First of all, is my bald spot really that noticeable?
As Jim very clearly pointed out in the video, pedagogy must drive the technology and tools. Richard summarized the main points succinctly: instruct, construct, connect.
I agree with Andrea, I thought Larry Sanger's article was great. He discussed three commonly held beliefs regarding education and the Internet. First he attacked the premise that we no longer need to learn (read: memorize) facts because information can now be accessed easily and instantly via any computer. Second, he disproved the theory that collaborative learning can or should replace individual learning. Lastly he made a case against the idea that co-constructed knowledge was somehow superior to textbooks.
Obviously the web has a lot to offer educators and students but some people take that to an extreme. Let's not forget what they said about the last great technologies. Most of us are too young to remember the last major innovations that "revolutionized" education, and specifically language teaching. First it was Edison’s phonograph (linguaphone) at the end of the 19th Century allowed students to hear native speakers talking for the first time. Then, in the 1930s it was radio, especially the BBC that could "bring the world into the classroom. And then, get ready, in the 1950s, the tape recorder hit the scene. "Hear your own voice" becomes the slogan of new methods, and we see language labs beginning to be installed in schools throughout the country. This incredible technological advance was followed by the granddaddy of them all ... “the new miracle in education”, the invention that was to revolutionize education... the television. Language courses could now be broadcast over the airways, and numerous distance education progams and correspondance courses were born. This brings us up to modern times, and the advent of computers and the Internet, which promotors promised would transform language learning into a totally "individualized interactive experience, with only marginal need for teachers or classrooms."
We have come a long way since the days before computers, before television and radio, but we need to remember that education is a dialogue that requires interaction. It is not something that can be downloaded or googled. If education were as simple as accessing information, students could simply buy the book.
I appreciated your comment about how "education is a dialogue." I think about this same thing as I approach my "lectures" in online classes. I try to ask questions and create a dialogue with the student. It's fun to think about how dialogue can happen in an online format. I also wanted to say that I enjoyed reading the history in your post. Thank you for sharing all of this!
Posted by: Laura Paciorek | 05/03/2011 at 06:18 PM