Innovations in E-learning:
Alumnus Fred Lang on Technology in Education
By Neila Hingorani

Fred Lang, who graduated from the Transformative Learning & Change Program (TLC) in 2000, is a learning technology specialist with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This federal agency prepares policy guidance and exercises leadership for most federal agencies in matters of personnel and training. As the lead staff person in learning technology for OPM, Fred facilitates collaboration between federal agencies in the testing of new learning technologies. The learning technologies he works with range from CD-ROM, satellite, Intranet, Internet, and 3D-virtual simulation, to high-tech classrooms.

Neila Hingorani, a former student in TLC, talks with Fred about his work, his experience at CIIS, and his thoughts on the fast-changing world of learning technology.

NH: First, I'd like to ask why you chose CIIS as the place to get your doctorate?

FL: I travel quite a bit, and I liked the fact that CIIS offered the flexibility to design your own courses. Convenience, flexibility, and the fact that it is accredited were all important. And frankly, CIIS also offered this homegrown conservative Catholic the chance to really open and expand myself. I was a changed individual at the end of the process. Being exposed to East-West thinking and to a variety of religions opened me up to many different viewpoints and paradigms that I really hadn't considered before. There are some fantastic instructors at CIIS whose backgrounds and credentials are extremely impressive. CIIS is really lucky to have them.

My academic emphasis was organizational development and behavior. Having previously taught online, I saw a future in distance learning and knew there was very little research that had been done at the time. So I was attracted by the program's combination of online format and the opportunity to study organizations in depth.

NH: What was your dissertation topic?

FL: The prime motivation in my research was to become a better instructor. For my dissertation, titled, "Distance Learning: New Frontiers in Education?" I used distance learning tools to collect data, and held synchronous interviews online with instructors and students from all over the world.

I was particularly interested in what "best practices" they had found in online teaching and learning: what approaches and techniques worked most successfully. One finding was that there should be an orientation course for both instructors and students. And the learning technology must not get in the way of learning. Another finding was that students in an online environment want to be validated. The instructor needs to draw out things from adults who bring a richness of experience. The instructor is less a fount of knowledge than a facilitator of knowledge. Because there are no visual clues or body language, the instructor must create a structure such that students understand what's expected of them. It needs to be an open yet safe environment for people to discuss subjects freely. Learning is not about one technology being better than another; rather it's about how the instructor uses that technology to transfer learning. Another extremely important element in online teaching is the ability to craft questions carefully in order to stimulate discussion.

NH: In what ways might a degree in Transformative Learning and Change be useful and meaningful for graduates?

FL: Adults want to learn something that is applicable to their lives. Instructors need to show how it can apply to students' lives or they have failed. It is up to the instructor to infuse it with humanness.

If you are looking for employment in many, many fields today, it is important to have experience in a web-based environment. Also, in a certain way, it addresses our difficulties with race and ethnicity. In online learning, you can get away from biases because you are concentrating on the pure thought.

NH: There are different views on how to approach online learning. For example, there is a facilitative, open, interactive versus module-based learning which is designed in a way that facilitators. What are your thoughts on this?

FL: This question gets down to the pedagogy of teaching. Should the instructor work with a module (which standardizes the material delivered) and add value to that, or teach without a module? Working with a module means that the instructor may provide less of their own knowledge than students expect. I favor modules because it helps raise the bar on expectations, so that students know they can get a high quality level of education.

NH: Would you talk about the work you are doing now?

FL: In 1999, while I was working for U.S. Department of Treasury on the West coast, I applied for a job with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. At the time, the government was going through a transition and needed to find a method of training that would reach all federal employees, but that would be less expensive than the traditional classroom approach. They were moving towards "distributed learning" (defined as any method of learning that is distributed for the purposes of education or training), sometimes called e-learning. This covers CD-ROM training, satellite training, online learning, correspondence—it's a very broad term that is evolving. No one technology has the answer, but hybrids—such as combining the Internet and satellites, can be very successful.

Some of the learning technology that is being used by the federal government is truly awesome. The Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State is teaching sixty languages to Foreign Service officers all over world, and they're doing it in a Web-based environment. They found that having a U.S.-based mentor worked best, so even if you are in Afghanistan studying Russian, you have a mentor in the States. The FBI is using "expert systems" based on CD-ROMs to train their agents to conduct interviews. The technology enables them to ask different questions each time, allowing for "alternative outcomes." By the way, this information is all in the public domain!

The Department of Defense has what's called a Verts system that uses 3-D, virtual simulation to train people to handle events relating to emergency situations. For example, say a response team is on their way to a hazardous spill. In their van, they can link to virtual pictures of the location that can be calibrated down to one foot. That means they can experience the event in a virtual way and solve the problem even before they arrive at the location!

NH: What most satisfies you about your work?

FL: I feel that I can have a demonstrable impact on triggering new pilot demonstration projects by helping to provide a forum for discussion. By bringing multiple federal agencies together to share their experiences, they learn from each other and avoid duplicating errors. As we encourage agencies to try new learning technologies, we are learning from the process; then we can translate what we have learned to both the public and the private sectors.