Context is king

In the 90s and early 21st century, a common expression in eLearning was that “content is king”. What that meant was that when you created eLearning, its measure of value was based mostly on its content. If you were delivering good content, then you were creating good eLearning. There was a lot of eLearning out there, but the good stuff was the stuff that provided useful content.

Today, based upon that same measure, there is a plethora of “good” eLearning – that is, with a few hours of Internet searching you are likely to find good content on pretty much any subject. Today, the field has shifted. In today’s world, good eLearning is now measured by “context”. That is, how applicable is this eLearning to my specific context. Since, I have a lot to choose from, I now need to figure out how to find the right eLearning to meet my needs.

As an educator, the term that I like to use to call myself is a “curator”. My job has shifted from that of someone who creates content to someone who curates content. My role is to find the “good” stuff that is already available and repackage it to align with the specific context of my learners.

In today’s world of eLearning, “context is king”.

2 responses

  1. Frank Emanuel Avatar

    I’ve been using ‘context is king’ for bible reading for many years now. I use it to contrast the practice of prooftexting that is so prevalent in the traditions I am part of. There was an interesting interview on Wiretap recently about the quick access to content via the Internet and how it is reshaping our brains.

  2. glen Avatar

    Interesting point, one that I think isn't so cut and dry these days. My opionin is that it depends on how you approach your curation. To keep it short, there are two types: people who curate with the idea to include anything under the umbrella topic; and people who curate with the ide to show a certain perspective under that topic. Maybe you're implying the latter, with words like "good" "repackage" and the phrase "specific context fo my learners"…which I think is usually more valuable than the former. Then again, both are subject to the context you're talking about.
    With so much information out there, maybe the main idea is to be able to help people search efficiently, to find relevant information efficicently.  Maybe the "context is king" things could be taken further, as the more individual education gets, the more contextual it gets. Personalization is king…we are each the king of our own educational insitution, or something.
     

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