 | Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
How about: The role changes from content delivery to content critique, under the assumption that the educator is no longer the main provider of content as the content sources are widely dispersed and available to all learners. Then the educator's role would be to question the content discovered by the learner, probing for understanding, relevancy, accuracy, application. The educator models Socrates. |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
How about: The educator creates/designs scapes & invites collaborative exploration of the possibilities? <: ) |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| Hello, could you define scapes? |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Sorry, I meant to transmit the idea of landscape & the neologism learnscape. Other ones are cityscape, seascape & perhaps escape. <: ) I really love the metaphor of learning as something that emerges from interactions with a terrain; that mapping is involved; directions; exploration; trails; guides; journeys and returning with your narrative. (This is not an exhaustive list - much much more is possible & likely) Here is a role for talented educators, designers of learning scapes. Hope I've been clearer this time. Thanks for asking. <: ) minh |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Hi, I understand now. An educator would then design a learning scape. This would afford a learner a terrain in which to explore, travel etc. I wonder, is this necessary? Are there not already terrains in which to do these things? |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Old- Socs Are you are thinking of exploratoriums, theme parks, museum exibits or are you suggesting more chaotic learnscapes like a forest, seacoast, war zone? In either case could you give an example - an allegory to let us share your personal answer to the question. Moreover, how would the role playing teacher guide the student to these/though these "scapes?" B-ob |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| Sure. I was thinking that domains or scapes exist within any of the arts or sciences, and the learner could explore those without having to create new ones. But this is Minh's suggestion, not mine. I was seeking to understand the need to create new ones, and how they would match up with existing domains. |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| There are terrains that do these things, and they're better than ones constructed by teachers, because they're terrains created by actual practice. |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| Better, but potentially much less safe, and safety is generally regarded as important for learners (not that I necessarily agree...) |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| There is a whole lot of strategies for learners and teachers between going it alone and direct instruction. The learner-teacher relationship works well when each can share and adapt the other's strategies (without denying that power relationships are still present). |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Agreed agreed Stephen, Yet to do so to best effect surely implies a degree of autonomy. The sort of autonomy that comes from being able to read, for example. The creation of scapes to achieve this sort of basic skill acquisition doesn't imply denial of access to the all the rest - rather it networks. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Well put Minh. The real world can too complex (and dangerous) for the novice learner to understand easily. Carefully created scapes can facilitate and motivate the learner's progress with the ultimate goal being full autonomy and continued learning in real-world scapes. |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Hi everyone! Hi Stephen! Sorry to bother you. Could you provide some links to those terrains created by actual practice? I'll like to explore them. Last March I "created" a space to bring forth digital literacy in Spanish, the aim is to provide company to those learning computer programs like Microsoft Word, this is, basic programs provided for free by LearnFree. Links to tutorials are placed and we are there to answer questions or just provide moral support to the learner who is learning on his own. If you have time please visit BaeL and suggest ways to improve it. It's all charity work, there's no payment offered. http://bilingueactivoelear.ning.com Thanks in advance. Maru :X |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Here are some examples: Field studies in nature http://www.field-studies-council.org/campaigns/rwl/index.aspx The Met http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4618720 Service learning http://www.news.wisc.edu/15741 Justice Learning http://www.justicelearning.org/ Real-world problem solving http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book5407 Mentor-connection programs http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/news/06_04_14/index.html Real world case studies http://www.lulu.com/content/1049517 Community apprenticeships http://www.uwex.edu/impacts/search/documents/123.pdf Software apprenticeships http://www.softwarebyrob.com/2005/11/15/software-training-sucks-roll-it-back/ Student Teaching http://www.ed.psu.edu/educ/cife/student-teaching International Youth internship http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/internships Kaos Pilots - entrepreneur learning http://www.kaospilot.dk/ Flight training http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/general/flttrain/menu.htm Ecuador Newspaper internships http://www.frontier.ac.uk/gap_year_projects/Ecuador/Ecuador_Newspaper_Internship/ |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Stephen, I am uncertain I agree with you ... or maybe your wording. You claim that online learning environments are best created by actual practice, not by teachers. Are teachers not the ones teaching our children, and as such, are they not the ones who would be applying actual practice to our children??? I am hoping that you are not referring to actual practice as the business-constructed learning environments that are aesthetically appealing to the eye but, more often than not, lose face with a lack of morals underpinning them or functionality (in scope). From my experience working with educators (in the tertiary, secondary and primary fields) as well as with outside organisations in creating digital content, it is always the teachers who are creating such environments with a clear pedagogical purpose who create the best environments. Those who create the environment with the forefronted view of the concept or content often do not really see the big picture, and as such their environments do not suit many users. Instead the majority of users simply adjust what they know is best practice or justify the elements that are meaningful in the environment as reasons why they use them. It is far simpler to use something in existence, no matter how relevant it really is, than to create an authentic environment with 100% purpose. Would love to hear back from you or others in relation to this ... |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Are "terrains" and "practice" entities? Do they have will? Do they create things? Seems like "terrains" might be similar to environments? If so, aren't they just the space wherein actual people create things? and can't teachers create good terrains? "Practice" belongs to individuals, groups or society. How can we separate "practice" from the "practitioners"? |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Lee, you raise a number of important issues. Let me clarify my position. I have often said things like, "It is better to learn forestry in a