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Until relatively recently the practice within face-to-face classrooms could be characterized as teachers generally working on their own in a rectangular classroom with a group of 20+ students for fixed periods of time. Much of the theory and practice that has been developed about what happens in classrooms is based on these assumptions. Similarly, in the field of distance education there has been an emphasis on bridging the geographical separation of teacher and student, based on the notion of a guided didactic conversation being embedded within print-based materials. Each of these areas of education has developed quite separately, with their own bodies of knowledge, skills and experience, and their own theories and practice. The one thing that they did have in common was a focus on teaching, emphasising instructional processes and asking “how can we ‘teach’ better?" |
We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the culture of pedagogic practice in our schools and distance education settings. As primarily face-to-face institutions embrace ICT and attempt to address the demands of learner choice and autonomy, many teachers are adopting practices that may previously have been considered the domain of distance educators, for example, establishing individualized learning programmes on school intranets. Similarly, as distance education providers adopt the use of a range of online technologies to replace paper as the means of providing instruction, they too are facing the challenge of adopting what they may have regarded as face-to-face practices, for example, teaching via video-conferencing. This is the era of e-learning, where a grey area is forming between two previously discreet areas of educational endeavour, as each uses ICT as a means of meeting learner needs instead of emphasizing the role of teaching. |
It may be only a relatively short time before we move to the next phase, where we see an almost complete merging of the two paradigms, and where a student’s learning experience will not be dependent on attendance at a particular school or institution, or enrolment with a particular distance provider. Instead, a combination of online technologies will make it possible for students to complete a 'portfolio' of subjects through a range of institutions. In this scenario the role of schools, teachers, and students will all change, and the emphasis on the “e” in e-learning will no longer be necessary. Instead, the focus will be again on the whole sphere of education, addressing the issues of both teaching and learning, as well as taking into account the context of that learning. |
