Short post, open thinking.
It’s always good to hear Neil Mosley speak and even better when as an audience member, he asks the questions that need to be asked! At an event today hosted by Boundless Learning, Mosley explored three aspects of what makes for successful online education: strategy, marketing and student insights and development. This, along with some insightful contributions from the delegation, got me thinking about the interplay between strategy, student insights and course design.
Strategy needs to flex
Just briefly on strategy, in trying to find a common definition Mosley succinctly described strategy as ‘a well thought through set of choices that can be articulated’ (words to that effect). I think the key is articulation, and in particular to inform, influence and align internal stakeholders as much as external partners. Mosley’s experience working with many institutions leads to the observation that in higher education there is risk aversion, with decisions being dependent on seeking examples of where another institution has done something well first. There can be a blocker to strategic thinking that radically challenges the status quo, with a need to pose strategies that will be successful. I commented on this that we have to explore ways to shift the receptiveness in favour of strategies that may (rather than ‘will’) be successful, to acknowledge that in order to succeed requires innovation, new ways of thinking about and doing online and higher education, and a responsiveness to a market that is perpetually changing.
Online learning: the next generation
In discussion (and I apologise for not recording the name of the originator of this proposition), the point was made that we (learning designers) adopt an approach to online education based on what we know, the established pedagogy of online, and research into online education. However, there is potential incongruity between the teaching and learning approaches established within online programmes, and the preferred modalities, size, shape and form of interaction of our students. For example, if we think about the lived experiences of students whether they are working and studying alongside career, our efforts to design for community online may be a distraction or not generate engagement where students already have established workplace communities offline. As the next generation of learners comes through from schooling, they will be very familiar with digital learning approaches at primary and secondary level, perhaps used to self-assessing knowledge, adaptive courses, likely content oriented and YouTube or TikTok video learning. The online pedagogy of readings and discussion forums, no matter how creative the specific activity is, will be unlikely to engage or meet expectations.
As Mosley said, how open are we really to responding to student insights that conflict with the orthodoxy of online education?
As institutions start to expand their educational portfolios and accommodate a broader range of students and learning needs, flex in both strategy and designed online educational experience may be the real determinants of success.
Short post, open thinking are posts of ill-formed ideas and notes that I’ve not expanded into articles. They are shared here in case they stimulate comment or ideas elsewhere.
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