Colleague Luigi Peñaranda pointed out to me that a much more powerful version of Camtasia, Camtasia for Education, was available for a mere $177. I downloaded it yesterday.
The first phase of online education was a "type, type, type" phase. How we have survived it, I don't know. Recorded, interactive pieces such as those you can make with Camtasia, I think will be key going forward. (I fear a day when only professionals--or AI--may make these widgets.) But for now, the Wild West is open for individual professors to make them.
Another key component in the future of online education, I believe, will be the live session. The bandwidth is now such that we can go back to having live time elements, which I think a majority of distance students would prefer, especially if it off sets the quantity of "type, type, type." I'm using Adobe Connect right now for this component, but the version I am using is not entirely reliable, so I'm waiting on the accessible break through here in technology.
There is a benefit to those who are late to the game. They can leap frog to the front of the line. This can happen with people just getting into publishing now (will it happen with the Nazarenes?). It could happen with people just getting into online education now. The future of these things may not look like it looked to the initial mushroom eaters.
You can't rest on the fact that you were first in. Yesterday's innovation is today's jalopy.
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2 comments:
Great post. I just began to use Camtasia this semester to create better online content. Definitely a game changer (at least for now).
I like your reflections on the mushroom eater element too. When I started teaching online in 2001, our tech was ahead of the curve. Over time it slowly fell behind as did my own online chops.
Student expectations are rising for better content in non-text formats too.
I may be glorifying the past, but I think Kevin Osborne was a caliber of ID person I have yet to see repeated. I am jealous of Fuller for having him.
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