Online learning – what worked for me; and what did not.

Online learning, blended learning, e-Learning, MOOCs, etc., find pride of place in every profile of mine – online or offline. I boast of being part of teams that introduced international distance learning programmes – I dare say successfully – into India some twenty odd years ago, and then facilitated their journey into e-Learning and later into blended learning formats. Those were pathbreaking days.

That said, however, as a student of distance learning programmes, I have not been a shining beacon or even a b-grade ambassador. I paid for and enrolled in many, dropped out of most, and completed only a few.

So, when this article on online learning (https://bit.ly/2JA0l9d) popped up some time ago, it literally took me on a journey. And I had to write about it.

Some of the earliest distance learning programmes I attempted were the traditional print-based ones. I tried both domestic and international ones – all of them were equal disasters (for me). It wasn’t the study material for sure. I remember falling back on material produced by these same institutes during my university years, and they helped immensely. The difference seemed to be the drive and the subject area of study. While at university, I had to work hard for that degree parchment, so I put in a lot more effort and time. Besides, all I had to do was to study!

Once in a job, priorities changed. I started picking up self-paced programmes only because I thought it would help me sell them better. Well, what better pitch than the “I-am-speaking-out-of-experience” one? I barely scraped through a couple – just enough to get that convincing tone into my sales pitch. Something was missing. At the same time, many wannabe distance learning universities were being set up and many more were being shut down. The UKeU was perhaps the most [in]famous of them all (a Google search now doesn’t even list the UKeU anywhere).

Nothing remarkable happened within my self-development space till the introduction of MOOC much later. Well, I tried them too. And I completed many more this time. But I still left a few mid-way. The key thing that had changed between then and now was that I had enough insight to analyse my own progress over the years.

What worked for me.

We’ve all heard arguments around which one amongst content and media is ‘king’. For me there were a lot of other things thrown in. The following were the common characteristics of the programmes I completed successfully.

Pre-enrolment:

• The course was easy to find. There are many sites that help one decide what’s best for them.
• The choice of programme was completely my own and the topic was very close to my heart. No pressure from HR, peers, family, boss or ‘work’ in general. The answer to “what’s in it for me?” was very clear. I felt the need to keep myself up to date on that subject matter.
• The course was offered by an institute of international repute
• The course was offered on a platform of international repute
• The course was highly rated based on feedback from past students
• The course followed a set timetable but also offered me the flexibility of transferring to a later cohort if I missed a deadline.
• I didn’t have to pay first. I could “audit” the course before I decided whether it was worth any money. The entire programme, including the course material, assignments and other assessments were available to me for free. All I had to pay was for the final certificate. Yeah, the bling!

During the course:

• The instructors were lively! They were the most animated (!) things on the course. They were always on their feet (literally) and their passion was almost evangelistic! I didn’t even know that certain topics could be delivered is such an interesting manner. This must be the MOST important success feature of any MOOC. Here’s one such example and my absolute benchmark.
• Each of those courses had a healthy cross section of participants from across the globe. Gender, colour, creed, nationalities, age, profession – even people with varied levels of English language proficiency – you name it, they were all there. No bias or prejudice of any kind ever showed up.
• The courses were peer-reviewed – by more than one fellow student – and with both objective and subjective feedback
• The course was lecture driven – videos and more videos, supported by relevant graphics, videos and animations.
• The course had plenty of support material by way of notes, additional reading, journals, links to other sites, etc.
• Modules were bite sized and comfortably paced. I never felt drained or bored.
• Concepts were dumbed-down and made idiot-proof leaving no room for confusion
• Plenty of exercises to test my learning and revise topics
• There were always active forums to bounce any doubts off
• Technical support was available through live chats on the platform itself. No email, no forms, no auto replies or unending waits for a response – it was instant!
• Everything from enrolment to certification went like clockwork. I didn’t need to follow up or remind anyone for anything.

Post-certification

• I have life-long access to most of the courses I paid for (irrespective of my progress in the course itself)
• Wherever I completed the course successfully and paid for a certificate, the certificate can be displayed on my social media channels and verified by the providers if and whenever necessary.
• I had the option of repeated attempts if I was not satisfied with a mere ‘pass’ and wanted a distinction or “honors”.
• Students from newer batches join groups on various social media sites and add to the global alumni network.
• The course design team sends out weekly updates keeping my interest in the subject up to date and kicking

Needless to say, the courses that I dropped out of, or lost interest in, failed to meet any or most of these criteria. Worse still, I found some courses I paid for were actually available free of cost on YouTube and other video sharing sites. Cheating!

I am sure e-Learning programmes, including MOOCs are still evolving and the best is yet to come. After all, we are living in the most interesting of times.