Online Learning Update

Opinions vary, but online learning, despite its popularity, is still stigmatized. I tend to forget this as I interact in my bubble with hundred of online learners and instructors on a daily basis. Then I am caught up short by a joke, a remark, an editorial that jars me back into the realization that the characterizations above are all in play and have an effect on the realization of online learning’s potential. Some commentators distrust virtuality itself. They are not fans of, say telecommuting, either.They need to see and be seen to believe anything is happening, forgetting that most of what is happening that impacts our lives we don’t observe directly and synchronously.  Many social changes happen gradually, suddenly. May 2015 be the year that online learning gets its due, for the benefit of learners, employers, and society.