In Defense of the Course

Jeff Cobb at Mission to Learn has got me thinking that it’s time for a sensible defense of the old-fashioned “course.” Jeff usually gets me thinking (thanks, Jeff!) his blog entry, “Learning Set Free” begs a debate.

Don’t get me wrong. I love and buy into the entire sensemaking approach — we actually use it in one of our programs. Anyone who reads this blog knows I’m keenly supportive of active learning. Etc. etc.

But there’s a time and place for the conventional “course.”

Learners Forget

Okay, I’ll confess up front I can’t find the article, but we’ve seen the data that discusses how much learners forget as soon as they walk out the door (or close the asynchronous course), and how much more they fail to retain over time.

So we help them plug the holes with Web 2.0 — or my new favorite reference to these online tools, Social Learning — so they can connect with each other for answers, update their personal learning environments by blogging or podcasting or capturing their new knowledge on their wikis, or saving the links to their social bookmarking sites…. right?

Learning Styles Bunk

I’m sure to be in the minority here, but the whole cacophony of “learning styles” is myth and bunk. Fortunately, though I’m in the minority, I’m not alone, but rather in a group of scientists and learning theorists.