Page 19 - WesternU View Summer 2019

“Online students can find
themselves learning in siloes,
working independently without a
sense of collaboration and
community…Daitch wants to
explore opportunities to provide
online students with a
sense of connection…”
Additionally, WesternU’s online programs can stand out
by featuring interactivity, rich media, graphics and
animation, and use of 3D technologies.
“Rich media is one of the major components of a well-
made online course,” Daitch said. “We don’t want
students to learn passively. We want them to engage in
learning.”
Online learning no longer entails canned lectures and
downloadable PowerPoints, Daitch said.
“We’re at the beginning of a golden age of online
learning,” he said. “There are so many new technologies
to help create experiences for students that are engaging
and powerful and enable them to demonstrate mastery of
the material. For appropriate programs, we’re at a point
where these goals can now be achieved online as
successfully as within brick and mortar classrooms.
“The latest online learning technologies can create
incredible experiences for students,” he added. “The
majority of our students are millennials, and coming
quickly on their heels is Gen Z. We have to speak their
language and put what interests them into education. We
are not trying to turn online learning into a TV show or
video game, but if we can take the best of what passive
and interactive entertainment has to offer, what makes
them compelling, then merge that with the needs and
goals of traditional learning, students are going to be
captivated.”
Jonathan Daitch, MEd, graduated
from Penn State University with a BA in Film
and Video Production. In 1998, after working
in television and film production for a
number of years, he began a new career in
distance learning (which evolved into online
education), and eventually earned a master’s
degree in Educational Leadership from
Concordia University – Portland. Education
runs in his family, as his grandmother and
mother were elementary school teachers, his
wife Maryse teaches kindergarten in a French
immersion program in LAUSD, and his oldest
daughter starts college in the fall, majoring in
Early Childhood Studies (his younger
daughter will be starting 11th grade).
Jonathan was born in Georgia but also lived
in Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania and
New York before settling in California.
He is a big follower of podcasts,
subscribing to more than 250 of
them (although one can only
follow a handful at a time, he
says), and has a collection of
vintage toys, primarily from ‘70s
and ‘80s pop culture.
Online programs can be a great vehicle for growth for an
institution and are not constrained by physical space
issues when new programs are considered, Daitch said. If
WesternU offers online programs that support its mission
and address the needs of the market, students can be
drawn from across the country and internationally.
Online programs give WesternU an opportunity for return
on investment and return on mission.
“I want to make sure we are infusing our online
experience with the ethics of humanism,” Daitch said.
“And by offering a variety of online learning
opportunities beyond full degree programs, we can reach
students who might not otherwise benefit from a
WesternU education. We get to expand our mission and
expand our reach as we help develop the next generation
of health care providers.” n
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