Online is better than F2F, hybrid learning needs to pick up the pace

according to Philip R. Regier, the Dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program:

“The technology will be used to create learning communities among students in new ways,” … “People are correct when they say online education will take things out the classroom. But they are wrong, I think, when they assume it will make learning an independent, personal activity. Learning has to occur in a community.”

It is very heart warming to see that there is an appreciation of the value of community in learning and coming from the NYT (assuming that the name of a paper lends any weight to words), suggests that even if people get enthralled by the continued promise of online education, the need for a balanced mix of environments has also been identified. Online does some things very well – namely pacing, and individualization, but face to face also has its strengths in problem solving and application. This hybrid mix not likely to get any headline space in the “papers” but it is another point made by the report by SRI.

Hybrid learning needs to pick up the pace in order to justify the resources that it consumes.

This seems to be an interesting observation as completely online courses are often just copies of face to face courses or are using tools that make the instructor more comfortable or capable. Hybrid courses on the other hand require materials and instructors who are capable not online in the online sphere, but face to face as well. These are likely rare individuals to be sure, but perhaps not as rare as one would think, and if an institution can’t find the qualities that the want on one individual, there is nothing stopping a course from being presented in a hybrid manner, with one instructor online and the other face to face. When you can find these qualities in one person or in a team, the report suggests that it is in fact the ideal method, something that brings a smile to Don Tapscott for sure.

For some additional fuel on this fire, I present Sir Ken, in his TED/Reddit Q&A answers a question on online/distance ed:

Q:

What are your thoughts on the future of distance learning, and have you seen any signs of a breakthrough that will replace the status quo, while delivering interactive, powerful, social and visually simulating learning?

A:

It’s not very good. There’s been a tendency in universities to try and cash in on the interest in web-based learning. A lot of them have been dumping programs online: lecture notes, videos of talks, and so on. They’re of variable quality. Some of them are great, and some aren’t. …
Just dumping stuff online isn’t the answer to it. But there’s a massive thirst for ideas, for this sort of content, as illustrated by the mushrooming of social networking and user-generated content. …

As with what I was saying before about video games: I think there’s a massive potential that we haven’t yet fully tapped into. Most schools don’t really have contact with stuff. People who are at the leading edge of thinking about it are coming in with great ideas and possibilities, but the penetration of this stuff into education is still pretty limited. But I’m sure it’s the way we have to go in the future. And for a very good reason. Because we now have the ability to put the best thinking, materials, pedagogy, resources in front of everybody. This should be seen by schools as a massive opportunity to — not to replace what they do, not to replace their own teachers and curriculum, but to enrich and enhance it. And the really good schools know that that’s the way to go. And there are some great schools that are doing it. High Tech High is an interesting one in the U.S.