Loosely+Coupled+Teaching+-+Conclusion

The problems we're seeing here are largely technical problems. Which means they are solvable problems.

Indeed the problems we are **NOT** seeing here are the pedagogical or learning problems. That is what is attractive about these solutions. They are chosen precisely because they work well for teaching and learning online, ultimately what SHOULD be a faculty member's and student's concern.

The loosely coupled approach is appealing because
 * it frees instructors (and students) to make choices that are pedagogically relevant to what they are learning
 * it allows learners to use technolgoies they are already comfortable with, and which they will use long after the formal education is over
 * it becomes simple to create persistent, free, web-available resources which benefit both future learners and general internet learners
 * by design (or lack thereof) it addresses many of the issues of motivation and ownership that plague online education efforts

We need to figure out how to shift the locus of control back towards faculty and students instead of in the hands of administrators and IT staff.

While their concerns //are// legitimate, they should not be //the// drivers of the solutions and we need to figure out how to provide solutions which "[|enable but don't require]" and which say "[|yes before no]" and which "allow before they disallow"

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