Search the the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Journals, or the web to identify three breakthrough eventsin the evolution of eLearning.

The events that you choose shouldrepresent an impact on social change and eLearning.

Breakthrough eventsmay be any of the following:

• Seminal research findings
• Significant changes in pedagogy
• Major changes in educational delivery methods
• Significant inventions that contributed to modes of instruction
• Social and/or political events

Individually post your three selected events, along with a rationale for why you chose each breakthrough.

Review the collection of events that were posted and choose the topthree events that were posted in the Learning Community discussionarea.. Write a 1-paragraph rationale for each of the top three eventsexplaining why you decided that they were the most pertinent events inthe evolution of eLearning.

Listed below are the ideas from the Learning Community you only have to pick three and write a 1 paragraph.

1.MOODLE – November 2001. MOODLE wasn't the first LMS, but it was thegame-changer in that it was open-source and it was built aroundsocial-constructivist pedagogy. It was all about the learner's point ofview. MOODLE came into existence thanks to Martin Dougiamas,who was the webmaster at an Australian university. He created MOODLEto solve some issues he had with WebCT. He extended an invitation tothe world at large to adapt, extend, or modify it commercially ornon-commercially without any licensing fees. That's thesocial-constructivist philosophy at work right there. Your learners, orusers, are actively involved in the tinkering and experimenting, andthey learn even more by explaining what they have learned or created toothers. In the case of MOODLE, the developers are the users andlearners, and the code for MOODLE is constantly tweaked, adapted,peer-reviewed, and refined through open discussion in the usercommunity.

For many, it's the gateway online learning platform because it's free– you just have to find a place to host it. I started with MOODLE.That, combined with the extensive resources and support by aninternational user community of millions, makes for a great entryexperience into the world of creating learning online.

I've since moved on through Schoology, Canvas, Blackboard and nowD2L/Brightspace. There are some big names out there who are making alot of dollars in the LMS business. Blackboard, in fact, founded rightabout at the same time as MOODLE. But they all have a dotted line goingright back to MOODLE because MOODLE demonstrated how to create anonline learning environment for the learner, by the learner.

Theuse of data in education is not new, however, the advent of Big Datahas brought the practice to an extreme. I understand Big Data asreferring to extremely large amounts of data that can be analyzed byusing computers to reveal patterns, trends, and relationships relatingto human performance, behavior, and interactions. According to anEducation Week article, the type of information being analyzed ineducation will go beyond test scores and focus on monitoring, inreal-time, factors like facial expressions, social interaction, andhealth (Herold, 2018).

Reference

Herold, B. (2018). The Future of Big Data and Analytics in K-12 Education. Education Week. Retrieved 18 March 2018, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/01/13/the-…

2. One of the great moments inelearning was the rise of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has only been around forabout 14 years (since 1999) but it is the invention that allowedelearning to undergo a metamorphosis, changing the web from a read-onlystate that revolved around static content to a read & write &collaborate state that uses dynamic content that is added to,synthesized, and remixed constantly. It further changed the web from amedium used to transmit information to a platform to create, share, anddistribute content that can be used by anyone. Web 2.0 was thedemocratization of the Web (Kumar, 2009, p. 2)

Kumar, R. (2009). "Elearning 2.0: Learning redefined." Library Philosophy and Practice. 284. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/284

3.Having access to technological resources dramatically stirred up thelives of teachers, causing the need for change to the practice andprocess of teaching. In many cases, technology was introduced withoutgiving thought to its role or appropriate use. It was not uncommon tosee the use of the technology as the focus of a lesson, instead of as ameans to to reach the same learning objectives one had had prior tointroduction of technology. Teachers needed new ways to teach thathelped them to incorporate technology effectively. New theories ofteaching entered the picture that helped teachers to smoothly meldcontent, pedagogy, and technology.

One that was instrumental in helping me to create a conceptualframework for the use of technology back in 2012, when I began a 1:1iPad pilot, was TPCK by Mishra & Koehler (2006). TPCK is based uponShulman's work in 1986, which argued that there is an intersectionbetween content, pedagogy, and pedagogical content knowledge on the partof the teacher. It's the way that subject matter is transformed forteaching, basically. Mishra and Koehler expanded upon Schulman's workto propose that technology should not be isolated from this process butshould be incorporated into it. Indeed, they argued that technologicalpedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) is a whole new area that forms thebasis for good teaching with technology.

I am not arguing that TPCK alone was responsible for a shift in theway teachers approached technology or its use in learning; there arecertainly many other theories out there that also made contributions.But learning about this one in 2012 was the disequilibrium I needed toforce me to re-examine the way I was teaching and how I was going tohave to change the way I did things to use technology to its realpotential. It was the moment that brought me to where I am right now.So for me personally, I'd call the introduction of TPCK a seminal moment:-).

MIshra, P. & Koehler, M. (2006, June). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teacher College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.

Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14

4. Mobile Devices: Mobile devices caused abreakthrough in eLearning by removing the shackles from the learner.Prior to the development of mobile devices learners where required touse a large, bulky desktop computer which was stationary. Individualscarry the mobile devices with them everywhere (Chuang, 2009)High speedmobile devices caused significant shifts in this paradigm in thatlearning can occur anywhere and at any time.

References

Chuang, K.-W. (2009). Mobile technologies enhance the e-Learning opportunity. American

Journal of Business Education, 2(9), 49–54.