e-Learning: What's Next?
Ray Schroeder
UPCEA Sr. Fellow ~ UIS AVC for Online
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First: A word about presentation format. For the past dozen years, we have been "power-point-less" at the UIS Center for Online Learning, Research and Service. Rather than using a static, aging format, we prefer to create Web pages for our presentations to assure that they are easily accessible, updatable, and always available. Please follow along on your own device (or visit at a later date) to delve more deeply into the links and videos that interest you.
First: A word about presentation format. For the past dozen years, we have been "power-point-less" at the UIS Center for Online Learning, Research and Service. Rather than using a static, aging format, we prefer to create Web pages for our presentations to assure that they are easily accessible, updatable, and always available. Please follow along on your own device (or visit at a later date) to delve more deeply into the links and videos that interest you.
Brief Synopsis
Brief Synopsis
To understand the future, we must take at least a brief look at the past. e-Learning was established in the early days of the Web - the mid-1990s. It had its foundation in computer assisted instruction through such systems as the PLATO that was founded at the University of Illinois in the mid-1960s. Over time, e-learning grew into the robust learning systems of today. In 2005, the Katrina Hurricane that closed more than 20 universities along the US gulf coast prompted a major effort by 120 other universities to teach the displaced students online. In the intervening years, pedagogies have refined, learning management systems have improved and the percentage of students studying online has signficantly grown.
Currently, the COVID-19 virus pandemic has cast thousands of colleges and millions of classes online. This experience is, for many, the first deep exposure to e-learning. In the coming year or two we will begin to incorporate gamification to create more reward-driven learning experiences. Virtual, augmented and mixed realities will become more prevalent to add more real world exposure to our lessons.
In the future e-learning will become even more learner-centered and much "smarter" through AI ultimately driven by quantum computing in ways we had not imagined even five years ago.
We will examine how these pedagogies, practices, and technologies will carry us forward into the future of e-learning.
Historical Foundations of e-Learning
Historical Foundations of e-Learning
Plato: the first computer distributed learning system
Plato: the first computer distributed learning system
Developed in the early 1960s, the PLATO system was a joint project of the University of Illinois and Control Data Corporation. More than half a century ago, the system linked thousands of computer terminals on continents worldwide to distribute instruction in interactive modes. The system was the prototype for many online utilities of today:
- personal notes => email
- term/talk => texing
- talkomatic => group chat (text)
- notesfiles => discussion boards
PLATO linked terminals to mainframe computers located around the world. The mainframes were interconnected by high-speed lines. The terminals were connected via modems on phone lines. These early experiments set the foundation for many of the key tools in e-learning.
Meantime, the ARPANET was built and refined through the 1970s. It created a backbone through which a variety of services were inter-connected. Using somewhat arcane Unix commands, users were able to connect to, and upload/download, information on the network.
https://theconversation.com/how-the-internet-was-born-from-the-arpanet-to-the-internet-68072
The ARPANET became the Internet. A key development was the release of Mosaic, the very first graphical browser. Authored in 1992 by Marc Andreesen, a student in computer science at the University of Illinois and partime worker at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications on the Urbana, Illinois campus, Mosaic supported easy navigation without the use of computer commands.
Shortly after the launch of Mosaic, universities began experimenting with Web based learning frameworks. Netscape browser followed Mosaic and began to expand desktop use of the Interent.
It became clear early on that a framework was needed to assure the various components of e-learning in one spot where the virtual classroom was housed for distant students and instructors. Two of the early systems were WebCT and Blackboard.
https://www.listedtech.com/blog/learning-management-system-canada
Present-day e-Learning is LMS-Centric
Present-day e-Learning is LMS-Centric
Three of the leading Learning Management Systems (LMS) today are:
Canvas https://www.instructure.com/canvas/
Blackboard https://www.blackboard.com/teaching-learning/learning-management
DTL Brightspace https://www.d2l.com/products/
Future of the LMS
Future of the LMS
https://blog.matrixlms.com/the-lms-of-the-future-two-predictions/
LMSs will be even more learner-centered
The learner empowerment wave that I mentioned has already gained momentum. There’s a lot of buzz about how LMSs should better respond to learners’ needs, and I’m sure this is far from ending. Learning platforms must all be tailored to the needs of learners and provide individualized instruction.
