Ellen Rose

Reflection in asynchronous online postsecondary courses: a reflective review of the literature

Abstract Reflection is a term which appears often in the discourse of online postsecondary education, where it is typically offered as the key to ‘deep learning’. However, although researchers agree that reflection is a vital aspect of online learning, and even that new technologies can promote reflection, there is a surprising lack of clarity about what reflection actually means in e-learning contexts. This paper reports on a survey of the literature on reflection in online postsecondary learning for the years 2000–2015. Reading, rereading and reflecting on the 46 articles, papers and theses that met the search criteria, the author found that studies on the topic tend to be based on diverse, vague and questionable understandings about what reflection entails. A major implication is that, lacking a clear understanding of what is being studied, research can only yield inconclusive findings about the strategies that prompt and support students’ reflection in online postsecondary education.

Fuzzy Logic: Computers, Education, and Language in a Techno-Illogical World

This article disrupts the logic of the “just-a-tool” argument, a powerful rhetorical device commonly offered as a rationale for using computers in education (and health care and other areas of society). Although this argument is articulated in many ways, its essence is the contention that computers are merely instructional tools, like blackboards or pencils, that can be used to enhance learning and therefore should be used in classrooms. The just-a-tool argument is difficult to challenge because it automatically constructs counterarguments as illogical; they necessarily become arguments against using technology to improve the human condition. However, an analysis of the just-a-tool argument reveals that far from being logical and unassailable, it is both invalid and unsound. This “techno-illogic,” as the author calls it, arises when wisdom is subjugated to the dictates of technological “rationality,” and it is something that people must learn to recognize and defend against.