Keynote address on 10/24/2013 at #MidSouthDLC at University of Memphis

1. e-Learning Alphabet
E-Learning Atheists
E-Learning Zealots

2. Barry Dahl
Senior Community Manager
Barry.Dahl@Desire2Learn.com
@barrydahl
@D2Lbarry
community.desire2learn.com

3. Barry Dahl dot com

5. The e-Learning Battle
E-Learning Atheists
• These are the
naysayers.
• They are the nonbelievers when it
comes to online
learning.
• In fact, they’re pretty
sure that it’s the
DEVIL.
5

6. Sample Atheist Comment
Online education is fake-education.
It is not "real".
Convenient? Yes.
Profitable? Yes.
Popular with students who mostly just
want a "degree"? Yes.
And it is garbage in the end.
Source: http://chronicle.com/article/How-Big-Can-E-Learning-Get-At/128809/
6

7. e-Atheists Viewpoints
1. Online students are missing the “true”
college experience.
2. Online students are lonely.
3. Online students can’t possibly learn as
much.
4. Online students are being ripped off.

9. The e-Learning Battle
• The Zealots are those
that tout the benefits
of online learning
without having any
evidence to back it up.
• Zealots begin many of
their sentences with
“one time there was
this one student …”
E-Learning Zealots
9

10. Sample Zealot Comment
• And here we are, in 2011, fer
cryin‘aloud, with dodgy naysayers STILL
kicking and screaming and throwing fits in
regards (sic) to online teaching and learning.
Get over it, already – the days of having
students seated around your flowing toga in
utter awe of your knowledge and acumen are
LONG GONE. Welcome to the present.
Source: http://chronicle.com/article/How-Big-Can-E-Learning-Get-At/128809/
10

12. Badges

14. Can’t
• You can’t do
THAT online!
• Get a haircut
• Train your dog
• Deposit cash

15. Can’t
Some things just
cannot be taught
online

16. Public Speaking
You can’t effectively teach
Physical Education
Interpersonal
STEM Courses
Communication online.
Developmental Ed

17. “On-Ground?”
Maybe some things
shouldn’t be taught
in the classroom

19. Data

20. You’ve waited 10
“On-Ground?”
years for this…
Are you ready??

22. Edutainment

23. Most Faculty Agree…
Entertaining Students is
NOT my Job

24. Few Faculty Agree…
Engaging Students is
NOT my Job

25. Not this kind of entertainment

27. Who said this?
“Anyone who tries to make a
distinction between
education & entertainment
doesn't know the first thing
about either.”

28. Marshall McLuhan

30. Online learning is
Anyone
Anytime
Anywhere

31. Online learning is
Anyone

32. My Anyone
Does NOT
include my
group mates
on diff scheds

33. Online learning is
Anyone
Anytime

34. My Anytime
Does NOT
include MonWed nights
or weekends
My Anyone
Does NOT
include my
group mates
on diff scheds

35. Online learning is
Anyone
Anytime
Anywhere

36. My Anytime
Does NOT
include MonWed nights
or weekends
My Anyone
Does NOT
include my
group mates
on diff scheds
My Anywhere
Does NOT
include places
without
free wi-fi

37. Online learning is
Anyone
Anytime
Anywhere

38. My Anytime
Does NOT
include MonWed nights
or weekends
My Anyone
Does NOT
include my
group mates
on diff scheds
My Anywhere
Does NOT
include places
without
free wi-fi
My Anyone,
Anytime,
Anywhere
Is different
from theirs!

39. Conventional Wisdom
• eLearning enables
anyone, anytime, anywhere
learning.

40. Unconventional Wisdom
• No, it doesn’t. You do that!

41. Flexibility

42. Flexibility
• #1 Reason why student take
online courses
• Not distance, not cost, not
preferred learning modality
TIME FLEXIBILITY

44. Generations
Take a moment to think
about all the things you’ve
heard and read about
Digital Natives, Gen X, the
Millennials, etc.

45. Generations

47. Handheld Devices

48. Wearable Devices

50. Is this Innovation or Insanity?
Culture, Gender, and Identity – taught with World of Warcraft
CC Flickr photo by
glenn.batuyong

51. Is this Innovation or Insanity?
History of Rock-n-Roll Music course – taught with Guitar Hero
CC Flickr photo
By 5th Ape

52. Innovation
Who said this?

54. Jargon

57. The Khan Academy
Is NOT the
problem

58. The Khan Academy
Is NOT the
solution

59. The Khan Academy
Just move on

61. Learning Styles
With technology, we can
better match content with
students’ learning styles

62. Learning Styles
• Hello Professor …
• As we start this new semester, I just
want you to know that I have
determined that my learning style
is, ummmh…
Aquatic!

