Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 15:25:42 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi-AT-statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
Subject: UNext Learning Systems is Not the 'anti-U' at TDF E-Net   


Greetings Lists,

Hi, I thought this might interest you --received TRAINING DIRECTORS' FORUM
E-NET --A discussion-driven newsletter for training managers In
this issue --Prof. Donald A. Norman (President of UNext and reknowned
Cognitive Scientist) has given good and stimulating feedbacks on the
philosophy and criteria of UNext Learning Systems.

## Response of Prof. Don Norman ##
NO, UNEXT ISN'T THE 'ANTI-UNIVERSITY' 

TDF E-Net Editors note: Donald A. Norman (don-AT-jnd.org)
stirred controversy with a presentation at Training
Directors' Forum Conference earlier this month in which
he criticized academic practices such as lectures and
grades ("UNext: The Anti-University?," June 7). Here
Norman -- president of e-learning provider UNext.com LLC
(http://www.unext.com) of Deerfield, IL -- tells more.

By Donald A. Norman

I am both amused and dismayed by the reaction to the
report of my talk at Training Director's Forum in
Phoenix.

At UNext, we take education very seriously, even if I
don't always take myself so seriously. Education -- and
lectures -- should be fun.

But I guess I had better be wary of the fact that
Internet learning is so controversial these days that
sometimes a footnote in a talk can become the headline.

Let me try to clarify the message I delivered. We
-- UNext -- form real partnerships with our consortium
universities.

We are not the "anti-university." Rather we are the
university for those who cannot attend physical
universities.

We offer courses to busy working professionals who do
not have time to attend school -- not even night school
-- or the workers in nations who do not have ready
access to university education, especially graduate-level
courses in business administration. 

We worry a lot about pedagogy. We know that we cannot
offer the same rich social interaction possible in
face-to-face, residential universities. So we work
hard to create an online learning community.

We don't use lectures because we believe that the
lecture format simply does not work over the Internet
-- and for that matter, is not the most effective way
to learn in any setting.

--To some more--
FIERCE ADVOCATES

We are fierce advocates of learning by doing, so all
our courses are problem-based -- yet with substantive
content that we co-create with our consortium
universities: Carnegie-Mellon, Chicago, Columbia,
London School of Economics, and Stanford. 

Do we question university practices? Of course -- and
every quality university does as well. Why lectures?
Why grades? Why fixed schedules?

We question in order to do better, to understand the
pedagogical argument behind the tradition. Sometimes,
the tradition is no longer relevant. Sometimes, it is
important, valuable, and should be maintained.

One mark of the educated citizen is the questioning
citizen: We question.

Are our courses good? You bet. I taught for more than
30 years as a faculty member of Harvard and the
University of California-San Diego. The courses I am
helping put together at UNext are better than the ones
I taught at Harvard and UCSD.

We work harder to develop the right pedagogy and
content, and to structure the course to promote
learning.

We test and test and test. Each course is tested with
students three different times, in three different ways,
before we release it for teaching by carefully trained
instructors of our university, Cardean University. And
even then we watch, observe, test and improve.

NOW..
TWO QUESTIONS

Let me answer two of the questions that emerged
in response to my talk at Training Directors'
Forum Conference: 

Q  Are MBA courses from a traditional institution
    better than online ones? 

A  Asking the "better or worse" question is asking
    about the wrong dimension. Our courses are
    of the same quality as the best traditional ones,
    but they are also very different, for they are
    aimed at a different audience, with the material
    delivered over different media and with no
    in-person interaction.

    Interaction among Cardean faculty and students
    happens in an online community enabled by
    technology and nurtured by exceptional educators.

    We aim at people who couldn't go to a
    traditional MBA institution. We recommend
    that people go to a traditional school over
    an online one if they have the choice.

    But what of those who do not have that choice?
    We offer an alternative.

Q  Do traditional grades matter? Why?

A  They matter for traditional assessment, course
    credits, degree programs, and accreditation.
    But in the real world, no, they do not matter.

    What does matter is how effective the learning
    is and how effectively the student can apply
    what has been acquired.

    Traditional grades are often the result of
    out-of-context examinations that do not really
    assess true knowledge, or an ability to apply
    that knowledge.

    Moreover, in the real world, we expect people
    to work together effectively, in teams. If
    you don't know something, it is fine to ask
    others for help.

    Not so with the grading process. So the true
    team builder might be penalized.


It is important to understand the reason for grades
and their limitations, even if we do stick to
conventional grading.

In conclusion, online universities are different from
facilities-based ones. They therefore need to be
assessed on different grounds.

It is not one versus the other -- the one expands the
horizons of the other, but is intended for different
people under different circumstances.

Let us not put this as "us" versus "them": Let us make
it into cooperative exploration of learning and
teaching.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Important:IF YOU NEED TO KNOW MORE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Norman will be part of a question-and-answer
discussion with performance-support specialist
Gloria Gery at OnLineLearning 2000 in Denver.
Gery, a Tolland, MA, consultant, is chair of the
conference. Information about the Sept. 24-27 show
is at <http://www.onlinelearning2000.com>

##############################
GRADE GRIND: A CRITIC SPEAKS
##############################

Donald A. Norman (previous article) isn't alone
in his challenge to the usefulness of grades in
academic settings.

Douglas Anderson ( DougAnd-AT-aol.com ) teaches
in an MBA program in which traditional lecture,
testing and grading are "the norm."

"These traditions," Anderson says flatly, "hinder
learning."

"The lecturers need to get out of the way," continues
Anderson, an associate professor at Medaille College
in Buffalo, "because they stand between the students and
their learning.

"Traditional testing is useful for quick diagnostics,
but is ludicrous for evaluating learning. Traditional
grading treats people like eggs. It is statistically
bogus.

"This command-and-control sweatshop mentality, based on
instilling fear, has no place in a learning environment,
MBA or anywhere else."

Anderson invites a look at http://RicciStreet.net
-- "a networked digital community pioneering new
media."

+++++++++++++
ATTENTION 
+++++++++++++

GRADE GRIND

Q  Does e-learning represent an opportunity to
    drop traditional grading? Why?

Q  When you or someone else in your organization
    goes off to college or graduate school, is it
    important that instructors grade the learners'
    performance? Why?

Q  In what training setting is some kind of
    grade important?

Q  Do academic grades make a difference in your
    choice of whom to hire? Why?

Q  Do you know of a school or other teaching
    institution that gets along well without grades?
    How does it do so?

I would like to welcome your answers and ideas to the above questions AND
if any educator and learner, wants to know more about the UNext Learning
Systems, please contact Prof. Don Norman at <norman-AT-unext.com>

Thank you!
Sincerely
Arun Tripathi





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