http://www.screencast.com/users/drawart/folders/Default/media/15196ace-d285-4ba9-b3ee-5c20582e414d
Here is a short Jing video I made which expresses my thoughts on learning, whether it be face-to-face, or online. Whether you meet your classmates online by Skype, WIZIQ chat, or actually in the classroom... MEET them! Interact with them, and learn from them. Project -centered learning, webquests, blogging, wikis, collaborative mindmaps, video creation, etc. (I could go on!):all of these allow the flow of information from one student to another.
The whole idea of learning from your own inner drive is what idealized education is. If you know that others are awaiting your contribution, you are more likely to pursue information that helps everyone produce quality work. The act of seeking information in itself leads the student around the internet in pursuit of more knowledge.
Learning from the facilitators: Students and facilitators alike add their comments and suggestions for the group's edification and knowledge sharing. I feel like the instructors are there to learn along with us.
Barbara
Hi Barbara - I appreciate your focus on inner drive, and the desire to contribute to a group. I puzzle a lot about motivation - sometimes for me it's just plain stubbornness, other times a real eagerness to reach somewhere. It is true that this M4T group provides sustenance and motivation. I admit to feeling discouraged and sort of "off the team" on Saturday when I "saw" everyone and even sat with you all, but couldn't hear or speak. Quite a visceral experience for a virtual event...which speaks volumes to me about the importance of colleagues to bounce ideas around with (if I were adept at SL movement, I probably would have been bouncing against the walls). I browsed in the Chilbo reading room the other night and heard in the introduction to the PLENK sessions that the facilitators didn't exactly know what they were going to "teach" - leaving it to the learners to find their own way. I think you're right that the personal learning environment (the inner drive?) requires a social network, maybe a sharing of mapping instincts (which SL seems somehow to bring out). Maybe it's not knowledge we're after so much as the joy of learning...I hope that all makes sense. Thanks for the video you posted here, too. It's a good one that I suspect I'll refer back to more than once.
ReplyDelete