Digital learning, distance learning, etc. or @ the basics: e-learning. The birth of e-learning has caused an important shift in the world of learning, both in the academic and the corporate world. Where the effects in Higher Education were small, in the corporate world, e-learning was becoming a threat for the learning process. The reason was quite obvious: before e-learning became a buzz word, training initiatives were focused on the learning aspect, but since the arrival of this new, technology-based, promising way of training the focus was shifted too much to the "e" aspect, whereby the first aim of a training initiative – the learning part – was completely forgotten. I've made several e-learning modules with the main purpose of the Higher Management showing the Middle Management - and the staff in the workplace – that e-learning was THE future of training.
Reflection: how many autodidacts are there in the world? Because that's what e-learning stands for: resources for autodidacts to learn something independently. But I do have to admit: sometimes the replacement of classical sessions in small groups "animated" by a not that inspiring staff member with an e-learning module was enormous time – and so money – saving, for both the instructors and the staff. You can imagine that an e-learning module on Compliance or Security used for four to six times a year in a bank with 120.000 employees worldwide, was a really "deus ex machina". Instead of a monotonous speaking, uninspired Compliance Officer who talks 30 to 50 employees to sleep in an endless two-hours-session with a one-way information transfer (I see here a likeness and parallel with a lot of lectures in the academic world. A perfect subject for my next post!). The replacing e-learning module, translated into 13 languages, allowed 120.000 employees to go through the information – offered at the same time and in their own language – at their own pace and at a moment that suited them best, only investing 20 minutes of their precious time instead of two hours.
Reflection: in this upper case you could discuss the fact if that is really e-"learning". Maybe e-information or e-communication would be a more appropriate term...
After the buzz words e-learning, distance learning, digital learning, other ones joined the list: mobile learning, m-learning, JIT-learning, gamification, edugames, serious games, microlearning, etc.
Each of these different types of technology-supported learning has surely known – and still knows – multiple efficient, useful and valuable applications.
But then, a new buzz word emerged in the world of learning: blended learning. Where initially I was rather sceptical towards the former buzz words – it has been Big Business, for me as well – blended learning was my cockhorse since early nineties and the learning method I use since 1968 – the year I was born. An abundance of ideas, a very strong conviction, a large range of possibilities, the added value, etc. Blended learning CAN indeed be an enormous step forward for the learning process. Reason that I'm convinced that blended learning has an added value, is very simple: it is exactly the way we learn since our birth – and maybe even before that. A lot of the definitions I hear, make me shiver. They all mention – in different terms - "a mixture of c-learning and e-learning". But that is not what blended learning stands for, at least not in my opinion.
The fact that it is a "mixture" makes me shiver: if I mix one litre of Coca Cola with 1 litre of Jack Daniels, then first of all, it would be a real violation of the flavour of both components and secondly I'm not sure that the mixture would have an extraordinary taste and would offer a savory tasting.
Also, the fact that both "c-learning and e-learning" are in the "mixture" makes me shiver a second time: c-learning has existed for several millennia, much earlier than the "e" of e-learning emerged. Even the cavemen - and I do not mean the men who stroll out of their man cave – surrounded by blended learning, interpreting murals in caves, watching the examples of others, experiencing themselves, improving the existing, etc.
Reflection: what is blended learning? Even interrogating the omniscient wouldn't satisfy me. To me, the door for old school blended learning does still has to be open. Does this mean that I'm becoming old, that I know more than others, that I'm nostalgic or that I'm adhering the idea of "everything used to be better"? Not at all, to me – driven by my experience – online educational methods and resources are NOT a must in the concept of a blended learning approach, they are only appropriate if they yield an added value to the learning process, and in casu the learner.
My definition in a nutshell: blended learning is the INTEGRATION of different learning activities - working forms, learning forms, etc. preferably activating and interactive - in ONE learning path to utilize to the utmost the advantages of each activity in a LEARNER CENTERED approach to improve and enrich the learning process to achieve the learning objectives that were set before.
Some obvious examples:
- A learning pathway of 13 days of c-learning to form new bank clerks has been replaced by an integration of e-learning modules to transfer the theoretical aspects and hands-on sessions to practise the daily banking tools and discussion groups on case studies prepared @ home in one learning pathway.
- Writing an essay on an architecture topic has been enriched by peer assisted learning (PAL): in small groups of 4 students, peers give feedback on the first version of the essay; the professor gives each group supplementary input and clarifies certain ambiguities; this way, the students can use the feedback received from their peers and the professor as feedforward to introduce their final version, which will be evaluated by the peers – according to clear criteria - and the professor.
- The course "Mechanical Engineering" in the first bachelor of Civil Engineering has been converted to a flipped classroom concept. The theory is very limited and – in se – rather simple. The theory has been explained by means of screencasts which the students prepare @ home before assisting the exercise sessions. This approach gives the contact moments - in small groups of 30 students who are activated to make exercises independently – an added value. The difficulty level that slowly increases, prepares the students for the exam that solely consists of exercises.
In the next posts I will elaborate on these topics and some other cases of blended learning approach.
Reflection: hybrid learning, phygital learning, etc. It makes me wonder what the next learning buzz word will be... alpha learning maybe?
