, but it is an online tool that allows people to communicate globally. Call me a dreamer, but I think learning is a beautiful thing, as is cross-cultural communication, and greater accessibility of education.
great blog…I agree with everything you say…and admire your dedication to education being a beautiful thing…either in the classroom, or online…that should always be the goal