I just finished my doctoral research about online learners (graduate students) in higher education and found they, in a sense, wanted campus based education replicated online. Are they lagging behind or are we imagining that technology affordances will transpose learning in new ways? I was quite surprised at the outcomes as I am a big tech fan!

Our post is at: http://terrya.edublogs.org/2009/07/06/past-the-no-significant-difference/

Perhaps the discussion also needs to differentiate different kinds or uses of technology, or do they all have similar transformative potential? For example, email and other web-based communication tools have made two-way communication with and among students much easier and might offset large class sizes, if instructors and students choose to use it for this purpose. Whether or not this improves quality depends on what the communication is about. Therein lies the problem: technology can aid conventional practices as easily as it might support innovations. In my experience, common technologies do not seem to ‘force’ instructors to rethink their practices in fundamental ways.

I’d like to suggest two conditions for the change process to maximize the contributions that technology could make to enhancing / improving teaching quality.

1. Research on faculty conceptions of teaching (eg Trigwell and Prosser) suggests that whether instructors understand teaching as ‘content delivery’ or as ‘facilitating learning’ is an important variable that mediates student learning. Differences in practice across this continuum may be subtle – using the example of asking questions in class, it is can be as much about why and how you implement a strategy than whether or not you use it all.
If we hope for substantive changes in teaching, we must link technological tools with learning-centred conceptions of teaching.

2. Ontario is in the early stages of implementing University Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations. These require faculty to think explicitly about how their course design, assessment strategies and teaching support students’ attainment of transferable skills (communication skills, limits of knowledge, autonomy and professional capacity). This is new territory for many and technology has a central role in enabling new practices to address these requirements. In my experience with this initiative, the focus on ‘new’ learning outcomes and assessment is more powerful for faculty than approaches motivated as enhancing teaching and learning for its own sake. It’s also a golden opportunity to strengthen partnerships between instructors, educational (faculty) developers and experts in educational technology.

To me, given the current landscapes, institutions of higher education must innovate in order to not have their products/services become a commodity. I believe we are in a game-changing environment whereby the online/networked learning world represents the best chance for students to engage in, participate in, and control their own learning experiences. Online-based content represents the best chance that I can see, at least as of June 2009, whereby a student has the opportunity to access high-quality materials that are created by a *team* of specialists.

I haven’t seen that much innovation in the face-to-face world; and where I have seen it, it involves technology.

College kids these days seem to be all about technology! We surround ourselves with it. A few of my professors have grasped this – one recorded each lecture and created pod casts for students that missed class or wanted to refer back to a particular lecture when studying for exams. This was simple for him to do and was great for the students.

I’m not sure if I could claim that the current teaching model is inadequate (as I’m not an educator), but I do think that using technology isn’t a total waste of resources. Today we may not be able to have small group seminars or one-on-one tutorials, but the technology that we have could definitely help to improve student-teacher interactions and even create one-on-one situations (pod cast tutorials, automatic grading programs, etc.) These types of things, when online, can be accessed almost any time and anywhere, which is perfect for students that have their own schedules.

I know I appreciate professors that take the time to make these types of tools available to me, and I can say that overall, they have enhanced my learning environment.

Thanks for the interesting post!

It is true that the evidence is thin when it comes to ‘enhancing’ quality. But measuring quality is difficult in any context. I say “ask the learners”.