Introduction
In many ways, it is difficult lớn discuss any aspect of contemporary society without considering the Internet. Many people’s lives are saturated so thoroughly with digital technology that the once obvious distinction between either being online or offline now fails to vày justice khổng lồ a situation where the mạng internet is implicitly always on. Indeed, it is often observed that younger generations are unable lớn talk about the Internet as a discrete entity. Instead, online practices have been part of young people’s lives since birth and, much like oxygen, water, or electricity, are assumed to lớn be a basic condition of modern life. As Donald Tapscott (2009, 20) put it, “to them, technology is like the air.” Thus, in many ways, talking about the Internet and education simply means talking about contemporary education. The mạng internet is already an integral element of education in (over)developed nations, & we can be certain that its worldwide educational significance will continue to increase throughout this decade.
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That said, the educational impact of the internet is not straightforward. At a rudimentary level, it is important to remember that well over half the world’s population has no direct experience of using the Internet at all. While this is likely khổng lồ change with the global expansion of di động telephony, the issue of unequal access lớn the most enabling & empowering forms of internet use remains a major concern. Moreover—as the continued dominance of traditional forms of classroom instruction and paper-and-pencil examinations suggest—the educational changes being experienced in the internet age are complex & often compromised. In addressing the topic of “the Internet and education” we therefore need to proceed with caution. As such, this chapter will consider the following questions:
What are the potential implications of the mạng internet for education and learning?What dominant forms of Internet-based education have emerged over the past 20 years?
How does the educational potential of the internet relate lớn the realities of its use?
Most importantly, how should we understand the potential gains and losses of what is being advanced?
The internet as an Educational Tool
For many commentators, the mạng internet has always been an inherently educational tool. Indeed, many people would argue that the main characteristics of the internet align closely with the chip core concerns of education. For instance, both the Internet and education are concerned with information exchange, communication, và the creation of knowledge.
The participatory, communal nature of many social internet applications and activities is aligned closely with the fundamental qualities of how humans learn, not least the practices of creating, sharing, collaborating, and critiquing.
Thus, in light of the Internet’s capacity to lớn allow these activities to take place on a vast & almost instantaneous scale, the educational implications of the mạng internet are understandably often described in grand terms. Take, for example, this recent pronouncement from Jeb Bush:
The internet isn’t just a powerful tool for communication. It’s arguably the most potent force for learning & innovation since the printing press. And it’s at the center of what is possibly America’s mightiest struggle and greatest opportunity: How khổng lồ reimagine education for a transformative era.
(Bush & Dawson 2013)
Beyond such hyperbole, the implications of the mạng internet for education and learning can be understood in at least four distinct ways. First, is the potential of the mạng internet to offer individual learners increased freedom from the physical limitations of the real world. This is often expressed in terms of reducing constraints of place, space, time, và geography, with individuals able to access high-quality learning opportunities and educational provision regardless of local circumstances. The internet is therefore portrayed as allowing education to take place on an any time, any place, any pace basis. Many commentators extend these freedoms into a transcendence of social and material disadvantage, with the mạng internet perceived as an inherently democratizing medium. The ability lớn support freer and fairereducational interactions & experiences is seen lớn reflect the Internet’s underpinning qualities as “a radically democratic zone of infinite connectivity” (Murphy 2012, 122).
Secondly, the mạng internet is seen to tư vấn a new culture of learning—i.e., learning that is based around bottom-up principles of collective exploration, play, & innovation rather than top-down individualized instruction (Thomas & Seely-Brown 2011). The mạng internet allows learning khổng lồ take place on a many-to-many rather than one-to-many basis, thereby supporting socio-constructivist modes of learning và cognitive development that are profoundly social và cultural in nature. Many educators would consider learners lớn benefit from the socially rich environments that the mạng internet can support (see Luckin 2010). For example, it is often argued that the mạng internet offers individuals enhanced access to lớn sources of knowledge and expertise that exist outside of their immediate environment. In this sense, there is now considerable interest in the ability of the internet to support powerful forms of situated learning and digitally dispersed communities of practice. The mạng internet is therefore seen as a powerful tool in supporting learning through authentic activities & interactions between people & extended social environments.
Thirdly, the capacity of the mạng internet to support a mass connectivity between people & information is felt khổng lồ have radically altered the relationship between individuals và knowledge. It is sometimes argued that the mạng internet supports forms of knowledge creation and knowledge consumption that differ greatly from the epistemological presumptions of formal schooling and mass instruction. The networked relationships that internet users have with online information have prompted wholesale reassessments of the nature of learning. Some educationalists are now beginning to advance ideas of fluid intelligence and connectivism—reflecting the belief that learning via the mạng internet is contingent on the ability to lớn access and use distributed information on a just-in-time basis. From this perspective, learning is understood as the ability lớn connect to lớn specialized information nodes & sources as and when required. Thus being knowledgeable relates lớn the ability lớn nurture and maintain these connections (see Chatti, Jarke, & Quix 2010). As George Siemens (2004) puts it, learning can therefore be conceived in terms of the “capacity to lớn know more” via the mạng internet rather than relating lớn the individual accumulation of prior knowledge in terms of “what is currently known.”
