Edited by Owen Barritt, Thursday, 2 Oct 2008, 21:24
Going back over the introductory podcast from week 1 of H808 now, I share some of the views of each of the presenters.
I can see, as Robin Mason highlights, that professionalism in elearning should be built upon both practice and research. As Gill Kirkup points out, factors contributing to educational professionalism in general will still be valid in an elearning context. We still need to respect the student and to offer commitment to incorporating research into our practices, developing communities, encourage participation and continuing professional development and evaluation.
I would agree with Robin Goodfellow's thoughts that elearning professionalism should include a "a commitment to learning for civilisation as well as personal development", i.e. a commitment to contributing to the field for the aid to all those involved in it, including students, tutors, administrators, etc and also to make it more approachable to those not currently part of the elearning community in any respect.
However, I do not see professionalism as being as clearly split into "big P" and "little P" as in his discussion. A couple of the speakers mentioned membership of professional bodies and qualifications as being possible contributions to professionalism. Although, I can see these has having a place in ensuring professionalism, I can't see that they define it. People who have these qualifications/memberships aren't necessarily always professional and vice versa.
Finally Chris discussed of the development of elearning and the introduction of the world wide web being one of key factors in this. I would agree with this, and would see it as being quite difficult to have viewed elearning as a profession before this, as it seems it is the web which has really allowed the building of educational communities within distance education.
I would agree with Chris, that elearning includes aspects of other professions, but I don't think this makes it any less a profession in itself.
I don't think it's entirely clear what an elearning professional is, but I would say that it would include aspects covered in each of the 4 viewpoints of the speakers in the podcast.
E-Learning Professionalism
I can see, as Robin Mason highlights, that professionalism in elearning should be built upon both practice and research. As Gill Kirkup points out, factors contributing to educational professionalism in general will still be valid in an elearning context. We still need to respect the student and to offer commitment to incorporating research into our practices, developing communities, encourage participation and continuing professional development and evaluation.
I would agree with Robin Goodfellow's thoughts that elearning professionalism should include a "a commitment to learning for civilisation as well as personal development", i.e. a commitment to contributing to the field for the aid to all those involved in it, including students, tutors, administrators, etc and also to make it more approachable to those not currently part of the elearning community in any respect.
However, I do not see professionalism as being as clearly split into "big P" and "little P" as in his discussion. A couple of the speakers mentioned membership of professional bodies and qualifications as being possible contributions to professionalism. Although, I can see these has having a place in ensuring professionalism, I can't see that they define it. People who have these qualifications/memberships aren't necessarily always professional and vice versa.
Finally Chris discussed of the development of elearning and the introduction of the world wide web being one of key factors in this. I would agree with this, and would see it as being quite difficult to have viewed elearning as a profession before this, as it seems it is the web which has really allowed the building of educational communities within distance education.
I would agree with Chris, that elearning includes aspects of other professions, but I don't think this makes it any less a profession in itself.
I don't think it's entirely clear what an elearning professional is, but I would say that it would include aspects covered in each of the 4 viewpoints of the speakers in the podcast.