forest, better to learn law in a courtroom, etc." The intent here is to suggest that these real environments are better for learners than would be a corresponding artificial environment created in 9eg.) a classroom. The reason I say such things is that forests and courtrooms are complex environments. Because they are complex environments, any simulation of them will be necessarily an abstraction, and will omit numerous possibly salient details from the presentation. Having said that, there are some obvious cases where we will want to create artificial environments. For example: - where practice in the actual environment is too dangerous, for example: flying an aircraft, fighting a war, putting out fires, etc. - where practice in the actual environment is disruptive to the actual environment, eg. having students plead cases in court (though, as a counter-example, not how medical schools use interns in actual hospitals - there is a great deal of leeway there). Now with these exceptions considered, it seems to me that the objections you raise fall into two categories: - the suggestion that actual environments are pedagogically deficient, and that pedagogical purpose must be built into the environment - the suggestion that lessons taught in an actual environment may be morally deficient, reflecting as they do the amoral construction of such environments Each of these is addressed with the same essential response, specifically, that the employment of an actual environment does not entail the complete withdrawal of all instruction or pedagogical intent. With respect to the first point, it is expected that students participating in such environments would avail themselves of a range of pedagogical support, including such things as direct instructional materials (such as manuals, etc), tutoring and advice, counseling and mentoring, and peer support through a learning community. With respect to the second point, insofar as the environment is one in which disciplines are actually practiced, they will be infused with whatever morality prevails in that discipline. Sadly, the world of professional and business practice is arguably morally deficient (I have made this point many times). Thus it will be a key and critical role of pedagogical support services to convey this to the student. But that said, an immoral society cannot produce moral students: the best and only way to return morality to education is to return morality to the practice of our professions. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Ken, During the knowledge week (2) I read the alternate reading: Rethinking Learning (.pdf) in which Karl Popper's educational views were mentioned. i would recommend this as a "goodread." My interest in Popper's ideas that related to Knowledge, learning, and education continues and I have began to read what I can find on the web and have ordered some books from the library. Moreover, I just now read a transcript of Joanna Swann (link here and URL below) defending Popper's educational views and what they might mean if implemented in schools. Her suggestions reminded me of some of the ideas that we have come up with in our discussions of the last several weeks. http://www.flu.cas.cz/rethinkingpopper/papers/swann.doc Another "goodread." B-ob |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Hi B-ob. Thanks very much for the links. I confess I have only recently stumbled across Popper and I intend to delve further. I sense the frustration of yourself and other practicing teachers in the application of connectivist methods in the k-12 classroom. I educate adults, so the issues are different, I think. In my educational setting there is a lot of lattitude for the teacher to use different resources, some, like webct/blackboard/podcasts are strongly encouraged. My operation is on the campus of an institution that was recently created and branded as a laptop university: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Ontario_Institute_of_Technology In the K-12 area, seems there are huge issues surrounding curriculum and delivery, which are not as intense as where I work. Here is a link I posted a few weeks ago, the teacher is grade 6 and uses technology with his students. May be of use. I like the philosophical approach as I see this theory to be new and experimental, and needing the philosophy to be fleshed out in order to support the use of the new technological tools. I think it is important for me to justify the uses, in order to do so I must understand the pedagogy, to do this I need the philosophy and knowledge of the recent cognitive science development etc. This is my approach, anyway, so I lean to the philosophical discussions and try to plumb the depths of what this theory is saying/being. I do respect the other positions as well. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| I'm not noticing a whole lot of difference between K-12 and college, which is what I teach. Similar issues, similar restrictions, I can just leave the scissors on the desk and be pretty much assured there won't be a safety problem. Public colleges, at least, are very much following the outcomes-assessment model, and application of connectivism can be discussed in a very similar context as K-12. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| Hello Lisa. I wonder if some of these issues/restrictions are more jurisdictional and not as global as you perceive. For example Steve (UK), Lee (AU) and George (MB) seem to be applying connectivism in their jurisdictions. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Ken, I think Lisa is right the emerging issues are similar. Of course in the K-12 systems, the younger the students the more limited their access to the Web 2.0 tools for safety reasons. This is a stumbling block to applying a connectivist form of instruction. Also: At the risk of stating the obvious, I suggest that we have three categories of schools.
Please, let me know if I'm off base. B-ob |
 | Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Bob, I think that there is no need to create networks for the learning of the youngest. Must first settle the concepts and the skills needed to evolve properly in learning and the use of technologies. The availability of technology does not make its use essential. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
| Dolores, I really like how you phrase this, though I think the connecting skills of very young people are much better than they are once the kids have been taught to separate the disciplines. It certainly doesn't seem that any techonological access is necessary while children are connecting to the many ideas and people around them everywhere in their lives. So I think you're right that they don't need internet-based networks, because their more crucial networks are all around them. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
We are under the control of the Chancellor's office for the community colleges in California, which says relatively little about teaching methods. Right now all the community colleges are dealing with accreditation pressure in the form of accountability through assessments which tend to focus on content. |
| Re: Changing Role: Fast Forward to the Past |
|
Ken, I think the good teacher is one who create knows the student in the need to learn. From there, it will be the student who believes their own learning strategies. In some cases require the teacher or tutor (new in the field or in the environment), in others not. Sometimes taken as a reference the contents provided by the teacher, not in others (depederá of their level of knowledge). The Socratic method is not useful for all kinds of learning (technical matters or mathematics) and not is valid for all kinds of learning styles. |