Fourthly, the internet is seen to lớn have dramatically personalized the ways in which people learn—thereby making education a far more individually determined process than was previously the case. The mạng internet is associated with an enhanced social autonomy và control, offering individuals increased choice over the nature và form of what they learn, as well as where, when, & how they learn it. Education is therefore a wholly controllable aspect of one’s personal life, with the internet facilitating a digital juggling of educational engagement alongside daily activities và other commitments (Subrahmanyam and Šmahel 2011). Indeed, mạng internet users are often celebrated as benefiting from an enhanced capacity to lớn self-organize and curate educational engagement for themselves, rather than relying on the norms and expectations of an education system.
The Educational Implications of the Internet
All these various shifts and realignments clearly constitute a fundamental challenge to the traditional forms of educational provision & practice that were established throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially institutionalized modes of formal schooling and university education. For many commentators, therefore, the mạng internet contradicts the monopoly of state education systems và the vested interests of the professions that work within them. In all of the ways just outlined, the internet would certainly seem to chạy thử established educational boundaries between experts and novices, the production & consumption of knowledge, as well as the timing and location of learning. In terms of how education is provided, the mạng internet is associated with a range of radically different learning practices & altered social relations.
The mạng internet has certainly prompted ongoing debate & concern within the educational community. On one hand, many educationalists are busying themselves with rethinking & reimagining the notion of the school and the university in ways that respond lớn the demands of the mạng internet age. There have been various proposals over the past decade for the development of educational institutions that are better aligned with the characteristics of Internet-adept learners and online knowledge. As Collins và Halverson (2009, 129) put it, the task of reinventing schools và universities for the mạng internet age involves not only “rethinking what is important lớn learn” but also “rethinking learning.” This has seen modes of schooling being developed that are built around the communal creation (rather than individual consumption) of knowledge, in an attempt to lớn imbue learning with a sense of play, expression, reflection, và exploration. The past ten years has seen a rash of ideas from enthusiastic educators proposing the development of new pedagogies và curricula built around social interaction, exploration, gaming, and making. All of these proposals for school 2.0 reflect what Whitby (2013, 9–11) describes as new models of education provision based around “openness to learning & masterful tech-savvy.”
However, in contrast lớn these re-schooling proposals has been a countermovement to lớn align the internet with more radical forms of educational deinstitutionalization. These de-schooling arguments have proven popular with groups outside of the traditional education establishment, framing the mạng internet as capable of usurping the need for educational institutions altogether. Key concepts here include self-determination, self-organization, self-regulation, and (in a neat twist on the notion of do-it-yourself) the idea of do-it-ourselves. All these ideas align the mạng internet with a general rejection of institutionalized education—especially what has long been critiqued as the obsolete banking model of accumulating knowledge content. Instead, Internet-based education is conceived along lines of mở cửa discussion, open debate, radical questioning, continuous experimentation, và the sharing of knowledge.
As with other aspects of digital activity, education is therefore imagined as something that is now mở cửa to reprogramming, modification, & hacking to better suit one’s individual needs.
As Dale Stephens (2013, 9) reasons:
The systems and institutions that we see around us—of schools, college, và work—are being systematically dismantled…. If you want to lớn learn the skills required to navigate the world—the hustle, networking, and creativity—you’re going to have to gian lận your own education.
These are all highly contestable but highly seductive propositions. Indeed, whether one agrees with them or not, these arguments all highlight the fundamental challenge of the internet to what was experienced throughout the past one hundred years or so as the dominant mode of education. It is therefore understandable that the mạng internet is now being discussed in terms of inevitable educational change, transformation, & the general disruption of twentieth-century models of education provision & practice. As the noted giải pháp công nghệ commentator Jeff Jarvis (2009, 210) concluded in an acclaimed overview of the Internet’s societal significance, “education is one of the institutions most deserving of disruption—and with the greatest opportunities khổng lồ come of it.” Bold statements such as these are now being made with sufficient frequency & conviction that talk of an impending digital disruption of education is now rarely contested. Many people, therefore, see the prospect of the mạng internet completely reinventing education not as a matter of if, but as a matter of when.
