E-Learning: The Rise of the Digital Edupreneurs-Part II

The successful rise of the edupreneurs in this century and the next will be affected by the interrelationship and collaboration of the educator as a change agent and the online instructional designer as an enabler and co-designer with the educator as they create irresistibly engaging learning experiences for learners. Keep in mind that a new vision of e-learning sees the purpose of education as to mentor and guide students to become creators of new knowledge and skill sets that will impact their respective societies. Constant innovation becomes a new norm for the new edupreneurs. A properly designed global E-Learning education complex  becomes the incubator for the development of skill sets and mind sets necessary to nurture the rise of edupreneurs. The dependency on sustained collaboration among those who would be the architects of this complex is necessary and achievable, given the continued development of useful technology and transformative pedagogy.

However, there will be challenges to achieving such a vision. It would be unrealistic to suggest that those who have become comfortable in the old vision and model of education will simply adopt this as the way for E-Learning for the future. Discussions and conversations are important because they help us refine our thinking and also spark creative thinking that is necessary in order to create new ideas that are the life blood of innovation. The role of the online instructional designer will synch with other collaborators who share a common vision with the educator. Serious game designers will be one of those collaborators as those on the leading edge of this field will bring their expertise in the adapting of new technology such as augmented reality and immersive learning environments to the requirements of a new transformative pedagogy that will be the hallmark of a new E-Learning.

There remains one important monolithic construct that has not changed to reflect the new realities in online education. In order for the rise of the new edupreneurs to be effective, this construct must be re-designed. The construct I am speaking of is assessment.

I will address three main challenges that the present state of assessment presents to E-Learning that in fact not only hinders the development of thoughtfully engaged students but also has contributed to a rebellion on the part of the learner and educator alike. I will present the thoughts that I have on this in a posting at the LinkedIn website.........