iLearn: Good for Students or Teachers?

I have used iLearn a few times during my time as a graduate student at SFSU, and I can't say that I am head over heals for the program. First of all, it is very time consuming and often feels like I have taken on another class, and posting always feels like a chore rather than a desired learning experience. On the other hand, I think it can be useful as a way to encourage students to prepare for discussions that will take place in the classroom. Requiring students to post insures that they have to read the class materials in order to make an informed posting on the iLearn discussion forum and, thus, they will be better prepared to participate in class. In this way, iLearn can be a very useful pedagogical tool for teachers because they can make sure that students are doing the readings. In addition, teachers can use student postings to facilitate in-class discussions and formulate participation grades.

iLearn might provide some very useful pedagogical strategies for teachers, but does it actually provide students with a good learning experience? In my experience as a student, I would have to say no. The only thing I really like about iLearn is that I can access the class syllabus and links to the articles we are reading in class all in one convenient space. However, I think iLearn too often becomes a kind of big brother site where teachers can monitor and evaluate student work rather than a site where students can organically interact with each other and the course material. As a graduate student, I always felt a little resentful that certain teachers did not trust their graduate students to come to class prepared, and my experience as a T.A. for a lower division literature course taught me that most undergraduate students feel the same way. Forced participation on iLearn in college often makes students feel like they are back in high school where they were treated as children who need to be monitored rather than adults who are in school because they want to be. For these reasons, I agree with both Kotkamp and Coopman's point that iLearn and promotes hierarchy among students and teachers rather than breaking down traditional power relationships in the classroom. I think iLearn might have potential as a pedagogical tool but it fails to allow students to take charge of their own learning space. If we are going to use digital learning spaces in the classroom, we need to create ones where students take part as active produces and monitors of the sites, so student learning is privileged over pedagogical usefulness.