Do you speak my language: E is for eLearning, Email, Encryption, eLifelong, ePedagogy, eSignature

Do you speak my language: E is for eLearning, Email, Encryption, eLifelong, ePedagogy, eSignature.

Of the six (I must be missing something important here. If you can think of a better E please add it to the comments.) I would go with eLearning. No email. No eLearning...

eLearning - what is it?

Now, this is a shocking admission to make on a blog about the Bioscience eLearning, but I don't actually know what the term eLearning means. I am not even a great fan of the term eLearning.

One thing I do know, if you put 10 lecturers/teachers/trainers/educators in a room and asked them for a definition of eLearning you would get at least 20 definitions. I looked up eLearning in my dictionary and it wasn't there.

If you search the Internet with the term eLearning you get a ton of hits, so it must exist. You will find an eLearning Network and an eLearning Centre, and wikipedia has a pretty good definition. One of the national newspapers in the UK, the Guardian, has an eLearning section, although it does seem to have gone a bit quiet. Even the UK government has an eLearning section on their website.

To me eLearning (and eLearning is something I have been using since I started teaching (but it wasn't called that then so I didn't know I was doing it)) is the use of any electronic device that aids the teachings and learning process. I do think, though, that there are some important things to keep in mind when developing or using eLearning tools. First, the tool should not get in the way of the learning process. The tool should be transparent to the users (both educator and student) and there should be a need (just because it is an 'e' doesn't mean it is a better tool than the old method of learning). Second, the tool, whatever it is, should not be 'all flash and no substance', and by that I mean that the tool should deliver and shouldn't be used just because it is viewed as the latest and greatest bit of kit or idea.

I guess what I am trying to say is, when you are talking to a colleague, or your local IT guys, be careful as you all may have slightly different ideas as to what eLearning actually is.

The other Es in the list:

Email: We all know what email is? Yep, electronic mail. However, it is, in my opinion, a tool that is greatly misunderstood, and generally fairly poorly used. What is interesting is if you Google the phrase "I only use email to communicate with old people" you will find that numerous hits that have been predicting the demise of email since around 2005.

Initially it was thought that instant messaging was going to be the email killer (Teens: E-mail is for old people), but now it is 'rumoured' that a combination of instant messaging, text messages (SMS), Twitter and Facebook will strike the final fatal blow (see E-Mail Gets an Instant Makeover). Personally I can't see it. Yes, I predicted the launch of an "email killer" in my 10 eLearning Predictions for 2011 (now with an extra 10% for free) blog post, but that was more wishful thinking thinking than anything else. (Thinking brought on by too much spam in my email inBox.)

Two major problems with email (well actually if you think about it it is the same problem) are authentication (did that person really send that email?) and spam.

Encryption: Something that is sadly very rarely thought about, and seldom acted on. This kind of ties in with eSignature (see below). This is something that should increase in importance in the "eLearning" sphere as more and more students deliver material online, and more teachers communicate with their students through electronic means. How do you really know the person online is the teacher they say they are? How do you know I wrote this blog post and it wasn't someone else? How do you know that piece of work is really from one of your students?

If the communication channel is correctly encrypted then this does add a layer of confidence to the identity of the person that sent the message. It is not fool-proof, but it helps.

eSignature (also called digital signatures): This ties in with encryption and email. How do you know that an email really came from that person? How do you know that a piece of work was really produced by a student and has not been tampered with? This is where encryption and digital signatures come in.

By the use of encryption and a digital signature it should be possible (in most cases) to ensure that a file/email has not been tampered with and is in fact from the person who sent it.

(I always get an interesting and worried response from colleagues when I first send out a mass email to students and it goes out under their name and not mine. I am not a spammer, and what I am doing is part of my job, but people just seem surprised that such a thing is possible.)

eScience: This is a word I don't like. Why is there this need to stick an 'e' in front of things? I take eScience to mean science that uses a computer! Personally I don't think anyone really knows what eScience means (a bit like eLearning).

eLifelong: Another e... I tripped over this delight the other day. I take it to mean 'equipping a student with the necessary skills so they can use online resources throughout their life'. (I guess the idea is it is supposed be a bit like 'lifelong learning skills' - another concept I have problems with as I can't work out how it can be measured. Do we have to follow students to their deathbed to see if they were in fact using such skills and doing lifelong learning?)

ePedagogy: Aggghhhh... Spare me. I am not a great fan of the word 'pedagogy' at the best of times. (If you don't know what the word means then you are lucky (and that luck is about to run out)).

Pedagogy means "the method and practice of teaching". The word is derived from a Greek word for a slave that takes the children to school (I often think that is an interesting insight into the person who first used the word pedagogy for teaching and their views on teaching practice). Interestingly my dictionary defines pedagogue as "noun - a teacher, esp. a strict or pedantic one". Got to like my dictionary! Sorry, back to ePedagogy - I can only assume that this means teaching by electronic means, that is, the method and practice of eTeaching (oh, no, I may have just 'invented' an 'e' word.... nope, I Googled it and it already exists).

Protein: 2ZOQ

2 Comments