AND NOW I FACE THE FINAL CURTAIN...
iLe@rn model
This model reinforces the notion that elearning is not about focusing on the technology but rather it is about engaging our students in exciting emerging practices. In a world where students can access anything, anytime, anywhere, teaching needs to undergo a review. I am encouraged to hear that teachers do matter - perhaps more so than ever to help our young people develop the discernment required in the mire of the electronic medium. We are charged with developing "reflective and responsible learners". We can only achieve this through active participation in the elearning universe and by guiding our students [educare = to lead]. It behoves teachers to become familiar with the tools of the trade in order to model them for students' use. The walls may be coming down, but good teaching is still at the core of the learning model and a good teacher knows his tools, some of which will involve the use of Web 2.0.BLOOM'S DIGITAL TAXONOMY
This is a handy means of transferring the familiar model into the digital age. I would argue the placement of searching as the lowest order skill [Remembering]. It should perhaps be referred to as "basic searching", to distinguish it from "advanced searching" and suggesting that it does not involve the process of devising a selection of keywords as search terms. I am unsure of the meaning of "finding" in the Analysing tier. Despite these minor matters, the digital taxonomy should prove very useful in curriculum development.
Where to place Flikr in the model? I'd put it in Applying where students upload and share; I'd place mind-mapping in Analysing where students structure and organise; and Second Life would go in Creating where students devise, create animate and publish.
COURSE REVIEW
It's been a long and sometimes rocky road to this end. I have many thoughts to express about the whole Web 2.0 course/journey...
- When I sneak a peek at other course blogs, I think that mine have been too wordy. Yet I feel I have given my entries a good deal of thought. Most of that time was spent well away from any computer too. One of the greatest benefits of this course has been the time factor - whilst I have taken over a term to complete the course, it has allowed me to practice, to learn from my many mistakes, to put some tools into classroom practice, to collaborate over problems with my peers, and to make some critical observations. No one-day inservice course could offer all that.
- Going in to this course, we were told that each module should take us about 2 hours to complete. I think that is a gross underestimation. Mine took many many hours,days,weeks to do all the readings, view all the videos and to find images and to compose my ideas prior to taking the publishing step. I could not have written my modules any other way.
- Contentwise....I was familiar with some of the tools which we met during the course, but doing the modules forced me to look again at them more closely and to actually use them. Previously I had encountered them at inservice courses where one is quite rushed to access such sites in a large group and they tend to remain locked away in notes as something to be looked into more deeply at a later date - which can mean never. Doing the course encouraged me to make use of blogs within the classroom and to be more critical of the tasks we set our students. It coincided nicely with our students gaining email access and so I was able to help them with Google docs as an alternative to using their USBs. I have been shown many new tools which I hope to use with students as the opportunity presents.
ISSUES:
Privacy is still an important consideration with Web 2.0. We should tread carefully and educate our charges about the need for caution. Who would you wish to read/hear/see what you publish? is still relevant.
Addiction is much in the news lately. Texting can be addictive. Apart from the monetary cost, there are now more dangerous aspects where texting leads to bad parenting as parents disregard their children to take and send messages and emails whilst they are responsisible for their childrens' safety. There is also now a growing trend of physical effects presenting in young people as texting is seen as leading to repetitive stress syndrome, anxiety, sleep deprivation and falling grades.
Reality I am concerned that we should never confuse the world wide web for the reral world. The image which heads this module shows someone looking at Central Park through the medium of what looks like an iPad. I would like to think that one would be present in the moment and experience the real Central Park rather than a digital version. It is concerning that young people using Second Life have been so completely caught up in this world that they have looked there for medical help!!
Reliability Students need to be alerted to the dangers of trusting everyone on the internet. When they have been shown how to question the authority of websites, they should apply this to the social network as well.Students tend to operate in a zone where they presume trust, and this can lead to identidy theft and worse.
Twitter At the risk of sounding prehistoric, I cannot understand why anyone would want to use Twitter! Just who has time to upload the minutiae of daily life and who would want to spend their time reading it?? The expression "Get a life" comes to mind.
Currency The rate of change is exponential in the web. Many of the social networking sites which we have learned about during this course will change their operation or disappear entirely very soon and be superceded or replaced by newer ones. We have just seen the arrival of the iPad and Kindle which will change the way we interact. New tools will be created to fit the new technology. We have seen the world become wireless. Keyboards will become obsolete as voice will drive command functions. The one constant is the undeniable fact that our students love the technology - it is fun and exciting. The challenge then for us as educators is to get on board and try to hijack that technology to make learning more engaging and meaningfiul for the students of this new age.
Quality The internet is now so overcrowded that it is more difficult than ever to find the treasure amongst the trash. Anyone can create a website, post a blog or a wiki, edit entries in Wikipedia and twitter endlessly. My fear is that what is being communicated may be of very little value. I worry that copyright is a thing of the past - once something has been uploaded it becomes a free-for-all. I suppose that it is part of our role as educators to inform users about this issue just as we attempt to inculcate the idea of not plagiarising. We must also devise meaningful ways to critique and evaluate the creative endeavours of our students.
Reliability Students need to be alerted to the dangers of trusting everyone on the internet. When they have been shown how to question the authority of websites, they should apply this to the social network as well.Students tend to operate in a zone where they presume trust, and this can lead to identidy theft and worse.
Twitter At the risk of sounding prehistoric, I cannot understand why anyone would want to use Twitter! Just who has time to upload the minutiae of daily life and who would want to spend their time reading it?? The expression "Get a life" comes to mind.
Currency The rate of change is exponential in the web. Many of the social networking sites which we have learned about during this course will change their operation or disappear entirely very soon and be superceded or replaced by newer ones. We have just seen the arrival of the iPad and Kindle which will change the way we interact. New tools will be created to fit the new technology. We have seen the world become wireless. Keyboards will become obsolete as voice will drive command functions. The one constant is the undeniable fact that our students love the technology - it is fun and exciting. The challenge then for us as educators is to get on board and try to hijack that technology to make learning more engaging and meaningfiul for the students of this new age.
Quality The internet is now so overcrowded that it is more difficult than ever to find the treasure amongst the trash. Anyone can create a website, post a blog or a wiki, edit entries in Wikipedia and twitter endlessly. My fear is that what is being communicated may be of very little value. I worry that copyright is a thing of the past - once something has been uploaded it becomes a free-for-all. I suppose that it is part of our role as educators to inform users about this issue just as we attempt to inculcate the idea of not plagiarising. We must also devise meaningful ways to critique and evaluate the creative endeavours of our students.
I have commented on several other blogs:
Comment on Anne Symons' blog:
Hi Anne,
Whilst I cannot agree about the addictiveness of blogging, I concur with your observation about the enthusiasm it engenders. This will surely be reflected in our students' approach and will hopefully mean that the pride they will take in seeing their work on such public display will mean more engaged learning.
Comment on Anne Symons' blog:
Hi Anne,
Whilst I cannot agree about the addictiveness of blogging, I concur with your observation about the enthusiasm it engenders. This will surely be reflected in our students' approach and will hopefully mean that the pride they will take in seeing their work on such public display will mean more engaged learning.
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