E-Learning Addict Confesses
I confess.
I’m an e-learning technology convert. I now see so many possibilities for e-learning and it’s associated technologies in my practice as an adult educator. Mind you, my conversion isn’t complete – I still see a definite need for f2f interaction and I don’t believe that an e-learning “course” is the panacea for all training woes.
What I do see are the possibilities that e-learning technology provides - to go beyond the bounds of traditional classroom training; to move towards communities of learning for organisations; to increase dialogue and interaction between staff and to capture the “explicit knowledge” in the organisation – all enhancing learning for both individuals and organisations.
I’m now promoting my ideas and learnings to others and trying to encourage a similar acceptance in my colleagues by demonstrating how we can use the technology.
At a recent conference on emergency management training I attended a stream on e-learning. Good I thought, more ideas and ways to apply them to what we do. So, off I went and encouraged some colleagues to do the same.
What a disappointment – while the presenter knew her stuff it was pretty much a “show and tell” session - using PowerPoint! We had the opportunity to look at some of the technologies such as blogs, wikis and Skype – but only at their websites – there was no attempt to contextualise the information and give participants ideas on how the technology could by used in emergency management training.
An article I read recently stated “… technology implementation in a positive learning experience can be one of the strongest influencing factors in their subsequent uptake” (Weller, Pegler & Mason, 2005). This conference was an situation where the exposure to e-learning tools and technology was not positive – in fact it had the opposite effect on my colleagues – they left the session as soon as possible, uninspired.
If only this session had used some of the technologies to present the message, or had been contextualised to show how the tools could be used in developing and presenting training materials for emergency management agencies I could have had a cohort of supporters. This observation was supported by my colleagues’ responses to another session which did exactly this – they came to me saying “we’ve got to get this really great program – we’ve seen how we can use it to make our training better”.
This is another salient lesson for me as I endeavour to covert others in my organisation and win support for the introduction of new technologies and approaches in the learning arena.
Where to start with so many options available to me is the next question – I need to reign in my enthusiasm, give it some direction and remember how to eat an elephant – mouthful by mouthful.
Reference
Weller, M., Pegler, C. & Mason, R. 2005, Use of innovative technologies in an e-learning course. Internet and Higher Education, 8(1), 61-71.
