E-Learning: The Need for a New Learning Contract

As an educator, I have always considered the education of young people to be a sacred trust because our actions as educators do have a profound effect on the lives of the students, the desires and hopes of parents and the shape and aspirations of societies and nations. There are many in our societies who hope that through education a new and more enriched quality of life can be achieved in the future. There is a desperate hope on the part of multitudes of people in many nations that perhaps the plagues of war, poverty, disease, and crime(international and local) could be eradicated by the way that we educate new generations. Unfortunately, education is not a panacea for all the world's ills but through education we can begin to lay a foundation.

Due to the growing "connectedness" of our world, E-Learning presents us with an opportunity to reach out to the world, to begin to understand each other and each others education needs; to plant the seeds. In the online world there is a need to re-learn how to communicate with each other in real and meaningful ways. However, in order to start to do this we are in great need of a new learning contract between digital learners, educators, instructional designers, and the thought leaders of nations. We need this because right now in education we have a problem.

The problem begins with the fact that students of previous generations might be categorized as passive learners. They looked at school as following a series of steps laid out for them, from grade to grade, in order for them to receive a reward at the end. Although educators made heroic efforts to create a sense of deep engagement in personal learning, it always seemed like you were reaching for a brass ring that always seemed to be just beyond your finger tips. It is true that educators did celebrate the small victories but ultimately the real victory is when the learner is engaged in learning long after the standard external motivators used by school as an institution are no longer there. How often did we hear students make the distinction that school was not part of the "real world"? This passive, formulaic style of education which was a product of the industrial model of education has been ingrained into generation after generation which explains why so many parents become frustrated with the quality of education that their children receive. It is because the measuring stick for comparison is the way that they were taught by this past system.

Although education systems claimed to be proactive in guiding children on the path of education, in reality they were reactive and this has become even more evident as technology and change has accelerated. It is a little embarrassing when you hear the reasons why they are integrating technology into the classrooms. It is not to address the needs of the learners within a whole new context but instead comes down to keeping up with what other school systems are doing and still maintaining the status quo.

We need a new learning contract if we expect students to be change agents in our societies. We need one that will look forward to the development of a culture of innovation. We need students to become active and proactive learners in education. We need them to take an oath of accountability for their learning in which they claim their education as their own and that they acknowledge that it is worth while to work towards a greater purpose than simply educating themselves for personal gain. This oath is one where the central idea is that they will pursue education as a calling so that they will be instrumental in working towards the greater good of their nations. I believe that through e-learning as a vehicle we can create a new learning contract that involves all of the groups mentioned. Through doing this it will dawn on students that education is really part of the real world and that their efforts in pursuing it will have tangible effects on our quality of life and that their efforts will be valued by the people of the societies they live in now and in the coming future. This contract is not just on the students. We are all accountable because to opt out is to resign ourselves to a passive existence which is defined for us.