Prominent Forms of Internet-Based Education
In the face of such forceful predictions of what will happen, it is perhaps sensible khổng lồ take a step back and consider the realities of what has already happened with the Internet & education. As was suggested at the beginning of this chapter, amidst these grand claims of transformation & disruption, it is important khổng lồ ask how the educational potential of the mạng internet is actually being realized in practice. In this sense, we should acknowledge that the mạng internet has been long used for educational purposes, & a number of prominent models of Internet-based education have emerged over the past trăng tròn years. Perhaps the most established of these are various forms of what has come to be known as e-learning—ranging from online courses through lớn virtual classrooms và even virtual schools. Many early forms of e-learning involved the predominantly one-way delivery of learning content, thereby replicating traditional correspondence forms of distance education. These programs (which continue to lớn the present day) tend khổng lồ rely on online content management systems, albeit supported by some form of interactivity in the size of e-mail, bulletin boards, và other communications systems. Alongside these forms of content delivery is the continued development of so-called virtual classrooms—usually spatial representations of classrooms or lecture theaters that can be inhabited by learners và teachers. Often these virtual spaces are designed to tư vấn synchronous forms of live instruction và feedback, with learners able khổng lồ listen khổng lồ lectures & view videos and visual presentations while also interacting with other learners via text & voice. Other asynchronous forms of virtual classroom exist in the size of digital spaces where resources can be accessed & shared—such as audio recordings and text transcripts of lectures, supplementary readings, and discussion forums. These forms of e-learning have continued to be developed since the 1990s, with entire cyber schools and online universities now well-established features of educational systems around the world.
While these examples of e-learning tend to replicate the basic structure and procedures of bricks-and-mortar schools & universities, a variety of other models of Internet-supported education have emerged over the past đôi mươi years. One of the most familiar forms of Internet-based education is the collective open creation of information & knowledge, as exemplified by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Despite ongoing debates over its accuracy and coverage, the educational significance of Wikipedia is considerable. As well as being a vast information resource, the ability of users khổng lồ contribute and refine content is seen to make wiki tools such as Wikipedia a significant educational tool. The belief now persists amongst many educators that mass user-driven applications such as Wikipedia allow individuals khổng lồ engage in learning activities that are more personally meaningful and more publically significant than was ever possible before. As John Willinsky (2009, xiii) reasons:
Today a student who makes the slightest correction khổng lồ a Wikipedia article is contributing more to the state of public knowledge, in a matter of minutes, than I was able to vị over the course of my entire grade school education, such as it was.
These characteristics of wiki tools correspond with the wider Open Educational Resource movement which is concerned with making professionally developed educational materials available online for no cost. In this manner, it is reckoned that nội dung from almost 80 percent of courses at the Massachusetts Institute of technology are available on this free-to-use basis. Similar commitments can be found in institutions ranging from world-class universities such as Yale và Oxford to local community colleges. In all these cases, course materials such as seminar notes, podcasts, và videos of lectures are shared online with a worldwide population of learners, most of whom could otherwise not attend. Crucially (as with Wikipedia), the emphasis of mở cửa Educational Resources is not merely permitting individuals to use provided materials, but encouraging the alteration & amendment of these resources as required. For example, the UK xuất hiện University’s extensive Open
Learn project provides miễn phí online access to lớn all of the institution’s curriculum materials with an invitation for individual users to lớn adapt these resources as they wish.
Other forms of online nội dung sharing involve the xuất hiện distribution of educational nội dung that has been created by individuals as well as institutions. For example, the You
Tube EDU service offers access khổng lồ millions of educational videos produced by individual educators & learners. Similarly, táo bị cắn dở Computers’ collection of educational media—the so-called i
Tunes U—is designed khổng lồ allow learners to circumvent traditional educational lectures and classes in favor of on-demand không tính tiền mobile learning (Çelik, Toptaş, và Karaca 2012). Describing itself as “possibly the world’s greatest collection of miễn phí educational truyền thông available lớn students, teachers, & lifelong learners,” i
Tunes U offers không lấy phí access to lớn hundreds of thousands of educational audio and đoạn clip podcast files. Most recently, there has been considerable praise for the Khan Academy’s online provision of thousands of bespoke educational videos alongside interactive quizzes and assessments covering a range of subject areas & topics. The aim of Khan Academy is to support individuals to lớn learn at their own pace and to revisit learning content on a repeated basis. This so-called flipped classroom model is intended lớn allow individuals khổng lồ engage with instructional elements of learning before entering a formal classroom. Face-to-face classroom time can be then be devoted khổng lồ the practical application of the knowledge through problem solving, discovery work, project-based learning, and experiments (Khan 2012).
Another notable open example of Internet-based education has been the development of MOOCs (Massively xuất hiện Online Courses) over the past five years or so. Now, most notably through successful large-scale ventures such as Coursera và Ed-X, MOOCs involve the online delivery of courses on a free-at-the-point-of-contact basis lớn mass audiences. At its heart, the MOOC model is based on the idea of individuals being encouraged khổng lồ learn through their own choice of online tools—what has been termed personal learning networks—the collective results of which can be aggregated by the course coordinators và shared with other learners. This focus on individually directed discovery learning has proved especially appropriate to college-level education. Now it is possible for individuals of all ages khổng lồ participate in mass online courses run by professors from the likes of Stanford, MIT, and Harvard universities in subjects ranging from a Yale elective in Roman architecture to lớn a Harvard course in the fundamentals of neuroscience.
