The e-learner, the e-trainer, and how to bridge the "space between"

Since long ago when I joined the online learning world as a heavy MOOC-ker (MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses), and as an e-learning developer too, I was very much intrigued by the idea of how could one get in contact with and “be present” for another (by this I mean e-trainers for their e-learners and vice versa) through a web interaction, and how vibrant such contact could be. I have grown up with the Gestalt Therapy principles and both “contact” and “presence” represent core personal values for me. But where do they happen and how are they experienced when the learning takes place via digital means and there exists a “spooky space” in between?  

       I also started questioning about the new boundaries, which are shaped and in the formation of a novel polarity: the digital means being a hurdle to real contact representing the dystopian pole, or a facilitator to it representing the utopian pole. I reflected on my personal e-learning experiences in order to understand better and find out where the middle ground between the two poles lies, as I had the opportunity to be both an e-learner and an e-trainer.

      Several years ago, I remember myself coming back home from the office, full of excitement and ready to learn, MOOCking until 3:00 in the morning almost every night for several months. It’s amusing that I learned about the importance of sleep on the human’s brain learning process and memory via a MOOC that I was taking without much sleep at all! After that, I slowed my pace and normalized my MOOC engagement, making it possible to finally get some sleep.

      But what was that immersive, engaging thing that was keeping me awake and vigorous for nights on end in front of my PC screen?                         

  - I realized that I was really learning in a new and exciting way.               

- I was thrilled by the experience of a bizarre thing; a caring attitude, “jumping out of my screen”. I felt some e-educators being there in my darkroom, teaching just for me. So dominant their "presence" has been! And I felt so connected to them too.                                                        

- I felt so engaged through the course interactivity in the forum discussions, along with the peer grading processes, and on top of it all, it was great fun.     

 - Feelings of pride, privilege, and gratitude also blossomed.

     What creates all these emotions, excitement, and feelings of being in contact in such a digital learning experience? Is it the inspiring personalities who appear on the screen, their behavior and how I perceive it, or the catchy content itself? Or is it simply a combination of it all? And how could I create a space for the above to happen in my everyday working life as an e-learning developer, and in supporting different teams as a digital learning consultant?

     Trying to find some answers, I went back to Gestalt psychology and systems theory hoping that I could discover something there. Gestalt elaborated on the Parallel Process phenomenon in order to diagnose aspects of the relationship between different interrelated systems, like the one of a therapist and a client, a client, and their working environment, and a therapist and their supervisor. “Studies of parallel process...show that what happens in one system has an impact on another...” (Davies et al. 1997)

      Based on the latter, I made the assumption that when the e-trainers or e-developers prepare their learning units with a lot of care, love, and excitement, it is more likely that these attributes will “bridge, travel through, fill the space between” and after reaching the other side, will have an impact on the learner’s system. It is more likely that learners will receive and embody the learning units with care, love, and excitement. Paradoxically, a kind of substantial contact is formed and several emotions spring out, despite the “spooky space” in between. And this kind of contact is what increases our learning ability and maintains our human identity in the digital eco-system that we are operating in at that moment.      

       Today, either as a Project Leader for e-learning development or as a Digital Learning Consultant, my core consideration has become to ensure all those conditions, which will allow the Project Teams to work on their learning projects with care, love and excitement for what they produce. My field experience, the interaction with the learners and the feedback received, all reveal that this has made a significant impact on the learning process whenever it has been implemented.