Curtis J Bonk
Blogs, blends, boards, or just a lot of Bonk: one glimpse of the future of online learning
After a decade of significant online instruction, it is imperative
to reflect for a moment and forecast where this field is headed. To
provide a glimpse of the future of e-learning, this session will detail the results of a large scale survey in 2003-2004 on the future of e-learning
in higher education. The higher education survey participants consisted
of more than 500 college instructors, administrators, and instructional
design staff involved in e-learning. In addition to these interesting findings, Dr Bonk will make his own wizardly predictions about the directions of e-learning during the next decade or two as well as counter various myths surrounding e-learning.
Areas highlighted will include emerging technologies (including
wearable, wireless, and mobile), blended learning, online course
quality, online support structures, instructor training, learning
styles, evaluation and assessment, and entrepreneurial relationships.
Dr Bonk will also address questions such as what online learning
technologies and tools are emerging to support virtual team
collaboration, blogging, assessment, and discussion. What are key
technology decisions for online learning in the coming decade? What
pedagogical strategies are more effective online? Where will instructor
training likely come from? Will online lectures finally give way to
student centred instruction? Will demand for online learning increase
more for new degree programmes or for certifications and on demand
workplace learning? During his wizardly presentation, Bonk will peer
into his crystal ball to forecast several important technological and
pedagogical trends in higher education as well as future roles for
college instructors, technology administrators, and institutions.
Administrators, instructors, course designers and online learning
evaluators should benefit from this session.
Dr
Curtis J Bonk is a former CPA and corporate controller who, after
becoming sufficiently bored with that, received his Master’s and PhD
degrees in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin.
Curt is now a Professor of Educational Psychology as well as
Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University (IU). Curt is a
founding member of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology
at IU and a Senior Research Fellow with the DOD Advanced Distributed
Learning Lab. Curt received the Burton Gorman Teaching Award in 1999;
the Wilbert Hites Mentoring Award in 2000; the CyberStar Award from the
Indiana Information Technology Association in 2002; the Most
Outstanding Achievement by an Individual in Higher Education award from
the US Distance Learning Association in 2003; and an alumni achievement
award from the University of Wisconsin in 2004. In 2003, he also
received a State of Indiana award for Innovative Teaching in a Distance
Education Program. During the past two years, Dr Bonk has presented
over 150 talks ac ross the globe including universities in China, New
Zealand, Australia, Korea, Finland, Iceland, and the UAE. He has more
than 100 publications on topics such as online learning motivation, the
future of e-learning, synchronous and asynchronous computer
conferencing, and web based evaluation. Finally, he is President of
CourseShare and SurveyShare and can be contacted at cjbonk@indiana.edu or via his homepage at php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk/.
