One of the ways of occupying my time during the journey to Oamaru was loading my iPod with the recordings of Konrad Glogowski and Nancy White. I enjoyed the parallels between the two presentations and how they support my belief that there is a significant need for investment in technological understanding.
If I was honest most of my technological understanding has come from looking over the shoulder or learning from mistakes. If I was even more honest I would say my knowledge is sorely lacking and I often get quite defensive about it, and I'm sure I am not alone. This is an issue I think that is becoming more evident as the boundary between teacher, mentor, leader and learner is becoming significantly blurred in a digital environment.
I love the idea that the third place Konrad talked about is a place of learning and that the learning is not limited to the classroom / lecture theatre. I love the idea that learning is not limited by course prescriptions but only by imagination and enthusiasm.
What I don't enjoy is the lack of control or direction which I think is a reflection of my learning style and therefore part of what has become my teaching style. I think the responsibility of setting up the place of learning is automatically accepted by any who take on a teaching role but are we expecting all teachers to accept the responsibility of becoming technically savvy enough to facilitate a quality online learning environment? Are the technical whizzes able to direct all this wonderful knowledge to producing quality teaching opportunities? It all seems easy when the two entities are the same person like Konrad or Nancy but I'm not either...
Anyway, is there actually anything wrong with being mildly technophobic anyway?
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Lurking
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) my participation in our fledgling online community recently has taken a back seat to my school commitments - in particular the 1st XI Hockey team and tournament week. The yearly ritual combat season is upon us and we are roadtripping to Oamaru each day.
So I've taken a lurking approach to this week - and have taken Leigh's advice to try and learn more about the members of our community.
Stage one is setting up my google reader. Check.
Stage two is work on some witty comments for each members blog. Pending.
So I've taken a lurking approach to this week - and have taken Leigh's advice to try and learn more about the members of our community.
Stage one is setting up my google reader. Check.
Stage two is work on some witty comments for each members blog. Pending.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Learning Ownership Pt2
Looking at ownership of learning was something we did recently, including a Elluminate 'lecture' with James Farmer. Part of the education process is obviously taking ownership of the learning and as my earlier post hinted at the transition to a digital learning medium I don't see the control/ownership transfer as clearly as I would in a face to face class.
It is pleasing to see that I am not alone in wondering about how our learning community can develop - my learning (or should I say more learned) colleagues are also following similar lines of thought. I particularly like the idea raised about how [I] as teacher can put ' the essence of who you are as a teacher' into an online learning course. James stated that you can project yourself as a real person over time.
Can you really project yourself as a real person over time - and a lot of the time would you? If you look at the availability of ways to project yourself to the world wouldn't you want to project your strengths and mask or even omit your weaknesses. (Random thoughts to follow up on later - lonelygirl15 and SecondLife).
I guess I still see (from my limited elearning perspective anyway) that the digital learning community has issues regarding getting the necessary engagement to produce a quality learning opportunity. Social interaction is simple because we as people need company - but as learners we need more motivation. Just because I say to read and comment on my blog doesn't mean you are going to...
It is pleasing to see that I am not alone in wondering about how our learning community can develop - my learning (or should I say more learned) colleagues are also following similar lines of thought. I particularly like the idea raised about how [I] as teacher can put ' the essence of who you are as a teacher' into an online learning course. James stated that you can project yourself as a real person over time.
Can you really project yourself as a real person over time - and a lot of the time would you? If you look at the availability of ways to project yourself to the world wouldn't you want to project your strengths and mask or even omit your weaknesses. (Random thoughts to follow up on later - lonelygirl15 and SecondLife).
I guess I still see (from my limited elearning perspective anyway) that the digital learning community has issues regarding getting the necessary engagement to produce a quality learning opportunity. Social interaction is simple because we as people need company - but as learners we need more motivation. Just because I say to read and comment on my blog doesn't mean you are going to...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Learning Ownership Pt 1
I guess part of the issue to overcome in a digital community is the many forms members of the community come in. Because of the variety and range of individuals who might participate in education how do we allow for everyone?
