Some important things I learned from the E-Learn conference recently attended in Vancouver Why and how do people ‘get’ online learning New Media Literacies 2010 is the new 1995 Why and how do people ‘get’ online learning Further evidence of the link between expertise, knowledge, experience in distance education as leading to a different way of thinking about, understanding and approaching online learning; this point is probably self-evident for individuals (though not necessarily so); but is clearly an important aspect in the institutional and cultural basis for the development of elearning. Papers show that many, especually in USA, are still back in 1995 – faculty just starting to think ‘how to use the Internet’, because this is a technology imagined to be about ‘something other’ than classroom. So, at first, distance education background was a strength, when net was strongly oriented towards being a replacement for / enhancement of, traditional DE approaches; DE background also allowed people to imagine and experience teaching and learning without physical co-presence. But, perhaps, now there is an issue – people have now pigeon-holed internet-based learning as something associated with distance education; and people who don’t see themselves as distance educators therefore don’t think about … Click to read more →