For three decades and longer we have heard educators and technologists making a case for the transformative power of technology in learning. However, despite the rhetoric, in many ways and at most institutional sites, education is still relatively untouched by technology. Even when technologies are introduced, the changes sometimes seem insignificant and the results seem disappointing. If the print textbook is replaced by an e-book, do the social relations of knowledge and learning necessarily change at all or for the better? If the pen-and-paper test is mechanized, does this change the nature of our assessment systems? Technology, in other words, need not necessarily bring significant change. Technology might not even represent a step forward in education.
e-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age
Instructors: Dr William Cope
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There are 4 modules in this course
We begin this module with an introduction to the idea of an "e-learning ecology" and the notion of "affordance." We use this idea to map the range of innovative activities that we may be able to use in e-learning environments – not that we necessarily do. Many e-learning environments simply reproduce the worst of old, didactic pedagogies. We then go on to explore the notion of "ubiquitous learning," the first of seven "affordances" in computer-mediated educational applications and environments that we examine in this course.
What's included
9 videos9 readings1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts1 plugin
This module examines two more e-learning affordances: "active knowledge making," or the right and responsibility of learners to take a degree of control over their own knowledge making; and "multimodal meaning-making," or the tools learners now have at hand to support their thinking and to represent the knowledge they have gained – including, for instance, text, image, diagram, animation, simulation, dataset, video, audio, or embedded web media.
What's included
6 videos2 readings2 peer reviews2 discussion prompts
Two further e-learning affordances are explored in this module: "recursive feedback," or the rapid and repeatable cycles of feedback or formative assessment now available, including machine feedback and machine-mediated human feedback; and the "collaborative intelligence" fostered by the very social nature of Web 2.0 and contemporary e-learning environments.
What's included
9 videos2 readings2 peer reviews2 discussion prompts
We come now to the last two of our seven e-learning affordances: "metacognition," or the process of thinking about thinking – a second order, more abstract, theoretical, and generalizable way of thinking; and "differentiated learning," addressing learners' different needs and interests. Together, these seven affordances become a tool with which to evaluate the scope of an e-learning technology and its application.
What's included
4 videos2 readings5 peer reviews2 discussion prompts1 plugin
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Reviewed on Sep 5, 2021
Interesting and important courses, however the heavy dependency on peer-review method for evaluation may open to unfair (or irresponsible) scoring by peers
Reviewed on Jul 11, 2020
The course is enriched with innovative approaches that will help educators in teaching and learning. It also share the new educational tools in approach to e-learning setting.
Reviewed on Aug 7, 2020
I appreciated the well-organized format and overall the way the course was designed. Particularly the opportunity to choose our own areas of focus for assignments to learn more.
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