Source: Jane Hart on How To Make E-Learning Work

As I was reflecting on my 12 hour development sprint for my newly created online course, the glow of creation was fading and the reality of videos too quickly recorded settling in, Jane Hart’s slide presentation hit me between the eyes.

In truth, reflecting on that slide above, online courses DO take a long time to develop. Worse, they are never done. I sense that we’ll be tweaking our online courses forever, adapting them based on past feedback for the future. It seems contradictory to modify what you’ll do in a future course based on feedback on the past, yet what other approach is there?

While Jane may not have intended this interpretation, I was inspired by her point about focusing more on the informal. This thought resonated because today, I met with a district leader planning a conference for 5,000 teachers. While I recognize the need for organizing a conference, I also have a healthy appreciation for NOT planning and exerting micro-control over everything that happens. Simply, teachers should be allowed to choose what workshops they go to, should be able to congregate to connect and collaborate. Yet, that kind of approach requires a relinquishing of the expectation things be done exactly as planned by conference organizers.

Freedom to be informal does have to be a part of online learning. You can’t plan everything…instead, you scaffold and provide a learning space that enables others to be eLearners. This is exemplified by the words that appear at the bottom of this next slide in Jane’s presentation:

To “Help people to help themselves i.e. self-organize” has to be the goal of my online learning courses.

Thanks, Jane!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure