Online 2.0 is Already A Dinosaur. Long Live Online 3.0!
The Convergent Learning Revolution Is About to Begin.
By Gene Levinson, PhD
(Full Disclosure: I am Founder of SmartNoter which offers a paid service to colleges and universities).
In news and social media coverage of education--both K-12 and higher education: one of the more interesting recent buzzwords is “Online 2.0.” That’s the title of a new book available at the Chronicle of Higher Education and it’s also in the title of a recent article appearing in the Orange County Register, just to name two.
The premise behind the buzzword is a valid one: the pressured, desperate push to shift from in-person to online instruction has, for the most part, been an unmitigated disaster. And that is not surprising. There are several major reasons:
- Teachers, professors and institutions have a steep learning curve, even for resources that go out of their way to be user-friendly, such as Zoom;
- Live, real-time video conferencing is stressful for both presenters and viewers--far more stressful than a one-on-one personal interaction, a phone call, or even being called on in class.
- Passive lectures have, for the most part, outlived their usefulness, and should go the way of the dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the 21st century Internet revolution has played the role of a sort of “Jurassic Park” for such anachronisms, with equally disastrous consequences.
- Rote memorization and standardized testing-- the defaults for most educational institutions of all kinds-- are demoralizing and toxic, and their widely acknowledged faults are amplified in many online approaches.
- Real-time classes are a major problem for families who have other things going on at home--such as childcare, under social distancing and lock-down.
This list could go on. But now, I’d like to remind readers of something about human nature that is often overlooked. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a bestselling book about the consequences of this phenomenon, called The Tipping Point.
The relevant point here is simply that most human beings, most of the time, are followers, and self-actualized individuals who seek the road less traveled by are in short supply.
Consequently, groundbreaking ideas and inventions are often overlooked--sometimes for decades-- before enough early-adopters have the awareness or courage to try something new, and to be proud of that.
We do not have years, or even weeks, to spare. The pandemic has made that painfully obvious to most of us, but unfortunately, in the U.S. at least, the powers that be, for reasons of their own, dragged their feet, and tens of thousands of people are losing their lives as a consequence--to say nothing of the mental anguish and disastrous economic consequences. We are now in an exponential phase of coronavirus transmission. The virus has gone viral. That was preventable. More importantly, there are many tens of thousands of lives at risk right now--and most schools and college campuses cannot safely reopen in the Fall with in-person instruction.
Thus, it is critically important for decision-makers at colleges and universities to know that we have invented something far better than Online 2.0. For purposes of this discussion, call it Online 3.0.
It is critically important that those same decision-makers for college Fall planning have the curiosity, commitment, and courage to be among the first to-- at the very least-- look closely at what we have to offer. This can be done by signing up for free access to our Convergent Media Creator--the new platform and toolkit that makes it easy for professors (and their Teaching Assistants, who can work remotely) to quickly migrate their own courses to our new system.
We have recently announced the major features of this groundbreaking, patented approach. Our team worked to launch Online 3.0 ASAP as a safe, robust, and scalable system-- in time for the Fall semester.
Rather than repeat all the advantages of Online 3.0 here, please refer to this LinkedIn post, or the original EurekAlert! press release.
If you work at a college or university in the U.S., you can apply for free access to our course migration/creation toolkit. Please visit smartnoter.com for more info.
Please spread the word. This is a social enterprise that can dramatically improve the way that we create, deliver and attend college courses--not only in the Fall, but for years to come.
Copyright ? Gene Levinson and SmartNoter Inc. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to share this entire, unmodified article in original form, with proper linking or attribution.