Learning: Social and cooperative, online and off?

11 Mar 2010

Posted by daveplml

Greetings, digital and in-personable educators of future generations,

This evening, I had the pleasure of attending the Harvard Ed School's Askwith Forum, "Classic College Meets Online Opportunities: Whither the Future of Higher Education?"

The two respondents, Dr. William J. Pepicello (President of the University of Phoenix) and Christopher B. Nelson, J.D. (President of St. John's College) described - but didn't quite clash over - their unique views of the future of learning at institutions of higher education.

Although striking different in execution, both professed dedication to providing students with uniquely American ideals; democratic participation in classes (in Mr. Nelson's case) or the democratic selection of a course of study (in Dr. Pepicello's case).

Of note:

The assessment system at St. John's College seems especially interesting to discuss for its (potential) similarity to portfolio-based learning. According to Mr. Nelson, students are provided with an opportunity to overhear their teachers' discussion (about grades and performance), and potentially, to interject on their own behalf.
Dr. Pepicello suggested that, as educators, our challenge is to teach students how to find what they need; but not to "fill them" with information they don't need.

An interesting question:

In Mr. Nelson's words, "learning is a social activity and a cooperative art". To me, it seems that both offline and online learning presuppose social activity and cooperation; but that in each medium, the social activity and cooperative art is very different.

Dr. Pepicello implied that current, and future, learners are engaging (in life and work) primarily online. On the other hand, Mr. Nelson suggested that despite our technological advances, humans are much the same in this century as the many centuries before.

With respect to the future, then: is it more critical for learners to understand learning through the social activity and cooperative art of online interfacing, or more critical for learners to continue to have the offline, in-person experiences that have prevailed to this day?

All in all, a fascinating conversation. Thoughts?

Cheers,
--Dave

Comments

Response to your question

Hi Dave,

I'm jealous! That would have been an interesting talk on which to to listen in!

I believe, in regard to the future, that it will be important to have traditional venues as well as the more flexible independent options available because one size doesn't fit all of humanity when it comes to learning. The more options we can offer to people, the more we help to assure learning success.

For instance, a single mom may not have the time or ability to get herself to an actual campus for class because life's logistics won't allow it. Should her desire to continue her education be a pointless dream? Or could an online environment open up a world of possibility to her?

Lots of socializing and sharing of ideas happen online. In my experience, it's every bit as meaningful as the conversations that can happen in a physical classroom. There are many opportunities for "social activity and cooperative art" in an online learning environment.

The technology we have now should be taken complete advantage of when it comes to creating different ways to learn--and I think it should be encouraged even in the highest echelons of education. Thanks to technology, many people who can't otherwise attend a physical classroom can still learn in a way that fits where they find themselves on life's journey. I think we all want an America full of highly educated, interesting and interested people. Why not pull out all the stops and provide all the venues now technologically possible to offer means to that end?

I believe the bottom line is that the question of where and how we learn doesn't have to be an either/or (traditional OR independent) proposition. It can be both/and (traditional AND independent), which, in my opinion, is the more truly humane and democratic thing after all.

Have you heard of DePaul's School of New Learning? This is something I want to look into a bit more. It is an award-winning program in the field of adult education. Here is the link: snl.depaul.edu/

The possibilities are endless! It's so exciting to be alive and learning in 2010!

Jenny

Jenny Knight | Mar 23rd, 2010 at 12:11 pm

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Re: Learning online and off

[quote=Jenny Knight]

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Hi Jenny,

Thanks for writing!

Yes, I agree, it's important to have a multitude of possibilities open to people who want to learn. The more expanded the set of learning possibilities, the more likely it will be that someone takes advantage of any one possibility.

One idea I'm watching carefully is the idea of an open classroom - similar in nature to MIT's Open Courseware. I'm intrigued by the idea that communities of people could come together and lead one another through the process of a class around the particularly compelling, high-quality content available through OCW.

The downside is that one of the benefits of instruction is the teacher, and another benefit (societal) is the credential. Teachers, of course, typically have an expert view of the knowledge at hand (helps to lead learners through the process of building knowledge) and the credentialing is important to job advancement.

I wonder if there's a way that an innovative model could be developed around an OCW core, but provide people the support, AND the output, they need to not just learn, but to advance?