Book review
Getting the Most from Online Learning
Pfeiffer, August 2003
Author: George M. Piskurich
Review by John Helmer, Epic Group plc
In the plethora of books that have appeared over the last few
years on the subject of e-learning, the learner has often seemed
like something of an afterthought. There has been much discussion
of the change process organisations need to go through to make themselves
'e-learning ready', but relatively little about the undoubted challenges
that learners themselves face in acclimatising to this new learning
medium.
So this work, a companion volume to 'Preparing Learners for E-learning'
(reviewed in Epic Thinking July 2003)
fills a clear gap in the market.
Following on where the previous work left off - literally: the
last chapter of 'Preparing Learners for E-Learning, recording the
reactions of e-learners themselves, forms the basis of the first
chapter here - this book covers similar ground, but from a learner's
point of view. And editorially, it has a similar format, with chapters
contributed by a variety of authors, under the over all editorship
of George M. Piskurich. This format, which avoids the limitation
inherent in sole authorship, given the tendency of this particular
subject area to sprawl somewhat, allows the book to cover a lot
of ground. We have chapters on everything from asynchronous to synchronous
forms of learning, from virtual classroom to chat, from self-directed
learning to learning as a group.
However, the very uniqueness of the endeavour makes the size of
its authors' achievement in doing this a little difficult to measure.
What do you compare it against? Perhaps this was also a problem
for the writers. I find it hard to picture an ideal reader for this
book, and much of the advice seems of a very general nature to me.
Not to put too fine a point on it, far too much time is spent stating
the blindingly obvious.
Learners have two main problems in getting to grips with e-learning,
we are told early on: making sure they are ready technologically
for e-learning, and making sure they are ready for self-directed
learning. According to Lucy M. and Paul J Guglielmino's piece, 'the
former is usually quickly mastered and very seldom reduces e-learning
completion rates'. Logically, therefore, one would expect more attention
to focus on the latter. It is a little disappointing therefore to
find so much of the book taken up with technical information of
an extremely rudimetary kind such as, 'make sure you are familiar
with using a mouse'.
Concrete, practical advice of the sort given in Bill Knapp's chapter
on 'How to Prepare to Attend a Synchronous E-Learning Course' is
undoubtedly useful. As someone who has experienced - on both Centra
and Interwise - the extreme psychological disorientation produced
by one's first encounter with the 'virtual classroom', I can attest
to the number of minor technical difficulties one ought to prepare
for.
And it is uncontestably true that many potential users of e-learning
will have a very low level of computer knowledge. I admit that I
am not in the target market. The read-my-lips style used here, patronising
as it might sound to my ears, could well be a godsend to someone
who wants to learn online, but who feels less than comfortable with
techno-speak and isn't familiar with computers.
However there are times when the obviousness of the advice here
breaks through to a new dimension of banality, and where a simple
thing is explained with such braindead ponderousness that it eludes
meaning altogether, beginning to resemble one of the more arcane
proofs from string theory:
'Visualize the content by using the visuals and animation as a
guide and starting point for your own visualization of the subject-matter
expert's or designer's illustration'.
A bottle of Tizer to any reader who can tell me what that means.
Then again, the advice we do get on the subject of becoming a self-directed
learner is couched in the rather fluffy and self-consciously 'motivational'
language familiar to readers of self-help literature:
'When problems and barriers occur, do I feel overburdened or defeated,
or do I remind myself that overcoming obstacles is just a natural
part of the learning process and quickly begin to mentally play
with ways of meeting the challenge and accomplishing my learning
goal?'
So okay, US business prose is a soft target - but this sort of
stuff, which seems intended to not-so-subtly suggest to any new
e-learner that if they don't like what they are getting then the
problem is probably with them (rather than being just another case
of bad instructional design) patently will not wash.
A gauntlet is thrown down early on in this book - 'successful e-learning
requires a high commitment and drive, as well as acceptance of responsibility
to work alone' - which the rest of the volume fails to pick up.
That quote says it all: the problem, as far as organisational learning
is concerned, lies with culture and motivation.
In the UK, at least, these questions are being seriously addressed
by the learning community. Learner support is a burning issue, as
are the marketing, evaluation and assessment of learning within
organisations. Blended learning is more or less tacitly accepted
by all as being the way forward (tellingly, blended learning doesn't
get a single mention here).
So if you are the head of learning and development for (let's take
a random example) a chain of northern retail outlets, this is probably
not the book you will want to give to your learners to fire them
up with the potential of e-learning. And for me its shortcomings
are not just about the cultural differences between here and the
US.
The real problem is that the debate has moved on.
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