Exploring landscapes of distance learning
A major focus for the Greenwich Connect team here at the University of Greenwich is to explore and identify best practices in online distance learning, and to encourage and support innovation in this field within the University community.
This post is the first in a series of articles that will examine different aspects of the distance learning landscape, both nationally and globally. We’ll be sharing ideas, examples and observations about what really works when it comes to designing and delivering effective distance learning online, with a particular emphasis on facilitating the collaborative co-construction of knowledge among learners who may be physically situated anywhere, from down the road here in Greenwich to the most remote parts of the world.
This is an exciting time for distance learning. There are major developments afoot in the sphere of online teaching and learning innovation, in no small measure thanks to the rise of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and the attention they have generated around issues of effective pedagogy in technology-enhanced education.
But although MOOCs are becoming rich sources of data with valuable insights to offer, they represent a very specific type of online distance learning model — one which, as we will see, is not always appropriate or effortlessly successful when it comes to creating high-quality and rewarding learning experiences.
So what do MOOCs have to teach us about online distance learning? We begin here by reminding ourselves what really matters, what our main goals should be in designing distance learning innovations. We then look at some of the first evaluation reports to have been published by some early MOOC providers, and discuss the lessons learned.
Distance learning is nothing new
Amidst all the buzz around the latest online learning platforms and digital networked technologies, it is useful to remind ourselves that distance learning has been going on quite successfully for a long time. We could probably trace the origins of remote correspondence-based education back to the introduction of the London Penny Post in 1680, which for the first time made it possible to send written communications anywhere in the U.K. for a standardised fee. With this ancestral ‘networked technology’ in place, it was not long before early forms of the traditional correspondence course started to flourish, and people who lived far from established centres of formal education could access unprecedented learning opportunities.
An old English letter box – how distance learning began. (Photo: David Wright)
By the mid-1980s, open access institutions of higher education based almost entirely on distance learning, such as the Open Universities in the U.K. and The Netherlands, the University of South Africa (UNISA), and Athabasca University in Canada, made access to learning logistically accessible for a global community of remote learners.
Access and engagement
Today’s networked technologies have had a transformational impact on the way that we communicate and share information. But the emergence of powerful digital tools, and the new strategic possibilities that they offer, have not altered the fundamental goals of distance learning: to open up access to quality education beyond the logistical limitations of timing and geography; and to nurture learner engagement with meaningful and effective learning experiences.
Engaging learners, in particular, has been a key concern for educators grappling with the exciting new possibilities and inherent pedagogical challenges presented by web-based technologies in the sphere of distance learning. These interests have reached almost fever pitch over the Massive Open Online Course phenomenon that has captured the attention of educators and media headlines alike over the last couple of years. MOOCs have brought elements of the open educational resources (OER) movement into the arena of distance learning, and in the process raised the profile of online education among learners, academics, and the public at large.
Despite their currently fashionable status, however, we should be cautious about allowing MOOCs to come to define online distance education. Technology-enhanced distance learning has been developed and delivered in other formats for many years, and non-MOOC web-based courses continue to form a key component of the teaching and learning strategies of major higher education institutions. These include the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which have been hesitant to jump on the MOOC bandwagon, but which nevertheless have well-established and thriving fee-charging online learning programmes.
Indeed, as a mode of learning, some types of MOOC (and there are several) appear to have some significant limitations in certain learning contexts, and for certain kinds of learner. In their Innovating Pedagogy 2013 review, for example, the Open University (2013) points to the inability of some so-called ‘xMOOCS’ (the format typically offered by the major providers like Coursera, edX and FutureLearn) to adequately address the needs of learners who struggle to work independently, or who require extra learning support.
Such limitations are partly a symptom of the content-driven transmission mode of teaching around which many xMOOC offerings are structured. The pedagogy of these courses is often subservient to the goal of automating delivery to large numbers of dispersed, remote learners. This is typically achieved at the expense of individualised attention and direct communication between teachers and students, a sacrifice that does nothing to promote learner retention or completion.
What can we learn from MOOCs?
While it would be premature (and certainly provocative) to hail MOOCs as the ultimate solution for distance learning, the high level of interest and investment in online pedagogy they have generated and the unprecedented amount of information they have produced will eventually be of value to developers of all kinds of online courses. Our understanding of what MOOCs actually are, and how to get the best from them, will deepen as more courses are analysed and evaluated, and research continues.
