Edited by Steven Fulthorpe, Tuesday 7 July 2009 at 22:55
I more or less agree with Conole’s argument in so much as makes VLEs are a metaphor for change especially in the military training sphere where there is much tension between institutional control of the learning environment and personal ownership of learning that some students would like. Although I agree that technologies can have a profound influence on how we work, how we communicate, and how we learn, I also think that in order to move forward we need to embrace change and drive the agenda rather than just use older learning methods with these new technologies.
In my own experience of how technologies have changed the way that I do things and how i work. I spend most of my time doing spurious tasks as a result of e-mails trails. From a learning professional perspective I have noticed a more questioning approach from students and they have become non-compliant learners as a result. They are not just ready to accept anything that the teacher says like I may have been in my day. Resultantly, I feel that I need to engage learners in the process more than before rather than using older teaching methods of ‘spoon-feeding’ students with endless amounts of information in a cognitive overload fashion. Now I need to contextualise the information, giving it meaning and confirming understanding on a frequent basis.
As a result the naval institution over the last 2 years only has begun to open learning centres out of hours allowing students access to technologies like never before. It is embracing modern learning initiatives more so than before with its train the trainer courses and really useful CPD activities. There has been a radical shift in the use of tools such as blogs, wikis and forums, although the low limits on the amount of space associated with email accounts and there continues to be a preoccupation with all net security rather than just a focus upon the security that counts. this is a significant barrier to progress.
Conole Reading
I more or less agree with Conole’s argument in so much as makes VLEs are a metaphor for change especially in the military training sphere where there is much tension between institutional control of the learning environment and personal ownership of learning that some students would like. Although I agree that technologies can have a profound influence on how we work, how we communicate, and how we learn, I also think that in order to move forward we need to embrace change and drive the agenda rather than just use older learning methods with these new technologies.
In my own experience of how technologies have changed the way that I do things and how i work. I spend most of my time doing spurious tasks as a result of e-mails trails. From a learning professional perspective I have noticed a more questioning approach from students and they have become non-compliant learners as a result. They are not just ready to accept anything that the teacher says like I may have been in my day. Resultantly, I feel that I need to engage learners in the process more than before rather than using older teaching methods of ‘spoon-feeding’ students with endless amounts of information in a cognitive overload fashion. Now I need to contextualise the information, giving it meaning and confirming understanding on a frequent basis.
As a result the naval institution over the last 2 years only has begun to open learning centres out of hours allowing students access to technologies like never before. It is embracing modern learning initiatives more so than before with its train the trainer courses and really useful CPD activities. There has been a radical shift in the use of tools such as blogs, wikis and forums, although the low limits on the amount of space associated with email accounts and there continues to be a preoccupation with all net security rather than just a focus upon the security that counts. this is a significant barrier to progress.