Another radical application of the internet to tư vấn self-directed, non-institutional learning are initiatives such as the hole-in-the-wall and School in the Cloudinitiatives. These programs are built around an ethos of minimally invasive education where children and young people can access digital giải pháp công nghệ at any time, and teach themselves how to lớn use computers & the internet on an individually paced basis. The guiding ethos for the original hole-in-the-wall program was to locate mạng internet access in what Arora (2010, 691) characterizes as “out-of-the-way, out-of-the-mind locations” rather than in formal settings such as schools or universities. Indeed, the program’s credo of minimally invasive education is an avowedly non-institutionalized one, with children expected to lớn engage with the internet as an educative tool “free of charge and không tính tiền of any supervision” (Mitra 2010). This approach is seen khổng lồ be especially applicable lớn locations such as slum communities in India and Cambodia where mạng internet access is otherwise lacking. The recent elaboration of the initiative into the School in the Cloud marks an attempt khổng lồ use online communication tools to allow older community members in high-income countries to lớn act as mentors and friendly but knowledgeable mediators lớn young autonomous learners in lower-income communities. The provision of such access and tư vấn is therefore seen lớn underpin what the project team term “self-organized learning environments” và “self-activated learning”—thus providing an alternative “for those denied formal schooling” in low-income countries (Arora 2010, 700).
These programs, projects, and initiatives are indicative of the variety of ways in which education và the internet have coalesced over the past đôi mươi years. Yet perhaps the most significant forms of Internet-based education are the completely informal instances of learning that occur in the course of everyday mạng internet use. In this sense the Internet’s implicit tư vấn of various forms of informal learning could be seen as its most substantial educational impact (see Ünlüsoy et al. 2014). As the cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito has described, there are various different genres of everyday Internet-based practice that can be said to involve elements of learning (see Ito et al. 2009). At a basic màn chơi is the popular practice of using the internet to simply hang out with others. Often these forms of hanging out can spill over into more focused instances of what Ito terms messing around—i.e., activities that are interest-driven and more centered on peer sociability, often involving fortuitous searching, experimentation, và playing with resources. This messing around can then sometimes lead to the more intense commitment of what Ito has described asgeeking out. These are bouts of concentrated and intense participation within defined communities of like-minded & similarly interested individuals driven by common & often specialized interests. In supporting all these forms of learning, everyday use of the mạng internet can be seen as an inherently educational activity.
The Reality of the Internet and Education
These examples—and many more lượt thích them—are now seen as proof of the Internet’s growing contribution to what it means lớn learn & be educated in the twenty-first century. Undoubtedly, developments such as MOOCs, flipped classrooms, & self-organized learning could well turn out to be educational game changers(Oblinger 2012). Yet the history of educational giải pháp công nghệ over the past one hundred years or so warns us that change is rarely as instantaneous or as totalizing as many people would lượt thích to believe. Indeed, the history of modern educational technologies (starting with Thomas Edison’s championing of educational filmstrips in the 1910s) has usually been characterized by sets of complex mutually shaping relationships between education & technology (see Cuban 1986). In other words, newtechnologies rarely—if ever—have a direct one-way impact or predictable effect on education. Rather, established cultures và traditions of education also have a profound reciprocal influence on technologies. As the historian Larry Cuban (1993, 185) observed succinctly of the remarkable resilience of schools to lớn the waves of successive technological developments throughout the 1980s và 1990s, “computer meets classroom—classroom wins.” In asking how the mạng internet is shaping education in the 2010s, we therefore need khổng lồ also ask the corresponding question of how education is shaping the Internet.
From this perspective, it is not surprising to see the most successful forms of Internet-based education and e-learning being those that reflect & even replicate pre-Internet forms of education such as classrooms, lectures, and books. It is also not surprising khổng lồ see the long-established grammar of formal education & educational institutions having a strong bearing on emerging forms of Internet-based education (Tyack & Cuban 1995). Take, for instance, the persistence of familiar practices such as dividing knowledge into distinct subject areas, using graded individual assessments, or relying on expert teachers. While understandable, these continuities certainly belie claims of radical transformation and disruption of the educational status quo. Thus in contrast khổng lồ the revolutionary zeal of some commentators, it could be observed that the mạng internet is having most impact on education where it is not causing radically new patterns of participation or practice. For instance, rather than extending educational opportunities khổng lồ those who previously were excluded, the recent rise of the MOOC in countries such as the U.S. & UK appears primarily khổng lồ be supporting well-resourced, highly motivated, và already well-educated individuals to engage in more education (thereby replicating a trend referred lớn by some social commentators as the Matthew Effect). This is not to lớn say that MOOCs are an insignificant size of education—however, it does suggest that their main impact is that of increasing rather than widening educational participation. Indeed, this view does imply that some of the more radical claims of social transformation and change that surround MOOCs (and other forms of Internet-based education) require careful consideration.
