Effective Social Learning for a Post-MOOC Era

I would much rather speak with you in-person; and I don’t think that posting Youtube link is a worthwhile alternative. And so I will write this blog post, much as I prefer meeting you face-to-face. Why? Because we would need to schedule a meeting and we would be invested with reasons to see each other.

Currently, I teach at Vanier College in Montreal. I would love to think that Vanier is unique, but I know that it’s not. Most of what makes Vanier special to me are probably shared with colleges throughout North America: I’m pleased to hear a dozen languages being spoken as I walk to class; I’m amazed by the ingenuity of students’ solutions to my assignments; and, when I have a computer problem, I do what everyone does: ask a student. Put otherwise, Vanier College shares its strengths with other institution. Each year witnesses increased growth in internationalization, the use of active or problem-based learning, and diffusion of technology and new media.

Since starting at Vanier in 2009, I’ve had the luck to participate in initiatives that draw on Vanier’s strengths. An example of increased internationalization and the use of problem-based learning happened in my introduction to economic development, where I gave my students a challenge:  How would you propose to create a National Park in a populated rural area? The catch was that they had to defend and adjust their proposals in a real-time conversation with students from a rural college.

And here is an example of the increased diffusion of technology and new media amongst today’s youth:

Too much of any good thing can be a bad thing. And I think this is the case with social media technologies. Somehow, students are being cut off from each other by the very devices that are supposed to make them more connected. There is something very particular to how these disconnections work. It’s not so much that students are being torn, against their wills, out of their social contexts by social media. Instead, the technological context by which they use them enable the practice of self-selection and opting out. Be it Facebook or Blackboard Collaborate, students are able to check out. And mobile technology increase this potential more than ever. I think that there is a serious problem with so-called “social learning” that provides students with easy ways to opt out.

How, then, might colleges best take advantage of the diffusion of technology and new media for effective social learning? I don’t think that a turn to “massive” solutions is helpful. In fact, I think we should push for a post-MOOC era, where the Massive Open Online Course is on par with the mimeograph (image). There has been an MOOC-splosion that is largely backed by significant investments of capital, human resources and time.

Those same energies of smaller institutions, however, are wasted in efforts to replicate or free-ride these initiatives. Furthermore, doing so literally and figuratively en-crypts the strengths of these smaller institutions (not to mention their finances, IT resources and teaching excellence!). Our institutions and students are as post-MOOC as they are post-modern. Our world is international, practically-focused and communications-driven. Our students need to learn how to collaborate with partners from around the world in order to create local solutions. Smaller institutions should focus on their strengths of increased internationalization, emerging in-class pedagogies and diffusion of new media technologies. In order to do this, I propose a networked pedagogy that builds on three pillars of effective social learning.

It is no coincidence that I wish to speak with you in-person. I prefer to communicate in real-time with real-people who possess the ability for lively dialogue. While there are all sorts of reasons to value enrolment and retention, as a teacher, I value the actual presence of real students.

There is something “grounding” about walking to class: when I close the classroom door, I know that I have a captive audience. Frankly, that imbalance of power and equity is essential for learning: my students cannot easily opt out. By giving serious consideration to pedagogies of active learning and problem-based learning, I design class sessions for social learning.

Every classroom has two portals: the door and the internet. And only when you close the physical door should you start choosing when to open the virtual door. Bricks-and-mortar institutions are essential, because they are the right environment for opening the virtual door to learning. Students are in-class together. Only at such a point do I think it legitimately possible to introduce web-based social learning.

I’ve described the first two pillars of effective social learning: real students in real-time. The third pillar of effective social learning is collaboration. There are few vocations and positions I can think of where collaborative skills are unnecessary. Fewer and fewer jobs will involve only one culture or geographic location.

I think that very real student needs are drive the need for a networked pedagogy that is based upon and reinforces the three pillars of effective social learning.

Effective Social Learning: A Collaborative, Globally-Networked Pedagogy is part of the Seminarium Elements book series. Look for it January 15, 2015.

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Photo Credit: “Bringing back wool cycling clothing” by Steven Woo – CC by 2.0

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