Most of the data gathered so far has been quantitative, and this includes massive amounts of learning analytics captured by the software platforms through which the courses are administered and delivered. But increasingly, education researchers are starting to embrace the qualitative aspects of the MOOC learner experience (for example, see the Oxford Internet Institute clip below). A wider variety of information is currently being gathered that promises to contribute meaningfully to the field of distance learning.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KlV68THrt8?rel=0]
The University of London International Programmes, for example, is one of the oldest providers of degrees by distance learning, and was one of the first universities in the U.K. to run a collection of MOOCs on the Coursera platform. In a recently-published evaluation of its first four MOOCs (Grainger, 2013), the university shared some discoveries and insights about course production, management and learner satisfaction.
The learning design and pedagogical choices employed by International Programmes were, as with most so-called ‘xMOOCS’, largely restricted by the affordances of the chosen platform. The format was based around lecture videos, automated quizzes or peer assessment, and discussion forums. Learning analytics show that most active participants (79%) watched at least some of the videos, and a significantly smaller group (20%) attempted some of the assessment activities. But the discussion forums, which were intended to function as a core space for communication, collaboration and engagement, were only used by 5% of active participants – a figure which suggests that most learners ended up simply absorbing and recalling course content.
The reasons for this limited level of engagement may simply reflect learner preferences and choices, or it could indicate that course facilitators need to develop more effective strategies for encouraging forum participation. It might be useful, for example, to adapt some of the principles outlined in Gilly Salmon’s (2011) Five Stage Model for use in massive courses.
Salmon, G. (2011) E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online (Third Edition). London: Routledge.
In the video clip below you can listen to Gilly Salmon talk to Robert McGuire about the design and pedagogy of MOOCs, and how learner communication and collaboration might be enhanced by carefully planning and moderating asynchronous dialogue and learning activities.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uscz29R1bpY?rel=0]
One of the four International Programmes MOOCs (a course called English Common Law) benefited from having a dedicated learning technologist on the development team, and it successfully incorporated various social media platforms within its teaching and learning strategy. This approach seems to have enhanced learner interaction and integration, and improved retention to achieve a completion rate of 18%, the highest of the four MOOCs.
This outcome would seem to support Tinto’s (2006-2007) argument that integration and engagement with the institution has a major influence on the number of students who drop out of their studies.
The other three International Programmes courses might be described, without undue cynicism, as content-based recruitment campaigns for the university’s undergraduate degree programmes. As promotional tools they were ultimately misdirected, as data shows that the majority of MOOC participants were mid-career degree-holding professionals who were, presumably, expecting to engage with a meaningful learning experience rather than a marketing presentation.
The challenge ahead
The insights that have emerged so far from the first few waves of MOOCs demonstrate the importance of facilitating, encouraging and moderating meaningful interaction and collaboration as fundamental pedagogical elements in online distance courses. Embedding these elements, as well as relationship-building and networking, into the learner experience is a central theme of Greenwich University’s Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy.
These social and dialogical ingredients have long been promoted as essential to success by designers and practitioners of online distance learning. Diana Laurillard, for example, developed her influential Conversational Framework as a model for incorporating iterative and reflective dialogue into technology-enhanced learning design.
The MOOC feedback also reminds us how critical it is to understand learner needs and expectations, and to design distance learning content, activities and student support strategies accordingly (Simpson, 2012). Supporting individual learners, including both their academic and non-academic needs, is always going to be challenging on courses with very large numbers of participants.
Simpson, O. (2012) Supporting Students for Success in Online and Distance Education. London: Routledge.
MOOCs have put pedagogy — methods of facilitating rich, effective teaching and learning experiences — high on the agenda of HE academics with unprecedented focus and urgency. This must be good news. Our responsibility now is to reflect carefully upon the insights they offer, and to implement our growing knowledge to develop innovative approaches to online learning beyond pre-packaged transmission-based formulae.
Our goal must be to explore effective and engaging ways to facilitate collaborative knowledge construction among physically dispersed communities of learners, putting the student at the centre of our learning designs from the earliest stages of development. This approach will be critical to the future success of both massive and niche online distance learning initiatives, and it will be a hallmark of learning innovation at Greenwich University.
In the next article in this series, we will start to explore ways in which these kinds of engaging collaborative learning activities can be integrated into curriculum design for online distance learning.
If you would like to share your own experiences with distance learning design and delivery, or would like to learn more about it, please get in touch with a Greenwich Connect learning technologist.
Meanwhile, this flyer may help to inspire you in your approach to distance learning within the University.
Distance Learning Flyer (PDF)