Image from the video ‘A Day Made of Glass’
I have had quite a lot of experience of distance learning, the most significant of which was studying for my degree with the Open University in the pre-digital 1980s.
The quality of the material provided for these courses, six in total, was always exceptional and explains why employers accept OU graduates as being on a par with those from ‘conventional’ universities.
Although the study units were written with interactive components like self-evaluation questions and/or discussion points to consider, studying alone meant I had to ponder on these topics in isolation.
During the time it took to earn a BA, what I remember most was not the stimulating texts but the one week Summer Schools which gave me the opportunity to attend lectures and meet other students. This is what really ‘humanised’ the course and gave me the motivation to continue.
There are no such study breaks in the E-Learning & Digital Cultures MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) I am currently engaged in. This is just one of the ways in which it is different from previous learning experiences and yet the question of human involvement is just as vital, perhaps even more so. Continue reading
