Jason Cole applied his Ph.D. in educational technology by revamping sales training for IBM and by helping the world's largest online learning purveyor install its learning management system.
What is significant about British Open University?
It's large--200,000 students enrolled, mostly UK residents. Almost from the date of launch they proved able to provide higher education to a large population at a remarkably low cost. They actually began as a television broadcaster, and the BBC was shutting down their production offices on campus when I arrived there IN 2004.
What led you to go to work at British Open University in 2004?
Their reputation for delivering large-scale education was the principal driver for me. I was hired there to work in learning and teaching services to help build and install an integrated learning platform.
What were you able to accomplish there?
First, I participated in an analysis of an alternative way to spend the money allocated for the build project. Ross MacKenzie was interim head of that project, which included four other university managers on its advisory board. We evaluated Moodle and Sakai, because I had familiarity with both of them in the United States. I had been academic technology manager at San Francisco State University during a conversion to Moodle. Long story short, we abandoned the build project and adopted Moodle. After four months of data integration, we had an operational learning management system in use at Open University by 30,000 students, faculty and administrators. Since then Open University has been a significant contributor to Moodle's development.
What impressed you about Open University?
The quality of the instruction is first-rate. The content is good, and the assessments are rigorous. Students must be self-motivated to earn the degree, which is widely respected in the U.K. by academics and employers.
Can you differentiate between online telling and online learning?
Activity plus feedback make the difference between telling and learning. I think telling is about half an education. Quizzes, projects, writing assignments--with grades, scores, evaluations and other feedback--turn telling into learning.
Discuss a successful online feedback mechanism.
An online quiz with instant feedback is a good example. A student can practice recall and application until he or she masters all the material. As he does so, he learns why his wrong answers were wrong, and even why his correct answers were correct.
How is your familiarity with Moodle involved in your present job?
It is my present job. My employer is a Moodle partner. We provide support, hosting, training and additional open-source products to campuses like Louisiana State University, University of Texas, the North Carolina Community College System and 240 others.
Is there a sizeable market for value-added Moodle services and solutions?
We've experienced sixty percent revenue growth in 2009 over 2008. We're on track to repeat that in 2010.
Is there a similarity between online learning today and the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s?
I think so. A lot of people are flooding the learning management space like they did the goldfields. We're already seeing a shakeout among successful and unsuccessful providers. The market will eventually consolidate around the providers who have scope and scalability. Industrial miners will eventually prevail over those with pans.