eLearning - a thing that is never talked about….?

Last week I was looking around a number of universities and colleges in Malaysia. And what was interesting about these places was that they were willing to show me their facilities, their classrooms, their lab spaces, and their libraries, and yet no one talked to me about the eLeaning provision. Why?

Looking around these universities and colleges it was clear that the students were online, using social networks, and could be often found in small groups hunched over a computer. In fact, during some talks I gave it was clear that the students were looking me up on Facebook and Twitter as I was talking (my start slide always has my Facebook and Twitter links on it). So, the students are plugged-in, but what about the colleges? Why don't the colleges promote and talk about their eLearning? Are they ashamed of what they are offering? Do they offer anything?

To me it almost seems as though the colleges and universities think eLearning is a bolt-on, and something that they don't need to talk about. The relative that they keep locked away. However, as eLearning is becoming increasingly important, and students are demanding it, then why are the colleges and universities not discuss and promoting it? "Come to the University of X as we offer the ABC Learning Environment!"

Do you have any thoughts on this? Do you promote and talk about the eLeaning that you provide at your college or university? Please share your thoughts below….

Image: Wikimedia Commons

2 Comments

May 16, 2012 | 05:57 PM

Posted By: Nick Morris

Thanks for the comment and the link - an interesting read. I particularly like the idea that the character limit on Twitter encourages students to be succinct, and I agree that being on Twitter makes you read more widely (but that is all dependent on who you follow).

I have used Twitter in one of lectures for a couple of years now. The first year one student took part and posted to the live twitterfall, and this year I had around 20 students take part (~10% of the class).

May 16, 2012 | 03:07 PM

Posted By: Finn Toner

Some forward-thinking professors are starting to use things like Twitter to host seminars - like http://mariakontogianni.wordpress.com/

Unfortunately, for a significant number of academics, eLearning still seems to be a case of making lecture notes available on the university LMS.