Strategic e-learning questions: Pure or blended online education? Teacher driven or automatized services? Individual, collaborative or cooperative learning? Synchronous or asynchronous communication? Paced or unpaced progression? Fixed or flexible start-up?

1. E-train
Module 2. E-learning
models
A presentation by
Morten Flate Paulsen

2. Strategic e-learning questions:
1. Pure or blended online
education?
2. Teacher driven or automatized
services?
3. Individual, collaborative or
cooperative learning?
4. Synchronous or asynchronous
communication?
5. Paced or unpaced progression?
6. Fixed or flexible start-up?

3. 1. Pure or blended online education?
Traditional
education
Distance
education
Pure
online
education
Blended
learning

4. Pure online education
• No geographical boundaries
• No need for classrooms
• Requires comprehensive online
services

5. Blended online education
• Often adds costs and complexity
since it must handle both online
and classroom activities
• The classroom activities reduce
flexibility regarding time and
place
• Face-to-face meetings are
familiar, social and for some
pedagogical purposes difficult to
substitute with e-learning

6. 2. Teacher driven or automatized
services?
• A question of cost-effectiveness?
• More students – more resources?
• Few students: more teacher interaction with individual students, less
course design and less automatized?
• Many students: less teacher interaction with individual students,
more course design and more automatized?

7. Teacher driven
• Many online teachers report
heavy workloads
• Teacher workloads add costs
• People accept to pay for
individual access to an expert
• Students want quality feedback
and swift responses from their
teachers

8. Automatized
• Make sense if you have lots of
students
• MOOCs
• Open Educational Resources
• Student support services
• Enrolment
• Certificates

9. 3. Individual, collaborative or
cooperative learning?

10. Flexible
individual learning
is controlled by
the student
Cooperative
learning
takes place in
networks
Collaborative
learning
depends on
groups
Cooperative online education
Independence with the help of others
Rigid
individual learning
is controlled by
the school
Individual flexibility
Affinitytolearningcommunity

11. 4. Synchronous or asynchronous
communication?
• In asynchronous communication, the message is stored in the
communication medium until the receivers find it convenient to
retrieve it.
• E-mail
• Online forums
• Synchronous communication, could be less flexible, but allows people
to communicate in real time, as they do face-to-face or in Skype.
Scheduling of synchronous communication varies in flexibility. A
telephone conversation can be initiated without any prior schedule,
but a videoconference must usually be scheduled in advance.

12. Synchronous
• Real time
• Spontaneous
• Easier to make decisions

13. Asynchronous
• Allows more time for reflection
• More freedom in time

14. 5. Paced or unpaced progression?
• Paced course progression means that the school set more or less rigid
deadlines for class sessions, submissions, exams etc.
• Unpaced courses allow individual pacing within some boundaries

15. Paced progression?
• The schedule may be
inconvenient for individuals
• Easier for school and teacher?
• Not access to all modules from
start
• Must follow sequence
• Possible to open course before
everything is developed

16. Unpaced progression?
• Follow your own schedule, not
the school’s
• Fewer students working with the
same task at the same time
• You can benefit from tracks
made by students in front of
you.
• Requires discipline
• Does it influence drop out?

17. 6. Fixed or flexible start-up?
• This is an important strategic decision
• Two models with different approaches to
administration, pedagogy, student support and economy
• Why have most institutions chosen fixed start-up?
• Can flexible start-up give your school a competitive edge?

18. Fixed start-up?
• Courses with fixed start-up
require students to start at a
certain time
• This time is convenient for the
school, but not necessary for the
student
• Some schools have several start-
up dates per year.
• Course providers sometime have
to cancel courses with few
enrolments

19. Flexible start-up?
• Some students are not able to
attend if the start-up date is
fixed.
• Others find flexible start-up
more convenient
• Institutions may recruit more
students if they have flexible
start-up

20. So, what about the E-train course?
1. Pure or blended?
2. Teacher driven or
automatized?
3. Individual, collaborative or
cooperative?
4. Synchronous or
asynchronous?
5. Paced or unpaced?
6. Fixed or flexible start-up?

21. Finally
We would like to hear your experiences and thoughts
on these strategic questions in the E-train course
assignments
www.nooa.no