Lesson 2 Overview

Introduction

Have you ever wondered who invented courses? What about why almost all formal and even most informal learning today is packaged as a course? When online learning became technically feasible, the advent and proliferation of some kind of course management system (CMS contrast with LMS and LCMS, etc.) was inevitable. Now, there are more than 600 such software systems (McIntosh, 2014).

What was, what is, and what can be? Can today’s virtual classrooms bring the medieval classroom into the 21st century? That depends upon you. Like correspondence courses, virtual classrooms depend on knowledge objects and artifacts, especially textbooks and readings, to present course content.  But advances in online collaboration tools allow you to recreate and improve the structure and learning experiences of a physical classroom (sometimes called e-learning 2.0). Well-designed virtual classrooms preserve the orderly structure and rich interaction of the classroom while removing the requirement for everyone to be in the same location at the same time. But remember for good or ill that a virtual classroom is all windows.

Objectives

Here are the objectives for this lesson.

• Describe the fields/forces at play—from legacy systems to  technological innovation—which will define and redefine your virtual courses during your professional career.
• Appreciate that online learning is in a rapid transition phase now and that you will participate in what it will become.
• Experience e-learning tasks that demonstrate various approaches.
• Apply these concepts to design e-learning within your organization/institution.

Lesson Readings & Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

---

Reference

McIntosh, D. (2014). Vendors of learning management and e-learning products. Retrieved from http://www.trimeritus.com