Online Learning or Learning Online: What's the Difference?

Will Richard’s February 16, 2011 Blog “Online Learning Isn’t Learning Online” (http://weblogg-ed.com/) struck so many chords with me that I had to respond as if I were in a debate.  For clarity, I’ve highlighted specific statements from his text, and then posted my viewpoint underneath. 

WR:  “Sure, taking a course online may offer more individuation and student choice in how to manage the process, but at the end of the day, I wonder what those online students have learned more or better than the ones who took the course in a classroom.”

KC: Why do they have to learn more?   Why do they have to learn better?  Isn’t it enough that they meet the same learning outcomes as face-to-face classroom students do?  I see no justification for thinking that they learned any less.  In addition, I think students in an online course can develop skills that students in a traditional classroom do not.  One of the most important is the building of self discipline.  The very flexibility of some online, asynchronous courses means that students must approach learning as a job.  They must make active decisions about time management or they will not be successful.  This is an employable skill that is rarely measured in student learning outcomes.

WR:  “And it’s about, as I mentioned yesterday, a growing business interest that sees an opportunity to make inroads into education as ‘approved providers.’”

KC: And exactly what is wrong with this?  You could apply this same statement to the textbook industry, who are also “approved providers.”  The profit motive drives this capitalist country, and while it might be utopian to have education be free of economic interests, the ideal does not meet reality.  Reality is that if we want educated children who will grow into educated adults and lifelong learners, we have to pay for that dream every step of the way.  If there are business interests to whom we can contract part of the job, then why should we not do so?  Online learning does not replace the instructor; it simply requires a different kind of interaction.

WR:  “As I asked in a comment on the post, do students practice inquiry in these settings? Are they able to ask their own questions? Are they assessed any differently? Do they create any new knowledge in the process and, if so, is that knowledge shared anywhere? Does their experience in the course replicate real life in any new way? Does it teach them how to learn on their own? To go deep?”

KC: And why would they not be able to practice inquiry in these settings?  Why would they not be able to ask their own questions?  What does “assessed any differently" mean?  Why would the standards be any different in an online class?  Whether or not they create any new knowledge is a matter of how the course is designed, but it is certainly probable that they could.  And that knowledge, in an online course, is generally shared via discussion boards and collaborative projects.  One of the great advantages of the online environment is that it is easier to share information and ideas. 

WR:  “ We have goals and outcomes for our participants, but we don’t say to them “here is the path, work ahead if you like, and your grades will be posted online.” We let them find their own way, supporting and prodding as needed, trying to keep them moving in the general direction of shift. With any luck, they experience the change in their own way, on their own terms.”

KC: Letting students find their own path and trying to keep them moving in the general direction of shift is all very well for students who are not involved in a compulsory education or even higher education setting.  Unfortunately, since taxpayers are paying for the education, they want to know if they are getting their money’s worth, and that means that students have to be able to pass certain tests by certain physical maturation dates.  That means also that teachers are supposed to be getting certain concepts across, regardless of whether the student is interested in learning them.  The dispute belongs, not to the online learning process, but on the nature of our educational system.  We’ve never been able to balance the idea of tax supported, mass education with the ideal goals of self directed, self motivated learning. 

WR: “ …let’s make sure they take advantage of the online piece to let participants develop the connections that will sustain them far beyond the class.

KC:  Where is the evidence that this is not happening?  What connections are being referred to here, and why do they appear to be missing?  In the online classes I’ve taken, there have been a number of different approaches.  One used nothing but a voluminous textbook that stepped us through the methods of mastering certain skills.  The instructor’s contribution was to help each student individually if he or she got lost.  It was an excellent course and I use those skills frequently and refer back to the textbook every now and then.  In another fully online course, each student was assigned two research papers each week.  Each student was required to comment on the other student’s papers in a constructive way.  I made connections all right– all over the country, since this was an asynchronous university class.  Oh, you mean connections between bits of knowledge?  That certainly happened also, because writing reflective papers requires that I not only see the knowledge but also use it.  Whether or not students make learning connections is a function of the way the class is structured, not a fault of the online learning context itself.

Online learning is not merely a different way to deliver content. It is a different way to learn.  We live in a global village where being able to work collaboratively online is a vital business skill.  I’m not sure what Richardson means by the difference between “Learning Online” and “Online Learning”.  Perhaps this concept is covered in an earlier blog.   At any rate, it is certainly possible to deliver a class that depends on rote memorization either online or in the classroom.  Conversely, it is equally possible to create a class that requires students to actively engage in deep learning both in a traditional classroom or online.  As with anything else in life, it is possible for the attempt in either context to fall short of the ideal, but that doesn’t make the medium the villain.