Distance Education in Transition - Master of Distance Education ...

New Learning Spaces
instruction in real learning spaces is based on historical experiences and the tradition of
given learning cultures, of oral learning cultures. Lectio and disputatio were the medieval
forms which still exist and prevail as lecture and the scientific discourse. The monologues
of teachers in school and college classes are still part of this tradition.
If we focus on virtual learning spaces we are confronted with an entirely different
scenario. Imagine: all the properties mentioned so far have vanished. The main purpose
of real learning spaces, the gathering of teacher and taught, becomes meaningless. The
unlimited, incomprehensible sphere behind the screen of the monitor spreads beyond all
familiar learning locations and can encompass the world and the cosmos even. Time and
locations are not fixed. This unfathomable space is not closed, not sheltered, persons
and objects are not relatively fixed, but rather fleeting and transitory. They change often
and quickly. They fluctuate. There is no real environment the students can interact with
and establish relations to. The students do not interact face-to-face in groups, but have
to contact fellow students somewhere else. Hence, the learners are not bound up with
each other. But what is most important: The students do not speak and listen, but read
and write. Oral teaching and learning is substituted by literate teaching and learning.
This means that a learning tradition is broken up. And the historical dimension is lost
altogether. These virtual learning spaces differ from real learning spaces so extremely
that a shock of recognition seizes anyone reflecting closely and seriously upon them.
Why is it necessary to focus on this particular difference? Because we are confronted with
a fundamental pedagogical problem here. Is it adequate, permissible, or recommendable
to transplant methods of learning which have been developed in real spaces to virtual
spaces? In other words: may we replicate forms of learning and teaching which are
inherent in real learning spaces? We all know how often this is being done. Could
methods of learning specific for our traditional predominantly oral learning culture be
transplanted to a predominantly literate learning culture? Do we not face severe structural
incompatibilities when doing so? Is it not necessary to define learning anew when using
the net? In the last analysis I believe it is obvious that learning in virtual spaces requires
pedagogical strategies specific to their digitised learning environments.
What could these pedagogical structures look like? The answers cannot be found by
falling back upon the methods we are familiar with because of our experiences at schools
and universities. No, we have to open up new paths. We should analyse the digitised
learning environment carefully under innovative pedagogical perspectives. We should
ask ourselves: Which are the new technological possibilities which can be exploited for
new learning purposes? Is it possible to derive new pedagogical strategies from them?
In which way can we structure the virtual learning spaces for the benefits of the
students? These tasks have high priority. By solving them we might become able to
discern the emergence of a pedagogy of online learning.
84