Transcript Future is Ahead - CourseShare - E

IV. The Future of Online
Learning and a Look at
Emerging Technologies
Curt Bonk, Ph.D.
Indiana University
CourseShare.com
http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk
[email protected]
The Future
Note: any predictions are bound to
be too conservative!!!
14 E-Learning Technologies of
Future?
1. Human Resource
Portals/Business
Development Resources
2. Communities of
Practice
3. Electronic Books
4. Instructor/Trainer
Portals
5. Knowledge
Management
6. Intelligent Agents
7. Online Language
Support
8. Online Mentoring
9. Online Simulations
10. Peer-to-Peer
Collaboration
11. Reusable Knowledge
Objects
12. Virtual Worlds/Virtual
Reality/AI
13. Wearable Computing
14. Wireless Technology
4. Instructor/Trainer Portals
5. Intelligent Agents/AI
7. Online Language Support
(pronunciation, communication, vocabulary, grammar, etc.)
Typical Features (e.g., Englishtown
(millions of users from over 100 countries)
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Online Conversation Classes
Experienced Teachers (certified ESL)
Expert Mentors
Peer-to-Peer Conversation
Private Conversation Classes
Placement Tests
Personalized Feedback
University Certification
Self-Paced Lessons
8. Online Mentoring
Expert mentors novice
from remote location
Carnegie Mellon Univ.
Adventure
Learning
Purpose: engage in adventurous
study of the global environment.
(e.g., Telepresence or virtual fieldtrips,
ask an expert forums, cross-classroom
collaboration, debate forums,
MayaQuest)
A web’s that’s out of this world
Alan Boyle, MSNBC,
Nov. 8, 1999
• NASA and network gurus are working together
to extend the Internet to other worlds in the
next few years. But there are some limits that
not even the World Wide Web can route
around, such as the speed of light. So the
builders of the Interplanetary Internet are
going back to the basics, retooling protocols for
future communications with Mars and beyond.
9. Online Simulations (SimuLearn)
10. Peer-to-Peer Collaboration
(Group-enabled Project Management)
Possibilities:
1. Data Sharing
(www.napster.com)
2. Resource Sharing
(www.intel.com/cure/overv
iew.htm)
3. Workgroup Collaboration
(www.groove.net)
Grove creates a shared space to explain
problems, receive assignments, post course
updates, hold group meetings, write and edit
papers, and teach students research methods.
11. Reusable Learning Objects
• “Learning Objects are small or large
resources that can be used to provide a
learning experience. These assets can be
lessons, video clips, images, or even
people. The Learning Objects can
represent tiny "chunks" of knowledge, or
they can be whole courses.”
Claude Ostyn, Click2Learn
Displaying Learning Objects
Stephen Downes, New Tools, New Media
“Consider the impact of a resource like
Martindale’s Health Science Guide, a
resource center listing 60,000 teaching
files and 129,000 medical cases. Such a
resource if made available to medical
schools around the world, would greatly
facilitate the creation of courses in
medicine….” (as well as sustainable
revenue for the center)
ADL Functional Requirements
(Bob Wisher, 2001)
Accessible: access instructional components from one location
and deliver them to many other locations
Interoperable: use instructional components developed in one
location with a different platform in another location
Reusable: incorporate instructional components into multiple
applications
Durable: operate instructional components when base
technology changes, without redesign or recoding
Affordable: increase learning effectiveness significantly while
reducing time and costs
12. Virtual Worlds/Virtual Reality
Avatars--representations
of people
Objects--representations of objects
Maps--the landscape which can be explored
Bots--artificial intelligence
13. Wearable Computing
IBM VisionPad
IBM Wearable ThinkPad
Created as a small laptop
Applications will determine
how close it meets our model
14. Wireless Technology
So What Happens to
Instructors and
Students in the
Future???
Faculty Member in 2020
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Track 1: Technical Specialist
Track 2: Personal Guide
Track 3: Online Facilitator
Track 4: Course Developer
Track 5: Course or Program Manager
Track 6: Work for Hire Online Lecturer
Track 7: High School Teacher
Track 8: Unemployed
Track 1: Technical Specialist
• Help critique technical aspects of media
and materials built into online courses.
Here one would be part of a course
development team or instructional design
unit. Freelance learning object evaluator.
Here one would likely operate alone or as
part of a consulting company.
Track 2: Personal Guide
• Provide program or course guidance to
students on demand or preplanned.
Becomes more of a generalist across
university offerings. For example, one
might help students see how different
learning objects or modules fit together
into a degree.
Track 3: Online Facilitator
• Offers timely and informed support to
students struggling to complete an online
course or inserting questions and
nudging development of students who are
successfully completing different
modules. This is the most similar to
college teaching positions today.
Track 4: Course Developer
• Help develop specific courses or topic
areas for one or more universities. In
many institutions, this will move beyond
a course royalty system to a paid position.
Track 5: Course or Program
Manager
• Supervisor or manager of an entire new
program or courses, most often leading to
certificates or master’s degrees. Similar
in stature to a development head or
chairperson.
Track 6: Work for Hire Online
Lecturer
• Is a freelance instructor for one course or
a range of course. May work on just one
campus or on a range of campuses
around the world. While this will be
highly popular and rejuvenate careers,
institutional policies are yet to be sorted
out.
Track 7: High School Teacher
• As universities begin to offer secondary
degrees, some college faculty with online
teaching experience and teaching degrees
will find positions in those classes. Some
may view such positions as being
demoted to the minor leagues.
Track 8: Unemployed
• If one does not find a niche in one
or more of the above tracks or
roles, he or she will likely be
unemployed or highly unsuccessful.
Student Differences in 2020
• Live Longer
• More Educated
– Multiple Degrees
– Accustomed to Multiple Learning Formats
– Design own programs and courses
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Specialists AND Generalists
Courses/Degrees for unknown occupations
Expect to Take Courses Where Live
Cyber-students (various digital aids attached to appendages)
Possible Scenarios in Year 2020
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Virtual U’s and Traditional U’s Coexist
Traditional Univ’s buy stake in Virtual U’s
Traditional Univ’s form Consortia
Some Trad U’s Move Ahead, Some Don’t
Other Technology arise well beyond Web
Large Virtual U’s Buy Competing
Traditional U’s and shut them down
What Uses for Old Institutions of Higher
Learning???
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Museums
Historical Monuments
Bomb Shelters
Resorts and Apartment Complexes
Nostalgic Retirement Homes
Green Space
Prisons
Some Final Advice…
Or Maybe Some Questions???