Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
23 February 2021
Online Learning Unboxed:
An Inside, Upside and Outside View
@mbrownz
What is unboxing?
a) Trying to find lost items in storage
b) Something that happens on YouTube
c) Unwrapping a piece of new technology
d) Unpacking after moving to another house
e) None of the above
“Technology-enhanced learning involves an ongoing
cycle of hype, hope and disappointment”
(Gouseti, 2010).
“The light comes through the gaps”
1. An inside view
2. An upside future
3. An outside disruption
Outline….
Photo by Sepehr on Unsplash
https://eua.eu/resources/publications
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/thefutureoflearning
Starts March 8th…
1. An inside view
Photo by Sepehr on Unsplash
The Rhetoric Reality Gap
“With the coming of the New Media, the need for
print on paper will rapidly diminish. The day will
soon arrive when the world’s literature will be
available from The Automatic Library at the
mere pressing of a button”
(Uzanne, 1994; cited
in McFarlane, 1997, p.173).
(Uzanne, 1894; cited
in McFarlane, 1997, p.173).
“With the coming of the New Media, the need for
print on paper will rapidly diminish. The day will
soon arrive when the world’s literature will be
available from The Automatic Library at the
mere pressing of a button”
“I believe that the motion picture is destined to
revolutionize our educational system and that
in a few years it will supplant largely, if not
entirely, the use of textbooks,”
(Thomas Edison, 1922)
“We will undoubtedly have lectures of every
conceivable kind presented to us right in our
homes, when practical television arrives,
possibly a year or two off.”
Short Wave Craft,
1935
Project
Plato 1960s
Project
Plato 1960s
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
The old
pump, pump, DUMP
model of online learning
Transformative mindsets matter most!
Bolting or Unboxing?
‘You can’t just unbox something
and expect the latest shiny new
thing will transform teaching
because it looks good’
2. An upside future
Photo by Sepehr on Unsplash
2015
No Significant
Difference
On-Campus
in Class
Formal
Informal
Physical Virtual
Digital
Leakage
Off-Campus
in Class
Off-Campus
Out of Class
On-Campus
in Class
Formal
Informal
On-Campus
out of Class
Physical Virtual
Digital
Leakage
Hybrid
https://www.classcentral.com/report/mooc-stats-pandemic/
90,000
Educators
https://library.educause.edu/
https://onehe.org/equity-unbound/
• 6,500+ learners
• High engagement
• 54% completion rate
• 1,500+ DCU certificates
• 4.7 quality rating
• Next offering feb 2021
• 1 new university each day
• 7 new universities per week
• 365 new universities per year
• 10,950 new universities over 30 years
= 30K students
= 210K students
= 11M students
= 329M students
3. An outside disruption
Photo by Sepehr on Unsplash
2018
1,200+ 30/11/2020
Credit Bearing
Non Credit Bearing
Bundled Unbundled
Credential
Ecology
Macro-credentials
Formal Accredited
Degrees
Credit Bearing
Non Credit Bearing
Bundled Unbundled
Credential
Ecology
Macro-credentials
Formal Accredited
Degrees
Micro-credentials
Formal & Semi Formal
Accredited & Stackable
Short Courses
Non-Formal & Semi-Formal
Non-Stackable
Badges & Awards
Informal & Non-Formal
Non-Accredited
60
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl
https://www.dcu.ie/nidl
“Micro-credentials
should be in the service of
big ideas,
not as a big idea
in itself”
Photo by Sepehr on Unsplash
Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you

Online Learning Unboxed: An Inside, Upside and Outside View