...and the best Internet
lesson I ever learned/taught? How to assess information objectively. And to ignore it if it seems false/ludicrous/based on a false premise. Nevertheless, I think someone has something to learn here...
I've pondered this one for a few hours. Thanks for the post, warmac. I won't criticise your grammar or your use of language since I am impressed that you espress yourself so well in what is obviously not your mother tongue, and I thank you for writing in English that I can decipher, since if you'd written it in any other language (even Welsh) I'd be stumped. However, if I understand your message, you propose to disadvantage those who are prepared to embrace available learning tools at an early age (don't give 'em books too early! Ye'll addle their minds) and those who are in isolated social situations (think "rural" - that's where I'm coming from) so that they are unable to access the context of a wider world; they believe that the only influences on them are those from their immediate acquaintance. Technology defies rurality (my immediate concern), it can give experiences that create global citizens.
If I can quote a personal example, my 3 year old has been following the progress of the space shuttle astronauts ("I hope they get back safely Daddy"), the Russian submarine crew trapped off the Kamchatka peninsula (he knows about the concept of submarines through our playing Silent Hunter and Sub Command) - "How long will their air last Daddy? Why can't they swim out?". Without the use of the technology at our disposal, he'd be unaware and uninterested in these (and other) things. He's learning about so many things on so many levels, it astounds me. And he still comes back with more questions, in greater intensity and depth as the days go by. (Usually the question is "Why?" but hey, he's 3).
Right now, I'm proud of his interest in global events, his developing concern for others, his interest in my reading RSS feeds to him at bedtime and the fact that the three most important things in his life are still his two teddy bears and his little sister. Oh yes, and that Mummy reads a proper story to him after I've finished (usually something about a tank engine or a scruffy giant - the reluctance of the community to accept said scruffy giant is beginning to concern him, although he reconciles it with the premise that the giant is very kind and is unlikely to be anything other than scruffy and kind and it doesn't matter that he's scruffy. Dat's ma boy.).
Unhealthy teacher? To me, that's the one who teaches from their own lecture notes from 20 years ago. The one who can't embrace new technology, new pedagogies, new opportunities to improve the chances of learners in a contemporary situation. The kind of teacher who believes that the way they were taught will always be the only way to learn; "it did alright for me, didn't it?". The ones with an attitude to learning that will never change, will never evolve as their career develops, and they telegraph to the learners under their charge that there Is Only One Way.
So - yeah, you're right; unhealthy teacher = unhealthy learners. I'm thinking "mindset" here. "Inability to adopt changing circumstances". Mmm - that's unhealthy.
Moodle users (at least, the ones I've come across)
DO believe that the
message is greater than the tool - it's just that this tool is the best
thing they've come across to
help deliver the message. Without the
"teacher-on-the-ground" though, it's so much harder to get the message
across to inspire young people to develop an enthusiasm for learning; successful teaching involves so much seat-of-the-pants, reacting-to-situations
stuff and the person best placed to react to
learners' immediate needs is the teacher in the classroom. I wouldn't want young people to learn through
only an online environment, but the experiences they can witness via a global network are so much richer than those close to home that I would certainly want (demand?) online resources to form part of a
blended learning environment. You're right - Moodle is not what it's all about;
learning is what it's all about.
BUT* Intelligent and considered use of Moodle helps focus on the learning resources and the learning objectives that they are scaffolding rather than on the environment they are delivered in. And that's just considering the
instructional aspects. When you get into the
constructional aspects of Moodle eg forums, dialogues, journals - you're into a new dimension of learning to learn. Peer assessment - I've said it elsewhere, the greatest measurable progress I've seen is through using a Workshop module for learners to define their learning. That wouldn't be possible without the technology - the tools. For whatever reason (I tend to think it's due to the special community that exists in using and developing Moodle) those tools don't necessarily exists outside Moodle, which is why I find Moodle so exciting as a tool for learning.
I just loved this one -
"There's a reason why kids are becoming exccessively overweight, bad
eyesight, slower learning ability, etc all due to web and technology
not to mention not-so-inspiring teacher role-models in the class room."
Not where I'm from pardner. The web is giving young learners new horizons, new vistas, greater expectation of what they are able to achieve. They are using technology to measure their fitness, to develop fitness plans, to learn about diet and the negative effects of drugs that they may never come across. Through simulation and RPGs the technology is enabling them to make decisions
that they are unlikely ever to have to make in real life, but which people in other situations DO have to make on a daily basis. These pupils are becoming more rounded citizens due to their being forced to think about unfamiliar situations, placed there by technological means. Technolgy isn't bad, the means to which it is put can be bad. (Hey kids, you can sit here and play Horace goes Skiing, or we can go out and play in the snow). Remember, their unhealthy parents are
immigrants into the digital scene (thanks, Marc Prensky) who never had access to the rich resources that the online generation now has, so the new generation needs training in the best ways to make use of the information at their disposal. "Unhealthy parents-unhealthy children"; careful now - that's a bit of a sweeping statement.
Sorry, warmac. I tried for hours to sympathise with your point of view. Could be a troll, could be a windup. But you really ought to hear the Way It Is. Oh yeah, and the land you're selling on the moon - what's the view like from there? Is it dark?
*sorry folks, went a bit WP here.
I think this GROUP application approach is brilliant (if I say so myself).
Ican't give any of that techie help so many of you give out, sio this is my way to do my 'bit' for Moodle. I see what you mean about Moodle standing on its won merits, rather than being in an OS category - but perhaps then Becta need to redo their application procedure to accommodate products like this.
