LRND6820 Understanding E-Learning
After reading and reflecting on your own ideas concerning e-learning, how would you define your own personal philosophical orientation, and how doe it effect your e-learning? Is it a “purist” acceptance of one of the philosophies outlined in the reading or is it a conglomeration of several?
The article was a little hard to digest at first, but the personal reflection of the discussion question helped me to absorb the content. I would have to say I am a conglomeration, and bits and pieces from each of the philosophies defines my personal philosophical orientation.
By educating ourselves we open our minds to examine information and ideas without bias and this allows us to move from knowledge to wisdom and with this I identify with Liberal/Perennial philosophy. However, I do not believe that educators should impose their own morals and values onto their students. Instead, present the information and let the students examine it and conclude on their own. I am also not a huge fan of the sage on the stage presentation format. however I accept it as a reasonable form of presenting class material when organized and efficient.
The Progressive philosophy also has useful components. For example the teacher is there to consult and to encourage. I find this type of environment very productive.
The philosophies I define with the least are behaviorist and radical. The behaviorist philosophy seems to rigid and almost discouraging and the radical philosophy seems well just too radical, but I can see its use in a philosophy class. I see the behaviourist philosophy as potentially detrimental and discouraging in the learning environment.
Like some of the other philosophies I can accept some components of the analytical philosophy, most notably the idea of life long learning for human development. This is especially true today and today’s technology makes life long learning easier to attain.
I can also define myself closely with the humanist philosophy and my teaching style seems to be geared in that direction. A good part of my teaching strategy centers around group dynamics, group relations and self directed learning. This is curious to me, because as a student I am generally shy and at times found these environment a bit intimidating.
As an e-learner a mix of these philosophies works well. I prefer a mix of the liberalist, progressive, humanist and analytical philosophies. As an e learner I want certain thing spelled out so that there is direction. Next, give feed back as I go, so I know if I am heading in the right direction, third, encourage a bit of self directed learning, and finally define skills and knowledge to continue my quest for knowledge.
2) What latest trends in e-learning or social networking do you think are more damaging to e-learning in the long run, if any?
The most damaging trends in elearning is the need to trump the latest technology. While I fully embrace learning new technology, at times it becomes too overbearing and cumbersome and obstructs the learning process and the end goal.
As far as social networking there are the obvious risks of identity theft and even some safety concerns. I think we will see more problems with this as younger generations enter the professional world. Often times things that are posted never really go away and that could hurt some young people in the future.
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3:57 pm - 9-13-2010
You’ve done a superb job of filtering the philosophies presented in the reading through your own professional beliefs and experiences. Well done!
It makes sense to me that you consider yourself a little on the shy side, yet often follow a humanist approach in your own classroom given its emphasis on students taking the lead with support from a teacher who doesn’t always feel a need to be the center of attention or activity.
We’ll talk a lot more about the potential risks and rewards of social technology in learning as we go. The Siemens reading this week takes a very positive view of social media overall, so it would be interesting to hear in your next post whether you think his views are applicable in settings catering to younger students given some of the concerns you express here.