This leaves any attempts lớn predict the likely influence of the internet on future forms of education on uncertain ground. Of course, it is unwise to lớn adapt an overtly cynical view that there is nothing new about Internet-based education at all—i.e., that the educational effects of the mạng internet are simply a case of old wine in new bottles. Yet it is equally unwise khổng lồ presume that any of the examples given so far in the chapter necessarily herald a fundamental shift in education. The mạng internet is certainly associated with educational changes—yet these changes are complex, contradictory, convoluted và decidedly messy.
In this respect, perhaps the most significant issues that need khổng lồ be considered about the Internet & education are sociological, rather than technical, in nature.
In this sense, the internet prompts a range of ideological questions (rather than purely technical answers) about the nature of education in the near future. Thus, as this chapter draws lớn a close we should move away from the optimistic speculation that pervades most educational discussions of the Internet. Instead, there are a number of important but less often acknowledged social, cultural, & political implications that also merit attention:
1.The Internet & the increased individualization of education
First, then, is the way in which Internet-based education promotes an implicit individualization of practice & action. The internet is celebrated by many educationalists as increasing the responsibility of individuals in terms of making choices with regards lớn education, as well as dealing with the consequences of their choice. All the forms of internet education outlined in this chapter demand increased levels of self-dependence on the part of the individual, with educational success dependent primarily on the individual’s ability to lớn self-direct their ongoing engagement with learning through various preferred means. Of course, this is usually assumed to lớn work in favor of the individual and to the detriment of formal institutions. Yet the idea of the self-responsibilized, self-determining learner is based upon an unrealistic assumption that all individuals have a capacity to act in an agentic, empowered fashion throughout the course of their day-to-day lives. In Bauman’s (2001) terms, the successful online learner is someone able to lớn act as an empowered individual de facto rather than an individual de jure (i.e., someone who simply has individualism done to them). Of course, only a privileged minority of people are able to lớn act in a largely empowered fashion. As such this individualization of action leads to lớn education becoming an area of increased risk as well as opportunity.
These issues raise a number of important questions. For instance, just how equal are individuals in being able lớn make the educational choices that the mạng internet actually offers? How are the apparent educational freedoms of the mạng internet resulting in enhanced unfreedoms (such as the intensification & extension of educational work into domestic settings)? to lớn what extent are personalized forms of mạng internet education simply facilitating the mass customization of homogenous educational services và content? What is the nature of the collective forms of Internet-based education? How do communities of learners established through the internet differ in terms of social diversity, obligation, or solidarity? Is the internet undermining or even eroding notions of education as a public good?
2. The Internet và the growth of data-driven education
Another significant issue related to the increased educational significance of the mạng internet is the ways in which online data & information are now defining, as well as describing, social life. The mạng internet has certainly extended the significance of databases, data mining, analytics, & algorithms, with organizations & institutions functioning increasingly through the ongoing collection, aggregation, & (re)analysis of data. Crucially, the internet allows this data work to take place on a mass, aggregated scale. We are now seen to lớn be living in an era of Big Data where computerized systems are making available “massive quantities of information produced by và about people, things, & their interactions” (Boyd & Crawford 2012, 662).
The collection và analysis of online data is now a key aspect of how actions are structured và decisions are made in many areas of education. Now, for example, masses of online data are being generated, collected, & collated as a result of the Internet-based activities that take place within educational institutions—ranging from in-house monitoring of system conditions lớn the public collection of data at local, state, và federal levels. These data are used for a variety of purposes—including internal course administration, target setting, performance management, và student tracking. Similar processes & practices exist in terms of use of data across educational systems—from student databases to lớn performance league tables. There are, of course, many potential advantages to the heightened significance of online data. There has been much recent enthusiasm for the potential of learning analytics—i.e., “the measurement, collection, analysis & reporting of data about learners & their contexts, for purposes of understanding và optimizing learning & the environments in which it occurs” (Siemens et al. 2011, 4). Similarly, there is growing discussion of educational data mining and academic analytics. All of these uses of digital data are seen lớn lead to more efficient & transparent educational processes, as well as supporting individuals lớn self-monitor and self-diagnose their learning (Eynon 2013).
Yet, there is a clear need for caution amidst these potential advantages—not least how the increased prevalence of online data in education is implicated in the shaping of what people can and cannot do. For example, how are individuals and their learning being represented by data collected online? How does the Internet tư vấn the connection, aggregation, và use of these data in ways not before possible? khổng lồ what extent are individuals’ educational engagements now being determined by data profiles? How are these online data being used in forms of predictive surveillance where educators & educational institutions use data relating khổng lồ past performance & behavior khổng lồ inform expectations of future behaviors? What aspects of educational engagement are not represented in the online data being collected và analyzed?
