E-Learning or Online Learning: Potato-Potahto?

I work in the E-Learning Office at the University of Prince Edward Island. I’m an E-Learning Instructional Designer.

So then based on that information, what would you say my job is?

Create interactive e-learning content for faculty

• Administrate our institution’s learning management system with faculty, staff and students
• Consult with, educate and support faculty on face-to-face course design/re-design
• Consult with, educate and support faculty on online course design/re-design
• Act as a curator of instructional technology applications, tips and tricks for faculty and staff

If you said all of the above then you’re correct. However, if you picked any one of or a combination of the above, I could certainly understand.

After all, what does e-learning actually mean?

A quick check through some of the teaching and learning centres of Canadian universities didn’t really help to clear things up for me either. Dalhousie was one of the few places where their Centre for Learning and Teaching actually goes to the trouble of defining what e-learning means to them. They interpret it as the use of electronic media and devices as tools to improve access and to develop new ways of looking at learning.

Maybe I’m suffering from an existential job identity crisis? I tussle with my title and the title of our office, especially since I read Michael Allen’s article, What is E-Learning? While he acknowledges that e-learning is often seen as a digital hodge podge, he does provide a more specific interpretation:

e-Learning is interactive with the learner, asking questions or posing challenges to which learners respond and the e-learning gives feedback. It’s often one learner per device (computer or mobile), although multiple learners with one device can be highly successful as well.

See, that puts my career soul more at ease. E-learning is interactive content, often but not exclusively designed with a rapid course authoring tool that provides that content in a more engaging way to learners.

Allen suggests that e-learning, MOOCs and distance learning all fit under the umbrella term of online learning. Again, that’s an explanation that I can get behind. He also mentions that online learning is in contrast to digital learning because there may be some sort of software of application to runs independently of a live remote connection.

So maybe my colleagues and I should be the Office of Online and Digital Learning instead of the E-Learning Office? That would certainly better capture what we currently do, including the fact that we also have a multimedia specialist on staff.

And I’m an instructional designer. Period. No other embellishments needed for that title. As my office colleague says, good instructional design is good instructional design whether it’s online or face-to-face. And I acknowledge online course design and delivery is not exactly the same as face-to-face. However, my point is that both stem from the same pedagogical principles. With a few context-specific tweaks, those principles can be applied to instruction done in both environments.

Look, I realize this may simply be a case of one person’s semantic quirks. Potato-potahto. All I know is I feel far more contented when I think of what I do as being related to online learning, of which e-learning is only one component. Hopefully it is a digression that promotes and stimulates further thought for you too.