This episode of our popular Learn Better Series podcast features guest, Dr. Cristi Ford - the Vice President of Academic Affairs at D2L, a Canadian learning innovation company that developed and owns the Brightspace Learning Management System.
Dr. Cristi Ford and our host, Stuart Pedley-Smith explore the topic of online learning, where they discuss the benefits, challenges, and opportunities this brings.
Key topics discussed
The conversation begins with Stuart asking Cristi to explain her career history. She reflects on how it has been a nonlinear academic journey, but identifies as an educator who has dedicated most of her career to educating herself and others.
Earlier in her career, she spent time working with young adults who have autism, where she found that online education was a great solution for many people she taught due to the reduced social barriers. This led to Cristi’s greater focus on working in online spaces throughout her career.
Online learning - effectiveness, personalisation, and flexibility
Cristi and Stuart discuss the benefits of online learning, particularly flexibility and accessibility.
They acknowledge that not everyone may find online learning as engaging as a classroom course, but they emphasise the importance of digital literacy and fluency for learners, and how online learning has proven to particularly benefit those with ADHD or ALN as they can study and take breaks on their terms.
They discuss the impact of COVID-19 on education, with a focus on online learning and its benefits and challenges. Within this conversation, they highlight the importance of considering the cognitive and metacognitive approaches when teaching learners and the need for flexible and personalised learning experiences.
“I try to help people to see and walk in other people’s shoes, and to experience the opportunities that are available with online education.”
Adaptive learning and instructional design
Throughout the conversation, Cristi and Stuart speak about personalised learning and the importance of adaptive learning tools that use data and analytics to tailor the experience to each learner’s needs. Adaptive learning platforms use multiple paths to personalise content and resources based on each learner’s progress and performance. At the same time, Stuart highlights the importance of intentional instructional design with online courses to ensure that it is accessible and effective for all.
Using psychology principles to create engagement
Stuart and Cristi discuss how to create engaging online courses using gamification and learning from the strategies of Netflix. For example, people can spend hours watching a Netflix series, yet experience something different from that level of engagement in their online course. They address the need for creating communities and a sense of belonging when learning online, and how this may lead to the development of valuable and supportive relationships as well as improved levels of engagement.
Blended learning
The conversation branches out to blended learning, where Cristi discusses the difference between asynchronous and synchronous blending. Using examples, such as ‘flipping classrooms’ - which requires learning content to be online before attending the classroom where the teacher will recap/test that knowledge, they talk about how different types of blended learning can help to ensure that all learners are moving in the right direction while still maintaining the social experience that learning should encourage.
AI and online learning
Stuart asks Cristi for her opinion on artificial intelligence from both the learner’s and educator’s perspectives. Cristi explains how AI can help to enhance learners’ engagement and connectivity, as well as improving their knowledge as to how AI works, which will be paramount in future employment.
They also talk about the ethical considerations and inclusivity when mitigating AI’s stereotypes, and how some learners may rely on AI too much for answers, rather than learning content and information themselves.
“I will argue that the future of work is going to change so dramatically that institutions and educators who are not even trying to play with AI are missing an opportunity to skill their learners to be workers of the 22nd century.”
Find out more about D2L
If you found this episode interesting and want to hear more from Dr. Cristi Ford or D2L, listen to the D2L Teach and Learn podcast, subscribe to Wild World of Work by Matt Beane on Substack, or check out their website.
Catch up with previous episodes
Don’t worry if you’ve missed any episodes. All previous episodes of the Learn Better Series can be found on: