Talk:Online Learning
The article aims to provide readers with an overview of the issues surrounding online learning. The length of this article has not reached 3000 words. And even though the author gives a short introduction and background, has set up a clear framework, and used high-quality sources, the author hasn't given enough information yet.
In terms of the structure of this article, the author has fulfilled all three requirements, but the content is too short to make the whole article informative.
The opening paragraph provides the reader with a clear and concise definition of online learning and explains a little bit about the forms and history of online learning. However, the author could try to lengthen the introduction so that readers have more knowledge on the subject of online learning, giving them an incentive to continue reading. This is what I think can happen when the author adds more content: He can tell his readers why it is important for them to know about online learning, explain more in-depth the different types of online learning, and talk about recent issues with online learning.
Statistics on the popularity of online learning, the growth of online learning, and survey results of students’ and teachers’ acceptance of the tool can be used to illustrate the importance of this topic. Including statistics can attract the readers’ attention by showcasing the importance and extent of this issue. On the other hand, statistics can also make the article more convincing as readers can verify the authenticity of the data. The author can combine the current background section with the introduction. Besides, providing examples on the two ends of the "spectrum of online learning" will make readers easily understand the concept.
The current background section only lists the names of the various online learning tools ("blended/hybrid learning," "fully online learning," "flipped learning"), and readers will have a hard time understanding them without sufficient context. I would suggest the author combine the history section and the background section, provide a more detailed explanation of how online learning became popular, the major breakthrough of online learning, and perhaps briefly introduce different people’s opinions regarding online learning. Some of the topics could be things that have happened in the last few years other than the pandemic, like the rise of personal computing devices like PCs, mobile phones, and tablets, the rise of big data, and the rise of learning analytics.
In terms of the clarity of the article, I would say that the current content cannot fully convince readers why it is important to understand the topic of online learning. The article also fails to mention any ethical dilemmas regarding online learning. Potential topics may include the ethical use of data sources in learning analytics and the lack of influence theory behind online learning. The NYU Learning Analytics Research Network can be a great source to look at. One of its researchers published a research paper about the importance of theory in the area of big data and explains the current progress on developing theories for learning analytics. According to the NYU website, this paper "provides pointers to a set of four other papers, each with a critical commentary, in which authors intentionally work to incorporate learning theory into their learning analytics research." (https://learning-analytics.info/index.php/JLA/article/view/4677)
Unfortunately, it is not possible to evaluate the author’s use of a natural point of view as the article has not covered any controversies or ethical issues yet. I would suggest that the author try to include as many different opinions as possible in his last section, "Reactions to Digital Learning," and provide a deeper explanation beyond the binary classification of "positive" or "negative." The author can uncover some reasons why some people hate online learning, like "students may have more distractions and less oversight, which can reduce their motivation" (https://www.edweek.org/technology/opinion-how-effective-is-online-learning-what-the-research-does-and-doesn't-tell-us/2020/03) and provide some examples of researchers and schools’ solutions to this problem. Maybe there are also problems that are not easily solvable, like the lack of social interactions in an online learning environment and how it impacts the students. (https://www.sjsu.edu/people/james.lee/courses/c9/s1/aaePaper_Example.pdf)
In short, the author should first address the incomplete sections and then try to provide readers with discussions on the deeper conflicts and ethical dilemmas instead of explaining the topics in a list format like a dictionary.
