R.I.P. Online Learning...?
Laura Overton
Continually curious about learning innovation and business impact |Founder Learning Changemakers |Co-creator of Emerging Stronger
An obituary provides an opportunity to reflect on the good and bad of the past, knowing that we can’t turn back the clock. But what if we had the opportunity to read an obituary before the end, when we still have time to do something differently? With this in mind, I posted a message on LinkedIn to understand what our obituary for online learning would look like.
I received some really fascinating and insightful responses. Some clearly felt that what we consider ‘online learning’ was actually dead and a thing of the past, the door firmly closed. Most provided incredible insight on what worked, what didn’t and what we could do again if we had our time. Several themes and linked comments emerged and I am sharing just a few of them now.
Obviously, online learning is not actually dead
What I wanted to find out was how the learning community would feel if it did, actually, ‘die’. What would the reaction be? Would we be sad? Relieved? Proud of what online learning had achieved? Disappointed and disheartened? Had it filled its potential in life? What was its legacy? These are some big questions and are well worth asking.
Before I go any further and share some of the responses with you, let’s establish what I mean by online learning, so that there is no misunderstanding on that score:
Online learning is the process of accessing resources and content to learn via that wonderful medium, the Internet.
Why did I think it important to state what I mean by online learning? Because it was apparent from the responses that there is a lack of clarity and agreement on what constitutes online learning. No surprises there then. Online learning and e-learning are not one and the same, but are often lumped together as though they are.
“Profoundly misunderstood”
One of the themes that emerged strongly in the responses is this lack of clarity, lack of clear definition that has led to the purpose of online learning being regularly misunderstood. Hence the comments, "Some people didn’t get you", "Died from malpractice" and this cutter, "Misunderstood, misapplied and forced into drudgery". That’s a pretty damning indictment.
Lots of people obviously think that if online learning has missed its potential, the fault lies with those who should have helped it realise its potential, rather than with the concept itself. And who is that? Ultimately, the L&D community. We misunderstood it. We misapplied it. We forced it into drudgery.
"It wasn’t your fault you were greatly misused – sorry", said one comment. There are a lot more that continue this theme:
"Killed by the ones who so lovingly (oversold) you."
"Full of promise never realised, a victim of over-promised and under-delivered templates and tools that commoditised creativity and expertise."
"Bullied into an untimely death instead of being nurtured."
These comments show that expectations were high for online learning, perhaps so high that the reality could never live up to the hype. If that is the case, has online learning failed quite so spectacularly as its detractors claim, or is it just that it could never reach the dizzying heights it was predicted to reach?
“We had such high hopes for you”
Comments such as “We had such high hopes for you” hint at online learning has been horribly misused. Or was it that L&D didn’t enable online learning to fulfil its potential? “Had great potential but was never allowed to express it” reads one comment.
Another contributor thinks that online learning simply fell into the trap that so many other forms of learning have fallen into, namely content overload. “Online learning started out trying to fill a void…ended up doing what a percentage of other forms of learning have done…give the end learner too much content dump!”
What do the comments tell us L&D professionals about what we are doing wrong with online learning? What do we need to do differently?
“Online it was, learning it was not”
This sends out a very clear message that online learning is failing in the most fundamental way. It is failing to deliver learning. You can’t get a much worse criticism than that.
It’s not the only comment that says this. Other messages say the same thing: that we haven’t enabled online learning to help people learn. The learning bit has been lost. Does this mean that L&D doesn’t understand how to make a success of online solutions?
Some contributors think L&D has failed to meet learner needs. It has not succeeded because it has not moved with the times and given learners what they want and need now. “Online learning realised that it should have taken cues from the decline of VHS and BETA tape players to learn a valuable lesson: good content is not as important to modern users as a convenient, small and portable format” reads one message.
“Born for knowledge, caged for compliance”
Instead of giving learners learning, many detractors think online learning has been straightened by L&D and the business so that it has become a byword for compliance. ‘Born for knowledge – caged for compliance’ is one criticism. Compliance is a recurrent theme in the conversation thread, linked to stagnation and a failure to change on the part of the L&D profession.
“Online learning, the irrepressible vehicle for corporate induction and compliance training that tried but ultimately failed to move on from the desktop computing era” read one message, shortly followed by this one: “Online learning, after suffering a prolonged illness of shovel-ware and compliance, has now left the workplace.”
“Its intentions were honourable”
Certainly, several messages suggest that all is not lost for online learning: “Let me out…I’m not dead, yet”, “Not completely dead yet, just having a bit of a reincarnation!” and “Reincarnation’s not dead”.
There were those who clearly have fond memories. Omnia Omnibus Ubique was the first obituary kindly translated in the second - “All things for all people everywhere. Couldn't agree more.”
20/20 hindsight is a great thing and these obituaries can provide us with just that. The difference is that we can still do something about it, make a difference and re-write the final chapter - if we choose to!
“I’m not dead! Getting better. In fact, I think I’ll go for a walk.”
What will you do with 20/20 hindsight? Why not leave a comment below and share your thoughts, or add to the obituary!
UX Design and Research Leader
7yI have far too much to comment on this and so little time. cc James Tyer
Online Learning Architect | Vice Provost of Learning Innovation
7y"Online learning is gone and adult learners all over the world are suffering... some are saving for stamps to go back to correspondence and buying books... we will miss you OL" ..... Postal services sent a big floral arrangement and a thank you note...
Managing Director at ASC Training & Development
7y15 years ago a large national we provided learning services for implemented online training for staff. In a shift from traditional off-the -job training in head office training rooms, the expectation was that staff completed modules in their own time. Many had to do during lunch break as they did not have access at home. The company saved $ in the process, and ticked some compliance boxes. No surprise staff sentiment extremely negative and learning outcomes negligible... I remain optimistic that this mindset has shifted significantly since those 'early days'. If not universally, at least in those 'top deck' organisations your research identifies.
Member of the Investigations Committee at ICAS - The Professional Body of CAs
7yWe have always learnt much more from failure than success. I don't think we should encourage failure but we should focus on it when it occurs. When my son got 98% in an exam the first thing I asked was where he lost the 2%. The very best learners always focus on what they cannot do. That is why they are less confident than many less successful learners (ever met a confident geek?), but in the long run they achieve much more, and their eventual confidence is built on solid success. Our current educational ethos of heaping praise on every output regardless of quality has dumbed down the education system and generated many people who do not know how to learn or acquire genuine expertise. If mediocre or poor work is praised why bother to improve?
Director at Designs on Learning Ltd
7yPerhaps one way we can move forward is to use elearning much less as a vehicle for building knowledge and much more as a way of testing assumptions, posing scenarios and actually encouraging failure, as the latter is what stimulates meaningful learning. I'm currently reading 'Black Box Thinking' by Matthew Syed and am enthralled by his accounts of ways in which examining failure, avoiding a blame culture and working on marginal gains can build creativity and learning - and improve performance.