3. The Internet and the increased commercialization & privatization of education
Thirdly, is the need lớn recognize the role of commercial & private actors in the growth of Internet-based education. Indeed, the role of the private sector is integral to many of the forms of Internet-based education described in this chapter. For example, it is estimated that the global education/technology market is worth upwards of $7 trillion, with burgeoning levels of private capital investment in online education. A range of multinational commercial interests such as Pearson, Cengage, và Mc
Graw-Hill are now involved heavily in the business of e-learning & online provision of teaching và training—competing with countless smaller commercial concerns & a range of nonprofit organizations. Clearly Internet-based education marks a distinct move away from a planned economy model where education provision is largely the preserve of state-run, public-sector institutions (see Picciano và Spring 2013).
Of course, the increased involvement of commercial interests in online education could be seen to lớn have many potential benefits. The private sector is able to focus considerable technological resources & expertise on educational issues. It is often assumed that commercially provided education is more responsive to lớn the demands of its customers—be it the immediate preferences of learners or the longer-term workforce requirements of business and industry. Moreover, as Chubb và Moe (2012) reason, improvement can arise from market competition between private & public education providers: “in time,
Yet the possibilities for commercial innovation and magic notwithstanding, there are a number of reasons lớn challenge the growing influence of private interests in shaping education agendas in these ways. For example, how committed are IT producers and vendors to the public good of educational công nghệ above and beyond matters of profit và market share? Given that education is an integral element in determining the life chances of the most vulnerable members of society, how appropriate is a Silicon Valley, venture-capitalist mindset of high-risk start-ups with expected high rates of failure? What are the moral và ethical implications of reshaping education along the lines of market forces & commercial values? Why should education correspond automatically with the needs of the digital economy?
4. The Internet and the changing values of education
Finally—and perhaps less tangibly—there is also a sense that the mạng internet might be altering the psychological, emotional, and spiritual bases of education. For example, many of the forms of online education discussed in this chapter imply an increased expansion of education into unfamiliar areas of society and social life—leading to an always-on state of potential educational engagement. Indeed, the anytime, anyplace nature of online education clearly involves the expansion of education & learning into domestic, work, và community settings where education and learning might previously have not been prominent. There are clear parallels here with what Basil Bernstein (2001) identified as the “total pedagogization of society”—i.e., a modern society that ensures that pedagogy is integrated into all possible spheres of life. This raises questions of what is perhaps lost when one is able khổng lồ engage with education at all times of the day and in all contexts? Is there something lớn be said for being able to lớn disconnect from the pressures of education? Is learning best suited lớn some contexts và circumstances than others?
Many of the forms of online education described in this chapter could also be said lớn frame learning (often inadvertently) as a competitive endeavor. Thus in contrast to allowing individuals khổng lồ learn harmoniously alongside others, the internet could be seen as placing individuals in “personal formative cycles, occupied in unison within individual feedback-action loops. They learn lớn become industrious self-improvers, accepting và implementing external goals” (Allen 2011, 378). Thus while a sense of achievement at the expense of others may not be immediately apparent, the internet could be seen as a means of humanizing, disguising, & intensifying the competitive connotations of learning. Continuing this line of thinking, the partial, segmented, task-orientated, fragmented, & discontinuous nature of online education could perhaps even be seen as a size of spiritual alienation—i.e., alienation at the cấp độ of meaning, where conditions of good work become detached from the conditions of good character (Sennett 2012).
All these points also relate khổng lồ the correspondences between the Internet and the altered emotional aspects of educational engagement. In particular, many of the forms of Internet-based education described earlier in this chapter (such as the virtual school or the MOOC) could be said to lớn involve learning being experienced on less immediate, less intimate, and perhaps more instrumental grounds. These points were explored in Jonathan Wolff’s (2013) recent reflections on what might be lost when a lecture takes place online as opposed lớn in a face-to-face lecture theater. While these diminishments are often difficult to pinpoint, Wolff suggested qualities such as the immediacy, the serendipity, & the real-ness of the live experience of learning alongside other people. Certainly, the remote, virtual sense of learning online is qualitatively different lớn the embodied sense of face-to-face learning—both in advantageous and disadvantageous ways.
Conclusions
Whether one agrees with any of these latter arguments or not, it is clear that the topic of “the Internet & education” needs to lớn be approached in a circumspect manner. The predominantly optimistic rhetoric of transformation & change that currently surrounds the Internet & education distracts from a number of significant conflicts and tensions that need to lớn be better acknowledged và addressed. This is not to say that we should adopt a wholly antagonistic or wholly pessimistic stance. Indeed, many of the issues just outlined should not be assumed automatically to lớn be cause for concern. There are, after all, many people who will be advantaged by more individualized, elitist, competitive, market-driven, omnipresent, & de-emotionalized forms of educational engagement. The mạng internet clearly works for the millions of people who are learning online at this very moment.
