Evolution of filmmaking vis a vis online learning

Many early movies were just filmed plays. Early producers simply applied a new technology to an existing cultural construct. The excitement, lasting for a short period of time, was the simple act of watching a play…without having to go to the theater. That new medium was a moving target with evolving capabilities — silent, talkies, color, and special effects. Of course, movies came into their own when directors applied new filming techniques and developed new storytelling mechanisms that took advantage of the new technology in ways that a filmed play could not.

Similarly, digital learning can be, and should be, far more than filmed videos and written documents uploaded to an LMS. Some of us are still at the “filmed play” stage of online learning. Certainly it is clear to everyone that the capabilities of this medium are both evolving and still being explored. Generative AI, I’m looking at you. At Studion we believe that innovative online learning lies at the intersection (and integration) of platform, pedagogy, and content.

“Why invest in online learning?”

Way back in 2016, when this blog post first debuted, the head of online learning at a large, successful, and innovative research university asked fairly directly why schools should increase their investment, or even continue to invest, in putting classes online. At the time, this was a serious question from a major player in the online learning industry.

It’s expensive to make online courses and keep them running. In the decade before the pandemic, online learning was all about scale. The MOOC movement was evidence of this. In the MOOC era, universities were committed to educational outreach while also being equally committed to not relying on tuition funds from on-campus students in order to produce said courses.

In the post-MOOC and post-pandemic era, it is essential to create learning experiences that can both achieve the scale of a MOOC course while also engaging learners: to create High Engagement at Scale®.

This means that throwing talking head videos up on a learning experience platform and declaring victory is out of the question for organizations that want to be leaders in online learning.

However, the essential question still remains: “Why should organizations invest in putting learning experiences online?” (For reasons other than, perhaps, because they feel that they have to.)

Integrated platform, pedagogy, and content

The direct answer is this:

An online course should not be the educational equivalent of a filmed play. It should deeply integrate new technologies for the benefit of both teachers and learners. It should not force old processes and resources into the new approach.

The sweet spot of online learning, the point at which it enriches the ongoing teaching and learning, is where platform, pedagogy, and content are inseparable.

• The platform should support and instantiate the pedagogy while also enabling search and discovery of the digital content.

• The pedagogy should take advantage of the computational platform (powerful servers for social and computational support and powerful Web browsers for effective interface implementations) and the instant availability of and extensive storage capability for digital content.

• The content should be digitized, easily searchable, and modularly designed for multiple deployments. Access to a wide range of digital content should be a top-level consideration in the pedagogy of the course. It should also be integrated into a network of other learning resources on the platform so that the learner can easily explore other, related content.

How to create and run an innovative online learning experience

Given today's technology and the pervasiveness of content at our fingertips, it's a baseline expectation that learning be interesting, engaging, and effective. Those of you at leading institutions and companies want to do more than “film plays.” You want to create the educational version of Citizen Kane, modern and distinctive online learning experiences.

This blog post was originally published on February 22, 2016. It was updated on December 4, 2024.