Let’s call out a few elephants in the room by acknowledging some common issues and tensions in the world of online learning. There is merit to each of these, yet also potential conflict between them.
- Open educational philosophy
- Corporate, privatized philosophy
- Limitation of resources
- Needs
- Autonomy
- Efficiency
- Technological fluency
This list could undoubtedly be expanded, and many of these have been cast into the spotlight by COVID-19. Rather than throwing our hands in the air and crying defeat, we should harness the energy created by these tensions and the crucible caused by these unprecedented recent global events.
Corie (2022) highlighted the potential to integrate some corporate accountability practices such as Total Quality Management (TQM) principles into educational practice in order to increase safety and improve decisions and outcomes. This suggestion is supported by corporate principles of project management that require strict adherence to plans that include schedule, costs, scope, and quality assurance, all with careful consideration of stakeholders (Watt, 2014). Implementing this perspective in educational projects would seem potentially fruitful; however, it’s important to maintain a global perspective in how we integrate corporate philosophy in order to maintain safety, especially in branches of education that include minors.
A recent article by Durrani & Alphonso (2022) in The Globe and Mail revealed the dark side of some privatized online learning resources. Many people were cast into a form of online learning that I will refer to as emergency remote learning (ERL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An organization called Human Rights Watch alleges that during this time, “online education platforms in 49 countries actively or passively infringed upon children’s rights by collecting and sharing their personal information, such as their locations and web browsing histories.” Sadly, these seemingly harmless, free educational resources come at a grave hidden cost, and this example demonstrates every single tension listed above.
There is a balance to be found in navigating these tensions, and fruit to carry on as we move forward, hopefully leaving ERL and the pandemic behind us.
References
Corie. (2022, February 13). Not just a school, but also a workplace. An Untextbook Project. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://untextbookdemo.opened.ca/voice/not-just-a-school-but-also-a-workplace/
Durrani, T., & Alphonso, C. (2022, May 25). Technology used by educators in abrupt switch to online school shared kids’ personal information, investigation shows. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-online-school-kids-privacy-data/
Watt, A. (2014). Project Management (2nd ed.). BCcampus.
Thanks for the reference Alisha! I would argue that the inclusion of safety is an integral part of any TQM or project management activities, even as they pertain to education. It shocks me almost daily how good the #techcharlatans are at working around project management standards that may be in place, all in the name of ‘progress’ and ‘education’.
I am looking forward to seeing how the studies that are done in the future show what we did well and what we did not do well during/after the pandemic.