Yet while it may well be that the mạng internet is helping some individuals lớn engage with education in more convenient, engaging, and useful ways, we would vị well khổng lồ acknowledge that this is unlikely to be the case for all. Any Internet-led changes in education are accompanied by a variety of unintended consequences, second-order effects, và unforeseen implications. Perhaps the most important point khổng lồ consider is the well-worn tendency of digital công nghệ to reinforce existing patterns of educational engagement—helping already engaged individuals lớn participate further, but doing little to widen participation or reengage those who are previously disengaged. In particular, any discussion of the educational potential of the mạng internet needs to lớn remain mindful of the limited usefulness of a technical-fix approach to understanding contemporary education. The internet should not be seen as a ready solution to apparent inefficiencies of twentieth-century education institutions or practices—it will not lead automatically to lớn more engaged or motivated learners, more highly skilled workforces, or rising levels of national intelligence and innovation. Instead, it is likely that many of the problems of contemporary education are primarily social và cultural in nature, and therefore require social và cultural responses.
As such, while there is plenty of scope for the increased use of the internet within education, any claims for change and improvement should be seen as contentious and debatable matters, rather than inevitable trends that educators have no choice but khổng lồ adapt to. To lớn reiterate a key theme that has emerged throughout our discussion, underlying all of the issues raised in this chapter are questions of what sort of future education one believes in. As such, the role of the internet inimproving, transforming, or even disrupting education is a deeply complex và ideologically loaded matter that goes well beyond technical issues of how to lớn personalize the delivery of educational content, or tư vấn the production and consumption of online content. The future of education may well involve increased use of the Internet—but will not be determined by it.
What is e-learning?
E-learning -- also called electronic learning or web-based training -- is anywhere, anytime instruction delivered over the mạng internet or a corporate intranet khổng lồ students và other learners via a browser. Contrary lớn traditional learning methods, e-learning lets students, employees in training & casual learners participate in an organized learning experience regardless of their physical location.
In its formative years, e-learning tools primarily enabled the delivery of learning material directly from a teacher lớn a learner. Now, the e-learning experience has evolved to lớn enable more multidirectional communication using increasingly interactive tools. Learners have greater freedom in choosing how they receive and respond to lớn e-learning content, và any number of peers can be involved.
Why is e-learning important?
E-learning methods & technology are important both for educating students & for the professional development of employees in the workforce.
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The rapid evolution of công nghệ has made it increasingly important for employees khổng lồ have the right skills và training. For example, it"s expected that the emergence of quantum computing capabilities will create a massive shift in the way modern businesses operate that will affect coders, hardware developers & online security professionals. Learning environments, such as e-learning, will play a key role in retraining and reskilling many of these people.
In addition, companies are increasingly turning to online learning for ongoing training & upskilling employees. Learning management systems (LMSes) are particularly popular in corporate settings. Higher education institutions also use online learning methods along with internet-capable electronic devices, both inside & outside of traditional classrooms. According khổng lồ Mc
Kinsey & Company"s 2022 survey of 7,000 students in 17 countries, 65% of higher education students want schools to retain aspects of online learning in the post-pandemic world.
This article is part of
Workplace learning: A complete guide for businesses
Which also includes:How e-learning works
Online education is delivered using a combination of static and interactive methods. Static approaches include learning portals, hyperlinked pages, screen cam tutorials, streamed audio and clip and live website broadcasts. Interactive methods are approaches such as discussion forums, chats & desktop video clip conferencing.
There are three main criteria an enterprise should follow lớn ensure an effective e-learning program:
Mobile-friendly. People live on their devices, và e-learning must take advantage of that. Training prompts, other reminders and congratulations on training achievements should be sent khổng lồ smartphones và other sản phẩm điện thoại devices through mobile apps.Social features. Social media, or a platform that emulates social media"s basic features, can give learners a way to lớn receive updates, respond to lớn training requirements và communicate with peers và managers.Instructional design. E-learning experiences should use a wide range of offerings khổng lồ suit diverse learning styles, including quizzes, infographics, podcasts, demonstrations & narrative-based training materials. E-learning course development apps use authoring tools that allow even those without coding experience lớn create these different offerings.Types of e-learning
There are two primary models of web-based learning systems: synchronous, also known as instructor-led, và asynchronous or self-directed và self-paced. Basically, synchronous e-learning requires participants to lớn be present, albeit virtually, at the same time, whereas asynchronous e-learning does not.
