My letter that did not get published, in response to an NYT op-ed on online learning

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Re-posted from the Center for Advanced Learning Community Blog, Behind our firewall

From: Sarah Siegel
Date: Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 9:53 PM
Subject: "The Trouble With Online Education" - Op-Ed on July 20th
To: letters@nytimes.com

The trouble with "The Trouble With Online Education" is that it refers only to the sort of online learning that's ineffective and paints learning in physical classrooms as automatically dialogical. In undergraduate classes of 100 students, which Professor Edmundson referred to, typically, I felt that I was engaged mostly in an internal dialogue as the professor lectured on to the pit full of us. At its best, online learning enables a global dialogue among the instructors and learners. For example, in my work with global business leaders, we have engaged 970 learners concurrently via live video over the web and live-chat moderators. The leaders learn from the presenters and one another and the dialogue is richer than it would be if we were face to face, as their regional origins would be limited by travel constraints. These views are my own and don’t necessarily represent my employer's opinions.

Sarah Siegel
Social Learning Developer
IBM Center for Advanced Learning

This was my response to this NYT Op-Ed. It was not published and here is a link to the letters that *were* published. All of them make interesting observations and all are strictly academic/higher-ed-oriented.