Backtracking: E-Learning

I have to backtrack- 

I guess I read the weeks wrong and did the topic for this week's blog last week.  So, I need to go back and talk about last week's topic...e-Learning.  

As someone who is paid out of e-Learning funds, I am definitely a fan. :)

I have to admit that growing up with an academic snob- my mother- I never cared too much for online classes or classes completed through correspondence.  By the time I finished college at UGA (in 2003), online universities were ramping up, churning out degree program after degree program.  As a teacher, I saw TONS of my friends enroll in these programs, do a very small amount of work, and receive a degree in record time (along with the pay raise).  My mom, who I consider the smartest woman in the world, constantly berated the online universities and the degrees they conferred.  She predicted the state would go belly-up paying teachers for all of these degrees from nationally accredited universities in fields that would never be used... Little did we know the PSC would also take that stance years later.  When I applied for my masters degree in Information Technology at Georgia College and State University, her first question was whether or not I would be taking any of the courses online.  I did- but the majority were face to face.  And, after that program, I started thinking she might be right about online classes.  The ones I took for my masters degree were not engaging, didn't showcase the wide variety of communication tools offered by technology at the time, and the instructors seemed to like teaching in the environment about as much as we enjoyed learning in the environment- not much at all.

I started this EdS program with lots of trepidation... I was excited that we would be in the studio for a large part of our instruction.  I was worried that the online courses would be like those for my other graduate program.  I was happily contradicted.  Although not all classes in this program have been wonderful, the majority have provided me with great examples of how e-Learning should work.  In fact, in my job as an online developer (and someone who teaches faculty how to develop for online), I am constantly using certain professors in this program as examples of what to do (and at times, what not to do). :)

Furthermore, I've learned more about the pedagogy of online learning through my work experience than I ever could have as a student.  There is definitely an art to developing e-Learning.  We tell our faculty developers that e-Learning is 80% upfront development and organization.  That is not always appealing to university faculty, but for k-12 teachers, it is just par for the course.  Most k-12 folks are so used to doing in depth planning, that developing for online and the time commitment it takes to organize, design, and develop is no great hardship.  That is probably why I like the job so much.

Finally, it helps for online developers to have some guidelines... At KSU, we use the Quality Matters program and Institutionally Peer Review courses that are taught online.  This means that development occurs with the help of a rubric and courses are scored with that rubric.  The ones that do not meet standards are revised until they do.  Faculty are coached on e-Learning pedagogy and certified to teach online before they submit the course for approval to QM.  

We do all of this because we recognize that just as all learners aren't right for courses taught in the virtual environment, not all teachers are right for that environment.  I believe that almost any course can be taught online- with the right amount of planning and creativity.  However, not everyone should teach online courses (or take them).  

Sorry I have so much to say about e-Learning- I am working very hard to become an expert in this field.  I am even developing (with colleagues) proposals to present about our approach to developing for online at several conferences in the coming months.  Exciting stuff....