LMSs will use even smarter technologies (AI)
Technology advancements today happen at such a rapid pace that a lot of organizations have a hard time keeping up. From the moment a management team decides to adopt a new software to improve productivity to the actual implementation, the developers of the said software release a new version of it, for an even more improved productivity. -- Livia B. Matrix Blog
Pedagogical and Andragogical Principles (plus one more "gogy")
Pedagogical and Andragogical Principles (plus one more "gogy")
Pedagogical (practices for teaching youth) and andragogical (practices for teaching adults) online emerged in the early 2000s. Essential practices in e-learning emphasize understanding the student (maturity, prior learning, preferences), clear learning structures and pathways; well-thought-out learning objectives; engaging the learner; authentic assessments based on real-life experiences; mapping learning activities and assessments; and appropriate use of technology
Prompted by the current COVID19 crisis, Harvard University most recently published a brief approach to teaching online: https://teachremotely.harvard.edu/best-practices
Another resource, this one from Canada, summarizes approaches: https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/how-teach-online-student-success/new-pedagogy-emerging-and-online-learning-key-contributing-factor
Heutagogy
Heutagogy
A new "gogy!" Out of the advent of the Internet and lifelong learning for adults has emerged a new approach to online learning for mature, self-motivated learners - Heutagogy. This is the practice of supporting the learning of individuals who are ready for self-directed learning. It is well explained here: https://www.schoology.com/blog/heutagogy-explained-self-determined-learning-education
Instructional Design and Quality
Instructional Design and Quality
Quality Matters is one of the leading tools that provides rubrics for review of e-learning class design and implementation of best practices within the LMS. https://www.qualitymatters.org/
Student-Centered Learning
Student-Centered Learning
Online learning, by its inception is designed to be student-centered, bringing the learning to the students rather than requiring students come to our campuses. Inherently, online learning is centered on the needs and preferences of the students. Many of the broad lessons learned are contained in this recent article:
Credit: LOVE YOU / Shutterstock.com © 2020
Covid-19 and Online Learning
Covid-19 and Online Learning
The worldwide impact of this pandemic will continue to play out over the next year or two. As the virus closed institutions in the spring of 2020, colleges and universities struggled to move the delivery of their curriculum online. This monumnetal effort will be studied for years to come as millions of classes were moved to remote-delivery in mid-semester.
Reactions from students and faculty members who were unfamiliar with online learning was mixed to negative.
Casual observers generalized negative reactions to mean that online was not as good as or as well-liked as on-campus.
But, that misses the point. These classes were transformed over seven days - imagine a university of 50,000 students, mostly on-campus, with 10,000 or more class sections. A staff of 25 was asked to converst those 10,000 classes, train faculty, and train students in 7 days. That is an impossible task.
So, this became a case of remote-teaching. It is described well in this EDUCAUSE article. The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
photo Credit: frankie's / Shutterstock.com © 2020
The remote-teaching experience will impact the future of higher education. There are tools and approaches that will become more important as we move forward. This experience has enabled both faculty and students to better understand areas in which e-learning can provide advantages.
Future trends and technologies for e-Learning
Future trends and technologies for e-Learning
e-Learning - and learning in general will be enhanced by the advent of more immersive approaches, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and ultimately quantum computing. The decade of the 2020's belongs to VR, AR, XR, AI and the last half of the decade to Quantum Computing. Here are some examples of how the changes will take place, and what we in store for us.
The gamification trend in online learning continues to drive learning to greater immersion in the learning process. Gamification enables scaffolding and rewards much like video games to reinforce learning. https://elearningindustry.com/6-killer-examples-gamification-in-elearning
One of the continuing challenges in e-learning has been how to best teach science online. Augmented and virtual reality allow the visualization and interaction with experiments and other science exercises
The interface to AR/VR previously had been relatively awkward and heavy headsets that obstructed all outside vision while disorienting the subject. Now, breakthroughs in technology have enable the VR contact lens!
Artificial Intelligence - the Future of e-Learning
Artificial Intelligence - the Future of e-Learning
Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Applications, Promise and Perils, and Ethical Questions - EDUCAUSE Review
What are the benefits and challenges of using artificial intelligence to promote student success, improve retention, streamline enrollment, and better manage resources in higher education? AI is affecting all aspects of higher education: administration, teaching, assessment, student performance and more.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning - Skymind
You can think of deep learning, machine learning and artificial intelligence as a set of Russian dolls nested within each other, beginning with the smallest and working out. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning, and machine learning is a subset of AI, which is an umbrella term for any computer program that does something smart. In other words, all machine learning is AI, but not all AI is machine learning, and so forth.
https://skymind.ai/wiki/ai-vs-machine-learning-vs-deep-learning
AI essay graders have been around for some years; they keep getting better and better.
EssayBot will write your student essays - perhaps not an "A" - but credible.
