My experience with the four centred learning types vary quite distinctly. I have never taught an online course, so my perspective is only from the four courses that I have participated in within the MET program.
Learner: I feel that this is one trickier aspects of the four types that Anderson brings up. It is all about accessibility, flexibility, and making sure the learner is given the opportunity for success, whatever that may entail. So while I feel that online learning allows learner-centred learning it doesn’t necessarily deliver learner-centred learning for everyone. Mainly because not every student has the same needs and desires for their learning environment. Personally, I find online a difficult platform for myself due to my expectations for my learner-centred learning.
Knowledge: For online learning, this seems pretty standard and well supported. Not only does multimedia allow us the capabilities of delivering the engaging presentation styles of master teachers but the Internet has proven to be a great source of knowledge. It is fantastic to be able to consolidate all this relevant information into an online resource that is structured for learning about appropriate topics. It always reminds me of the days in undergrad when we had to buy an entire science textbook for only half the chapters. With my experiences in online programs, we rarely have to deal with excessive information.
Assessment: My experiences with assessments within the MET program have been positive. However, they are almost all project-based or written responses. There doesn’t seem to be the more common types of assessments that would occur in other types of programs. Since the MET program is fairly unique in its educational direction, the assessments of our knowledge seem appropriate for the subject matter. I personally like working on multimedia projects and think they are engaging as well as challenging. I do worry that some people that prefer different types of assessments would have a difficult time with the kind we get in MET.
Community: I have had a challenging time with this learning focus in an online platform. There’s just something about building community online that just doesn’t quite resonate with me. I think there is tremendous room for improvement for online learning communities and that we are really just at the beginning of those those communities will allow us to interact with one another. So while I struggle with building/contributing to a community, I have hope that some tool or form is going to connect with me in the future.
The thing I got most out of Anderson’s article was that I was reminded on how different learners can be. All of the points he brings up can vary in importance from learner to learner and especially teachers. We are at a great time right now, what with the ubiquity of online learning, multimedia development tools, social platforms, mobile technology, etc. and I think meaningful interactions are happening and maturing all the time in the online environment. The one tool that really excites me beyond what we are currently used to is virtual reality. VR is going to give us an immersion that is going to blow people away. For some learners this is going to change everything for them. I could definitely see myself being one of those people.