End transmission

Originally published to eBridge on Sunday 23 October 2011

The discussions around the TPI scores have got me thinking more about my practice to date. I think much of the work that I've been asked to do in the past has fitted more closely to the transmission model, possibly due to the fact that our examiners and moderators are widely dispersed and/or the mindset of people who were previously in charge. Since starting the MEd course I've been a lot more vocal in the need to engage learners through discussion rather than simply broadcasting content out to them. I think a lot of the mentality about online learning still seems to be stuck with the model of CBT discs that gave automated tests and feedback, and people still expect everything to work this way. However it simply isn't practical to produce such an extensive resource when the subject matter changes so frequently, nor does it help in the first instance for something that requires any real depth of thought.

I'm wondering how much of the motivation behind producing those CBTs was commercial interest - especially for Microsoft products. It was in their interest to get people to be more confident in using the software so it would sell more and make them dominant in the market. Now that we're all expected to be proficient already, I don't see as many of them being ordered ... but enough of my cynicism!