e-Learning or Technology-Mediated Learning

e-Learning as a buzz word has been with us for more than a decade in terms of its relation to modern schooling and as the common denominator for teaching and learning. Unfortunately, the rhetoric on the effectiveness of e-Learning is still ambiguous because of the lack of both qualitative and quantifiable measurable evidence. For many educators, the fact of integrating technology artifacts into the process of learning is enough to admit effective learning outcomes. In reality, from a pedagogical perspective, this is not true because it seems that it is technology which is handling pedagogy and not the opposite. Abrams (2015) sees it as follows:

The layered literacies framework requires educators to help students move between the online and offline worlds, using the knowledge gleaned in each to understand and to participate in socially ensconced spaces. Yet layering literacies doesn’t happen automatically. In fact, there’s much that mitigates against it, including overly scripted lessons that need to have more room for students’ interpretation and experimentation, the emphasis of assessment at the expense of ideation and originality, and the focus on technology without attention to pedagogy. (p.111)

Abrams, S. (2015) Integrating Virtual and Traditional Learning in 6-12 Classrooms. Routledge.