This week reading is the Emerging Technologies in E-Learning (part 1 of the ebook called Education for a Digital World). This chapter reiterated for me the transformations brought about by the Web 2.0 that we are witnessing today:
content recipient –> content creator
commerce –> people
instructor -> facilitator
I agree that the term e-learning will go away with time, just like the term e-commerce. E-learning and emerging technologies of today will become main stream and will be naturally used as learning tools when appropriate.
I have taken several classes at SFSU that incorporated different web technologies: blogs, wikis, ilearn, illuminate. From this experience, I feel that we do not use the discussion forums enough. We get a comment here and there but never a full discussion. I am not sure if ilean is a good platform for that, individual blogs are not either. I actively participate in several communities and posts on a hot topic bring very interesting multi-threaded discussions collecting hundreds of posts within a day. I really enjoy reading the comments; they bring a lot of interesting points and facilitate re-thinking.
A Day in Butare, Rwanda
13 years ago
11 comments:
I agree that checking blogs doesn't lead to conversation. I am part of an old online community that uses a listserve still. We have specific rules on subject headers. It's nice to be able to glance down the subjects and see whose posts you'd like to read.
You bring up a very interesting point in that trying to keep up with multiple blogs is not necessarily conducive to community building. I think we need one place or site where we can convene and create various discussion threads.
Right now, when I have to comment, I usually gravitate towards blogs authored by those in my field, k-12 education. I do so, because those posts are more interesting to me and allow me to feel connected.
If we all convened in one discussion forum, I would have the opportunity to read other's ideas, and not necessarily those who teach in elementary or secondary schools.
You bring up a very interesting point in that trying to keep up with multiple blogs is not necessarily conducive to community building. I think we need one place or site where we can convene and create various discussion threads.
Right now, when I have to comment, I usually gravitate towards blogs authored by those in my field, k-12 education. I do so, because those posts are more interesting to me and allow me to feel connected.
If we all convened in one discussion forum, I would have the opportunity to read other's ideas, and not necessarily those who teach in elementary or secondary schools.
I have seem form threads that go on forever. It is interesting to see different point of you that we can learn from and give our own option.
Hi Yana!
Your summary of the shift from 1.0 to 2.0 is really effective---I took one look at the three lines and thought how well they summarize key points from the chapter. It's amazing how much you convey with a few words and arrows.
Blogs are not very effective for group communication or discussion; forums are effective, and I believe we should have one to extend our face-to-face discussions.
I agree with that our current set up does not lend itself to authentic and passionate debates or discussions. However, I am not sure if it technology is all to blame. If I read a person's blog, I have usually searched for a particular topic and am have an intrinsic desire and curiosity to participate and share in their discussion.
While a classroom is a natural community, I am not sure if it is authentic. Of course, I chose this class just as I found a blog on the Internet, so I would think that my personal investment is about the same. Yet, the collaborative tools we have used in class have not elicited an intrinsic response.
I agree with you that reading multiple blogs is quite inefficient. I would like to see a threaded blog in which many people can participate at the same time. So far, I have not discovered such blog, because if they exist, they will show a very intricate design with traffics that are well weaved together. It should be sort of like Craigslist, but much more branchier.
You brought up some excellent points. E-learning is an excellent tool that can provide additional opportunities for support. It can accommodate different learning styles and schedules as well.
Yana --
I definitely agree with you about the value of a single forum for tying a group of people into a community.
Excellent point about discussion vs. blogs. Thanks for bringing it up here and in class.
I thought it was a great input, not only what you wrote here but also what you said in class. Creating a more vibrant discussion forum would be great to have in this class.
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