Online education as a phenomenon began with the fact that people simply projected the experience from offline and transferred it to the Internet. So there were consultations in Skype, the first webinars, encyclopedic articles. Online was a tool, and no one had the understanding that the distance learning methodology could be different from the academic environment. This applies, in the first place, to professional additional education, where there is a lot of independent and practical work.
Any full-time lesson is a live communication of students among themselves, and the teacher reacts promptly to changes or comments – adjusts the program or lecture on the go. In online practice, the approaches and approaches to group learning are very different from the approaches tested over the years. Therefore, online programs have to be constantly changed or transformed – only so the methodology remains relevant, and students receive knowledge that can apply, and not simply put on the shelf.
This is especially true for asynchronous education, that is, recording sessions where a large amount of materials for self-study is expected. In this case, the materials must be thoroughly worked out. If you give such a material, you need to be sure that everything is built consistently and logically.
Skills, Not Knowledge
On any topic on the Internet you can find tons of materials – I do not want to learn! The value of educational platforms is that they issue strictly necessary information. The issue of cutting off unnecessary – the most acute in the methodical study of programs.
It is not enough to tell a person about something, now in the price of practice and specific real skills. Online education should be integrated. A student should not just watch a webinar, but also practice to consolidate skills, test yourself on a real project. And the purpose of the platform is to help in the search for such a project.
A person of the future is not just learning, but doing it regularly. But if you do not update the product line, do not upgrade knowledge, then students will not return.
Own Technologies
Previously, all online training looked trite: here is a lecturer, he reads from paper, sometimes he drinks water, and we recorded it on video and dumped it on the site, the bay on YouTube. Now new players immediately develop their own LMS – learning management systems. And these systems need to be constantly updated – what worked two years ago is already outdated.
Of course, you can not invest in technology and use what is. Here is an online broadcast via YouTube. And tomorrow the channel was banned and that’s all. Or consultation through Skype, which at one point can simply shut down, and you can not affect it – will not you go kick programmers from Microsoft? It is necessary to develop the project not for the sake of development, but for updating approaches to education.
A look into the future
If we talk about the futuristic future, then I see it like this: a huge amount of information is available to a person. All education is reduced to obtaining a certificate or diploma from a special organization that tests knowledge and applied skills. Do you want to be an engineer? Choose the best institution, but confirm the knowledge in the certified center. Do you dream of becoming a doctor? The marketer? The artist? Learn where you like best. And already certified centers will confirm their skills and will repeatedly check how they have mastered. Probably there will be several such centers around the world. Pass the test, take a diploma and rejoice.
Now every platform issues its own diplomas, which, in fact, just paper. To improve the situation, we have been licensed for several months and from day to day we will be able to issue diplomas of the established type. Of course, this is extra red tape, but so the student will receive confirmation of the received skill.
Perhaps, everything will be completely different, but it seems to me that educational platforms should work in these directions:
- skills, not knowledge;
- training support;
- assistance in finding a job;
- Confirmation of skills.
And most importantly – that the training was useful for your students.