If I was to define myself in a digital sense I am (though beginning to change) by choice a lurker. I find the advantages of anonymity helps 'protect' me from looking like a complete idiot. It is ironic I know since I spend every working day in front of at least 100 people a day, but digitally the audience expands out to (potentially) the whole world. It is the comfort of knowing the students in my class - and most of that knowledge comes from the face to face interaction. An avatar is just a picture - it may invoke a feeling or instinct but that is still a guess.
I guess eLearning can take you out of your comfort zone.
If I was to define myself in a digital sense I am (though beginning to change) by choice a lurker. I find the advantages of anonymity helps 'protect' me from looking like a complete idiot. It is ironic I know since I spend every working day in front of at least 100 people a day, but digitally the audience expands out to (potentially) the whole world. It is the comfort of knowing the students in my class - and most of that knowledge comes from the face to face interaction. An avatar is just a picture - it may invoke a feeling or instinct but that is still a guess.
I guess eLearning can take you out of your comfort zone.
Scaffolding to help keep above the water
Having followed the link posted by Leigh I have had the following thoughts...
In this digital age it is obvious that there is more and more competition as to who is the 'expert'. In a secondary classroom an engaged student is no longer willing to follow blindly what is put in front of them - they are often checking up on or discussing the ideas within their peer group. Surely then this gives us the opportunity to extend that peer group via the now available digital medium. By developing a digital community that still contains the same fundamental structure of our class we could extend the learning outside of the limited hour but also transfer the direction and focus of the learning to the students.
But why are kids going to want to work outside of school? Many learning opportunites are likely to fall outside of or across curriculum - are they going to want to learn them? When as a teacher should there be interventions (something I had not considered but after a bit of browsing can across this study http://www.formatex.org/micte2006/Downloadable-files/oral/Scaffolding.pdf)? Cybersafety?
Don't get me wrong, the strengths are obvious - like the opportunity for contribution 24/7. Students take different times to process and internalise the learning but that doesn't mean they don't have anything to contribute. 'Experts' from around the world can contribute as we are no longer bound by time. A community that can continue to grow from year to year.
I guess as our eLearning community develops I can look for parallels...
In this digital age it is obvious that there is more and more competition as to who is the 'expert'. In a secondary classroom an engaged student is no longer willing to follow blindly what is put in front of them - they are often checking up on or discussing the ideas within their peer group. Surely then this gives us the opportunity to extend that peer group via the now available digital medium. By developing a digital community that still contains the same fundamental structure of our class we could extend the learning outside of the limited hour but also transfer the direction and focus of the learning to the students.
But why are kids going to want to work outside of school? Many learning opportunites are likely to fall outside of or across curriculum - are they going to want to learn them? When as a teacher should there be interventions (something I had not considered but after a bit of browsing can across this study http://www.formatex.org/micte2006/Downloadable-files/oral/Scaffolding.pdf)? Cybersafety?
Don't get me wrong, the strengths are obvious - like the opportunity for contribution 24/7. Students take different times to process and internalise the learning but that doesn't mean they don't have anything to contribute. 'Experts' from around the world can contribute as we are no longer bound by time. A community that can continue to grow from year to year.
I guess as our eLearning community develops I can look for parallels...
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Help! I can't swim!
Near blind panic I don't think quite covers how I feel as I jump into the eLearning pond without even getting testing the water with my toes first.
Where to start? I guess I'm wondering if technology will be the magic bullet that will make my teaching life easier. Am I the only one who feels they must now compete with students for their 15 sec microwave-based attention span and hopefully plant a seed of interest that tunes them into what I have to say?
When you look at the many ways that students can become informed - and often how unreliable some of these sources are I begin to at times question just how practical a shift towards a more student centered learning programme is.
I guess I see this eLearning course I am doing as a chance to help the students develop their own understanding via the community they build inside the classroom and see if can be extended to become a desire to investigate and find the (relative) truth themselves.
Where to start? I guess I'm wondering if technology will be the magic bullet that will make my teaching life easier. Am I the only one who feels they must now compete with students for their 15 sec microwave-based attention span and hopefully plant a seed of interest that tunes them into what I have to say?
When you look at the many ways that students can become informed - and often how unreliable some of these sources are I begin to at times question just how practical a shift towards a more student centered learning programme is.
I guess I see this eLearning course I am doing as a chance to help the students develop their own understanding via the community they build inside the classroom and see if can be extended to become a desire to investigate and find the (relative) truth themselves.
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