A Glimpse into the Future of Online Education

Roger Wen, Sr. Dir. of the Online Campus, California State University - East Bay

Roger Wen, Sr. Dir. of the Online Campus, California State University - East Bay

Over the years, plenty of researchers have done enough reviews and studies on the history and students learning with regards to the distance and online learning. Some of us might still be able to picture the pony express where a mailman on the horseback gets mail from a little kid waiting on the gravel road. Some folks might have the image of a little kid learning on the Star Trek Enterprise. The purpose and advantage of distance and online learning over time haven’t changed at all; it is really about trying to accommodate the fact that anyone can take the advantages of the modalities where people can access the information anywhere, anytime, whatever information they want. The majority of the distance learning students in the past and today are still the same, juggling around their adult life with their family, jobs, or taking the information to enhance their personal and professional life. So, the concepts and advantages and purpose haven’t changed much;, what might be few areas that really enhance and take the distance, remote, and online learning to the next level?

From the operational standpoint, looking at the teaching and learning from the system theory and technology used in today’s learning infrastructure; it was until 2019 when COVID hits that’s where a lot of people started to realize more work needs to be done in the areas of instructional continuity and realize the value of distance and online education. A well designed distance and online learning operation should not make any difference just because of the COVID. If one keeps the same concept about the flexibility of access anywhere anytime, then such a system should be sustainable and scalable. Some traditional institutions that do not have strong online learning presences might just start to realize more work needs to be done in that area after COVID. Which is exciting for people who have been promoting online learning for the last 20 years. 

Some might have thought that the hardware infrastructure or Learning Management System are the most important to distance and online learning. Actually the most important should be the faculty professional developments and well-designed curricular. Notice the use of curricular here instead of the course or lesson? Thinking about the system as a whole, distance and online learning professionals should not just think about the course level or lesson level;, one should probably think about the various levels of the learning outcomes, mapping, and assessment. For example, ultimate learning outcomes, institutional learning outcomes, program level, course level, and even at the module level; how that all tie together and be able to measure the outcome and and continuous improvement. Distance and online learning should meet the same requirements as any other instructional modality. A distance and online learning is not just to put out a program, make more money and let students finish as soon as they can. People in the past questioned whether distance and online learning has the same quality as the ongroundface to face instructions. We see some exciting changes recently that a lot of the educators start wondering why the onground instructions do not have the same quality standard as the distance and online learning.

“Other than the system minded infrastructure, faculty development, and quality design curricular, personalized and customized learning programing along with utilizing advanced learning technology will be the area where we will see some exciting development.”

Other than the system minded infrastructure, faculty development, and quality design curricular,; personalized and customized learning programing along with utilizing advanced learning technology will be the area where we will see some exciting development for the future of distance and online learning.  Some technologies such as artificial intelligence and bBlockchain will eventually fill in some gaps and allow students to truly be able to access the high-quality information anywhere they want and be able to interact with content, instruction, instructors, virtual assistants, assessments, and also choose how they want to interact. Interaction can be with artificial intelligence, on-call instructors, content advisors, professional tutors, and/or teaching assistance available 24/7. All that requires innovative program design and adapting and seamless integrating the latest technology available.

Staff members at the Office of Online Campus at Cal State East Bay came up with a vision statement where “We Inspire & Reimagine Responsible Human Learning”. Would love to share that with everyone who is in the field designing online programs for the next generation of learners. It is up to us to be innovative and look for ways to customize the learning to meet all learners' needs. Truly personalized learning will be the key that can push human potential to the next level. A concept of such an innovative idea titled “Education Next - Intelligent Pathways for Career Success” was presented in 2019. Some might also continue to get some inspiration from Star Trek as to the possible vision of the future of the education ecosystem. The key point for all that is taking seriously about the life long learning or 60 years curriculum to the heart and provide the necessary knowledge and skill on demand or just in time to learners at their reach. 

When selecting educational tools for the campus, most institutions rely on  committees and based on committee members user preferences, a suggestion will be to look beyond the current tools available, take risks, forward thinking, and consider the whole ecosystem with faculty development and quality curricular design to the heart. Taking the LMS as one example, should institutions only think about major players in the market? Why not have two or three systems available for faculty and encourage a less mature but more innovative LMS to run on the campus. How cool will that be when every one of us truly be able to use any tool they choose, have access anytime/anywhere to customized engaging quality instruction,  personalized engaging learning activities to any topic they need; such a future will be the ultimate value of distant or online education.

Artificial Intelligence

Learning Management