Is Technology Effective for Learning?

Research indicates that effective distance education depends on the provision of pedagogical excellence and limited variability in results indicates no significant difference in Distance Education (DE) and face-to-face learning (though calls have been made for greater variability in research methods including discourse analysis and learner interviews). Attitudes toward e-learning, as “reflected by scholarly and academic reviews, range from neutral to positive, indicate DE courses offer similar effectiveness to traditional instructional approaches.

While learner control is desirable, dramatic tension (provided by course designers and instructors) is required in order to sustain a high level of participation. Athabasca University faces an additional challenge of keeping learners motivated and engaged while permitting them the freedom to progress at their own pace, often in isolation from, and absence of social interaction with, peers.

Unfortunately, in many universities web technology is primarily used for support of logistical processes rather than for pedagogical change.

The creation of information is now largely in the hands of individuals. The growth of user-generated content prompted Time Magazine to declare the 2006 person of the year to be, well, you – the individual contributing to video sites, blogs, and wikis. While information creation has always been possible for individuals (such as providing a letter to the editor in a newspaper), the barriers are now significantly lower.

The packaging of information has been altered as well. While not everyone has aspirations of creating content, everyone has interest in organizing and packaging information. The use of news feed aggregators gives learners greater control in how they experience learning content. Services like iGoogle, Google News, tags, and numerous others, permit learners greater control over the type of content they encounter. Instead of content being pre-packaged, information can today be packaged according to the needs and interests of each individual learner. As a result, different skills are required of learners. Making sense of fragmented information through networks of peer learners offers an indication of future learning tasks and even pedagogical models.

The validation of information has also experienced change over the last decade. Wikipedia – an online encyclopaedia where anyone can contribute – presents an alternative mode of information validation from what is used in education. Instead of relying on experts, Wikipedia (and sites like Digg) rely on the activity of many to discuss and validate information. The aggregated actions of many, according to this view, are more effective than the actions of a few privileged experts.

The dissemination of information still retains many of the attributes long valued in education: peer review and critical discussion. Unfortunately, the long process of traditional scholarship is no longer suitable when information is developing at an accelerated rate. Online journals (such as Innovate and IRRODL) are helping to reduce the timelines of writing and publication. PLOS One has adopted a peer review and annotation model after publication, not only prior to. New models of scholarship will permit individuals a greater role in the formation of ideas, rather than only encountering the ideas after publication. These alternative models of information dissemination place sustained pressure on scholarship in higher education.

The sharing and publication of information is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Online journal systems such as OJS, blogs and wikis, enable more rapid sharing of information and research than higher education has encountered to date. The use of conferencing tools – Elluminate and Adobe Connect – permit a more timely sharing of research.
The accreditation of the learner with regard to information has not experienced significant pressure to date. While alternative models have been used (Microsoft and Oracle certification for example) the model of accreditation in higher education remains firm. The advancements of “community-validated experts” – such as eBay and Amazon - have not altered how competence is determined in formal education.

Learners have increased educational opportunities due to the internet’s affordance of connectivity. What once rested under the control of a privileged expert or organization is now under the control of individuals. Even the organization, sequencing, and structuring of information is now largely under the control of individual learners.
Content is generally viewed as something that learners need to cognitively consume in order to learn. But learning is like opening a door, not filling a container. Content can be created through the process of learning, not only in advance of learning. And increasingly, content co-creation and re-creation (building on and using the content created by others to create something new) are becoming the norm for online participants.