64. Learning Styles
http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=2070611

66. What do these guys have in common?

67. What do these guys have in common?
Let’s get MOOC-y!

68. MOOC
Massive
Open
Online
Course

69. Day of the MOOC, by Michael Branson Smith

70. Are MOOCs
Disruptive?

71. Are These Things Disruptive?
• 7% Completion rate
(Coursera Software Engineering – 2/12)
• No interaction with faculty
• Impersonal feedback via auto-grading
• No technical support
• An acronym that means anything you want
it to
NOTE: these apply to xMOOCs

72. Is This Disruptive?
At Stanford, “I normally teach 400 students.”
In the MOOC, he “taught” 100,000 students.

73. Is This Disruptive?

74. Is This Disruptive?
• $134 per credit
–less than $7,000 total cost

75. MOOCs, hah!
What are they good for?
Absolutely...
something
cMOOCs
Professional Development
Lifelong Learning

77. Networked Learning
How many
people are in
this room?

78. Everybody Stand

79. Stay standing if you have an account at
each of the following.

82. Open

84. Postman
Now
this...

85. Neil Postman
• Public Discourse
in the Age of
Show Business
• Published 1985

86. Amusing Ourselves to Death
• Many of the
remarks he made
about television
can be made
today about
computers and
social networking

87. Graphics by Stuart McMillen

100. Graphics by Stuart McMillen
• All words from “Amusing
Ourselves to Death: Public
Discourse in the Age of Show
Business” by Neil Postman … a
book about the possibility that
Huxley, not Orwell, was right.

101. Atheists View of Postman
E-Learning Atheists
• Much like television
turning serious
discourse into
entertainment…
• Technology and
eLearning are turning
education into
nothing more than
entertainment…
101

102. Zealots View of Postman
• There’s no comparison
between Honey Boo Boo
on television and
eLearning in education…
• eLearning is not
trivializing education,
but expanding access
and opportunity
E-Learning Zealots
102

104. Quality
E-Learning Quality
=
Quality Matters
Right?

105. Quality
E-Learning
Quality
I’m so sick
of this, …

106. This is typically our goal
Learning Level
Is High
Learning Assessment
Teaching Level
Is High
Course Design
Meets Standards

108. Readiness
Free webinar
archive
Barrydahl.com

110. Success
In particular…
Student Success
in eLearning

111. Expectations of Success Rates?
On-ground Success
25%
75%
A,B,C
D,F,W

112. Expectations of Success Rates?
On-ground Success
Online Success
Equal?
25%
75%
A,B,C
D,F,W
25%
75%
A,B,C
D,F,W

113. Expectations of Success Rates?
On-ground Success
Online Success
WHY?
25%
75%
A,B,C
D,F,W
25%
75%
A,B,C
D,F,W

114. Why, indeed. For example…
• Do we expect that every math
instructor will have the same
success rates?

115. Why, indeed. For example…
• Do we expect that the
accounting program and the
art program will have the same
success rates?

116. Why, indeed. For example…
• Do we expect that the urban
community college and the
rural community college will
have the same success rates?

117. Demographics Differences?
Gender On-Campus
Gender Online
68%
50%
50%
Male
32%
Female
Male
Female

118. More Differences?
On-Campus Ages
Online Ages
49%
35%
65%
24 & ↓
51%
25 & ↑
24 & ↓
25 & ↑

119. First-time Learners?
• Each term, how
many students
are sitting in a F2F
(traditional)
classroom for the
very first time?
•
Est. < 1%

120. First-time Learners?
• Each term, how
• Each term, how
many online
many students
students are
are sitting in a F2F
“sitting” in an
(traditional)
online classroom
classroom for the
for the very first
very first time?
time?
•
Est. < 1%
•
Est. >= 40%

121. Instructors?
• Do we expect that the new
online instructors will have the
same success rates as
experienced online
instructors?

122. Typical “Learning Curve”
90%
Success Rates – New Online Instructors
80%
Instructor 1
Intsructor 2
Instructor 3
70%
60%
Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4 Term 5

123. Fair Comparison?
On-Ground
Success
Rates
=
Online
Success
Rates

124. Fair Comparison?
=

126. Twitter
Speaking of
Twitter …….

127. Twitter is
Stupid!!!

128. My Twitter Network
• Social Learning
• I learn more every
day from my
Twitter network
than I ever did in
(Blasphemy, I know)
school.

130. Un
Unfriend
Unfollow
Uncircle

131. Twitter makes me like people I’ve never met and Facebook
makes me hate people I know in real life. @shaylamaddox

133. Value Added
• How does the use of emerging
technologies add value?
• If we aren’t adding value, are we
simply trying to amuse ourselves?

135. Web
Accessibility

137. X

138. A-Z
Xena, Warrior Princess
A-Z
A-Z
T U V W X Y Z
A-Z

140. You Tube

141. The State of YouTube

143. The e-Learning Battle
E-Learning Zealots
143

144. Higher Ed Moves Slowly