This reflection series is a of case studies which have had success implementions of blended learning (or flipped learning) encompassing more than just what is known as 'putting lectures online'.

A common thought associated with flipped learning is putting all lectures online. Speak to any learning technologist or learning designer and discover it's not the case. Terms like 'chunked', 'enquiry driven', 'community learning' and 'digital assessment' or 'project based learning' should be mentioned in the ensuing conversation. These terms are often overlooked when the idea of subject redesigns comes into discourse. This is very understanable. Overshading pedagogy is video. Video media is everywhere, highly accessible and pervasive to the point where video has saturated every screen, phone, and industry. It's too easy to record lectures with lecture capture technology, place it online and say, 'the lectures are online. I have flipped my subject.' However, education is much more than content consumption. Learning is not a form of osmosis a 2 hour lecture recording can deliver. More needs to be done.

To begin, this post will not cover everything. The aim is to post serveral articles all going into detail about what constitutes good practice in online learning from both a literature standpoint and personal reflection. This post will introduce concepts for further disucssion by posing a philosophical question with the aim of setting the current epistomology one faces when addressing an academic teaching staff whose main research field is not education in any way shape or form;

What is online education?

Much research has been dedicated to education. Additionally, much research has been dedicated to online education. But ask the regular academic what is online edcuation, and the answer usually comes back something along the lines, 'putting lectures slides, reading and videos online. I do that, but students just don't read'. Every academic is busy. I am not doubting or suggesting the opposite. It is understandable how such a simple idea of online learning has proliferated organically throughout higher education. Our teaching staff have little time to actually consider the potential in effective engagement online. Shifting this ontology is very easy for a learning designer but impossible for academics and requires a leap of faith and some hard truths from their behalf.

The hard truth:

You are an elder Professor in Physics, not a practitioner or researcher in online learning.

It is OK to not know how to develop digital media and online learning. It OK to accept the world around you from a socio-technological standpoint has dramatically changed over the past 30 years when you studied your undergraduate. It is OK realise how previously delivery methods are not adequate anymore, and help is needed. No one will judge you. You are still very very clever, and very very knowledgable. It is time to dive back into the unknown in order to share that knowledge with those who seek it from you. The sage on the stage is dead, Google, YouTube and Social Media have seen to that. The time of the community learner is at hand.

This journey will be easy, but you will need to come to terms with your academic ego and realise how much no body outside of your research field cares about you if you don't care about them. Believe it or not, most students; they just want to learn what you have learnt.