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/4/15/18311367/essaybot-ai-homework-passing
You are reading AI-written reports every day (many are written from AI-gathered research as well) - in Bloomberg (1/3 of all reports), Washington Post, Forbes, Guardian, Associated Press and many more.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/business/media/artificial-intelligence-journalism-robots.html
https://techhq.com/2019/09/writing-and-research-tools-the-future-of-the-newsroom/
The era of the AI student assistant is arriving in which the tools and abilities desribed above will be openly available to all of our students to conduct research papers and case study analyses:
"AI (or Alexa, or Google or ...) I have a research paper due at 3 pm this afternoon for my Epidemiology class. Below is the assignment: send me an electronic version and print out two hard copies by 2:30.
Professor Ashok Goel of Georgia Tech University is a pioneer in artificial intelligence. His leadership in developing deep learning programs is enabling us to imagine a future in which AI assistants will take an active role in teaching online.
No discussion of AI is complete without considering the impact of quantum computing
No discussion of AI is complete without considering the impact of quantum computing
Quantum Computing will enable advance AI in ways we have yet to full understand, however, we know it will allow incredibly massive datasets to be analyzed in the blink of an eye. It will bring breakthroughs in fields such as meteorology, medicine, and education where we can assemble massive-scale data that can be combed for causality, prediction, and previously unrecognized connections.
Quantum Computing Is Poised to Change Everything
Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed
It is truly rare that an advancement comes along that changes every aspect of society; quantum computing is poised to do just that in the 2020s. Do you recall Moore’s law? That’s the axiom developed by Gordon Moore some two dozen years ago that the processing power of computers would double every 18 months to two years. Now, quantum computing has ushered in Hartmut Neven’s law. His law predicting growth in quantum computing power is one that is doubly exponential. That is two to an exponent of two to a second increasing exponent. Charted on a graph, that growth rate appears to become nearly vertical.
Quantum Computing is on the Verge of Supercharging AI
The advent of quantum computing will fuel a "quantum" leap in artificial intelligence. The Google 54 qubit computer just claimed computing supremacy over the previous fastest computer in the world, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge. "Purportedly, Google’s Sycamore quantum processor, using 54-qubits, performed calculations in 200 seconds that would have taken today’s supercomputers over 10,000 years to complete. The power and potential of such an achievement are awe-inspiring, even if there are no obvious practical applications today." Note: IBM disputes the claim . IBM has their own 53 qubit computer.
Additional Readings
https://gizmodo.com/google-confirms-achieving-quantum-supremacy-1839288099
https://www.verdict.co.uk/quantum-computing-2019/
https://www.quantamagazine.org/john-preskill-explains-quantum-supremacy-20191002/
https://enterprisetalk.com/quick-bytes/googles-breakthrough-quantum-computing/
Advances at Johns Hopkins include identifying new superconductor material for qubits
https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/quantum-computing-john-hopkins
Einstein called it "Spooky": Quantum Entanglement
It affords connected actions at speeds exceeding the speed of light by means we do not yet fully understand. It opens the door to a whole new level of privacy and connectivity. Quantum entanglement is thought to be one of the trickiest concepts in science, but the core issues are simple. And once understood, entanglement opens up a richer understanding of concepts such as the “many worlds” of quantum theory.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/entanglement-made-simple-20160428/
https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/what-is-quantum-entanglement
Saraj Raval pulls it all together:
Saraj Raval pulls it all together:
Did you "get" the shoe/hotdog and "my mom is from Kenya" references in the first 40 seconds! If so, congratulations, you pass the Quantum Test!!!
Did you "get" the shoe/hotdog and "my mom is from Kenya" references in the first 40 seconds! If so, congratulations, you pass the Quantum Test!!!
How can you keep up with the daily developments and trends?
How can you keep up with the daily developments and trends?
Ray's Daily Curated Reading Lists and Social Media. Blogs with daily updates on the field of online / continuing learning in higher education
- UPCEA Professional, Continuing and Online Education Update http://continuingedupdate.blogspot.com/
- Recession Reality in Higher Education http://recessionreality.blogspot.com/
- UIS OER Blog https://uisoerblog.blogspot.com/
- Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayschroeder
- https://twitter.com/rayschroeder
Contact Ray
Contact Ray
rschr1@uis.edu ~ rayschroeder@gmail.com - ray@upcea.edu
Associate Vice Chancellor for Online, Professor Emeritus
University of Illinois Springfield
Senior Fellow, University Professional and Continuing Education Assn.
217-206-7531
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