Examples of synchronous e-learning methods include the use of scheduled and timed online tests, virtual classrooms, web conferencing technology and interactive shared whiteboards that learners can use to lớn collaborate. Examples of asynchronous e-learning methods include the use of discussion boards, discussion groups & self-paced learning courses.
Advantages of e-learning
There are many benefits of e-learning, which proponents believe outweigh the disadvantages. They include the following:
On-demand availability. E-learning tools and services meet the needs of those with busy schedules because they"re commonly always available on demand. Learners can access material delivered online as long as they have access to lớn the e-learning application.Cost efficiency. In a traditional, in-person classroom setting, the cost of the space, infrastructure, maintenance và materials adds up. Most of these costs go away when learners online.Flexibility. Web-based training và e-learning enable flexibility, letting learners consume information at their own pace.
Disadvantages of e-learning
Critics point out the following disadvantages related lớn e-learning:
Need for human contact. Web-based training is a good alternative for independent, self-motivated students, but the need for human contact limits its usefulness for students with other learning styles. For example, a learner using an asynchronous e-learning method might not be able lớn successfully complete an e-learning course without the structure of a deadline. They might also need instant responses to lớn questions that an asynchronous system doesn"t provide.Technical issues. Students connecting virtually often must use their own devices khổng lồ attend online classes và complete assignments. Connecting and staying connected requires the right devices & network access that all students might not have.Lack of transparency. Sometimes the chất lượng and credibility of the nội dung or the teacher isn"t always clear and transparent on every e-learning platform. This is especially an issue on không lấy phí and easily accessible resources.E-learning platforms
There are a variety of e-learning platforms, both synchronous & asynchronous, that users can use in education, business và independent environments. These powerful software suites enable digital learning và online training, providing courses, presentation capabilities like Power
Point, online examinations & analyzing student performance data. A few examples of these platforms are Anthology for Business, Canvas, Moodle, Sakai & Schoology.
Learning management systems are also prevalent in the enterprise for onboarding & employee training programs. The best types of corporate LMSes are scalable, customizable, goal-oriented and user-friendly. Some enterprise-level LMSes, all with varying pricing plans, include Adobe Learning Manager, Docebo, e
Front, i
Spring Learn, Looop by 360Learning, Northpass và Talent
LMS.
Social media
Social media provides useful tools for e-learning. These platforms bring communities of learners together and let them nói qua e-learning content. The following are examples of how they can be useful:
Facebook users can create groups to nói qua information và ideas, & members of such groups can communicate freely about the shared material.LinkedIn enables similar groups that might be perceived as having an added cấp độ of credibility because users display their career credentials on their profiles. Linked
In also has a paid platform for e-learning called Linked
In Learning that features over 4,000 business courses. The topics of these courses vary from web development to digital marketing. Business professionals can pay a monthly fee to use these courses khổng lồ keep their skills up to date.X (formerly known as Twitter) can connect learners by using a hashtag for a specific topic or event.You
Tube users can post và access educational content for free, as well as phản hồi on and rate the videos.
Massive open online courses
Independent learners can also take advantage of massive mở cửa online courses (MOOCs) on the web. MOOCs are made available through popular platforms lượt thích Coursera and ed
X to large groups of people over the internet, usually for free. Often, these courses are modeled on ones taught by top-tier universities, which is great for learners who want quality training nội dung for free. Users can log into a MOOC"s website & sign up for a given course. Certain MOOC programs, such as ed
X"s certificate programs, charge a student looking khổng lồ earn a specific certificate for the completion of their coursework.
Other platforms, such as Udemy and Skillshare, are similar khổng lồ MOOCs in that they are available online & can accommodate large groups of learners. However, they are different in that they charge the user và focus on practical engagement with material as opposed to passive learning methods, such as the lectures that come with more university-centric MOOCs. No matter the platform, e-learning is a flexible, adaptable way for professionals and students alike lớn learn new skills and bolster existing ones.
History of e-learning
The idea of e-learning predates both the internet và the coining of the term e-learning. In 1983, Ron Gordon, former president of Atari & founder of Tele
Learning Systems, launched an effort khổng lồ create an Electronic University Network. EUN was an early online educational network aimed at helping universities and colleges provide & use online courses. EUN was bought by Knowledge
Net in 1987 and incorporated into its offerings.
When the World Wide web was created in 1989, it was initially seen as a means of exchanging information among academic institutions more rapidly and easily, before it became what it is today.
The term e-learning was first coined in 1999. Around the same time, various online course implementations were launched, such as MIT"s Open
Course
Ware project in 2002. In the late 2000s, these types of courses và the technology they used advanced enough to accommodate large groups of learners, and MOOCs appeared. In recent years, most companies & higher education institutions have embraced e-learning after discovering its benefits, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
E-learning is now a market of its own with many different providers that cater khổng lồ business training needs. Find out about e-learning providers that might be useful for your business.
