The mythologies of eLearning

Well start of the new year here and time to commence some new work on e-Learning, a term that I must confess I am looking forward in many ways to replacing or at least redefining. None the less there is little doubt what so ever in my own mind and indeed from experience and evidence that technology can and should be used to extend our classrooms. Of course its not the technology at all that we need to make a case for really is it. Without wishing to invoke any comments about my deeper understanding of the term, really its 'learning culture' that is very much at issue here, or for that matter what is very often the lack of it. Whether e-Learning is part of a blended or whole distance learning solution, it is all to often the case I find that resistance emerges to its implementation from a range of perceptions, that I can only describe as myths, some more common than others for instance:-

• Students will not enjoy the interaction that a class environment provides
• e-Learning courses cannot provide the same level of quality
• Teachers will find themselves replaced by a computer

 And so I was more than pleased to come across a web article posted by Julie DeNeen entitled 30 Myths About e-Learning That Need To Die In 2013 , if you are looking for some ready made come backs, then let me recommend these for your virtual notebook, an excellent source.

Is it time I wonder to startup the compilation of such mythological objections that we so often hear, and  perhaps use it as an e-Learning myth of the day campaign? More reasonably though, just looking around at the growing trend of distance learning solutions both in education and the commercial sector, clearly myths reconciled, no doubt by those who listen more closely to the preferences for digital access and collaboration expressed by students. But let me just flip the coin a little, when condemning these contextual myths, I find maybe, just maybe, we should not at the same time conclude mythology itself has nothing to teach us on this very subject. Surprisingly I came across this posting on elninsights.com by Vov Cole entitled What can e-learning take from classical mythology and it tells the tale of The Sybilline Books, personaly I confess to not having heard of this one, but worth a read and I will leave you to follow the link.

Please feel free to post your thoughts and experiences .