One of the most interesting things that I took from the Anderson reading was the concept that ‘different learning outcomes are best learned through particular learning activities’ (62). That is to say that the method of instruction or delivery should be determined with the end goal in site. By carefully planning, curriculum leaders can provide adequate opportunities for student, teacher and content interactions, this is true for online and blended learning as well. This backwards version of planning is not new, but may not have been applied to eLearning in a robust way in the past. With new advances in technologies (specifically with video and streaming services), educators can provide meaningful learning experiences that build on the student, teacher, and content relationships. What was once defined by asynchronous communication (based on the postal system), eLearning can now provide students with interactive activities and meaningful learning experiences.
Unfortunately not all eLearning situations fully understand ‘good design’. I have had the misfortune to take my Honour Specialist Advanced Placement course through a Canadian University that used WebCT as its LMS. The experience was entirely text-based with little to no interaction between students and between students and teacher. Readings were assigned, assignments were given and feedback was often held back and restricted. There was no sense of community created (I couldn’t tell you the name of another person in the course) and as a result my learning suffered. Some of the MET courses at UBC have been a quantum leap forward. Video conferencing, blogs, Twitter and other social media outlets, have allowed students and teachers to create relationships around the content. These relationship nurture the course content and create feelings of belonging. Discussions evolve naturally in these types of environments – similar to a face-to-face learning experience. As technologies continue to improve, I foresee eLearning to become the preferred method of instruction for most students.