Week 3 – “Understanding e-learning Technologies in Practice through Philosophies in Practice.”
1) After reading and reflecting on your own ideas concerning e-learning, how would you define your own personal philosophical orientation, and how does it affect your e-learning? Is it a “purist” acceptance of one of the philosophies outlined in the reading or is it a conglomeration of several?
I define my own philosophical orientation on e-learning to be a conglomeration; a mix and match if you will. To evolve, adapt and learn, I find it virtually impossible to choose one learning philosophy. One of the most important things to know about technology is that is it always changing and improving; and we need to do the same. If there are complimentary philosophies for learning, we should be open to using them. While I do agree that it is important to find something that works and to continue using it, but one should always be on the lookout for alternatives that can be added to your “bag of tricks.”
I would say I would work best in an environment that combines progressive, humanist and analytical.
I prefer the progressive philosophy because it involves experimentation and problem solving. This keeps students engaged and feeling involved in their own learning; not just being taught with the masses like the liberal/perennial approach. Next, I like the humanist approach, as it focuses on interaction and cooperation with others for self growth and self evaluation. Finally – I find certain parts of the analytical philosophy useful as it focuses on lifelong education although I do disagree with the separation of society and education.
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?
I think integrating social networking in digital learning environments is very powerful, but the “damaging” part could be drawing the line between social and educational / professional use. We’ve all heard how it is important it is to monitor what kind of images we post of ourselves on Facebook, and to clean up the language of our status updates, but I think there is much more to be conscious of . If we are connecting with our classmates in these digital networks like Facebook and Twitter for class – we are also opening up our personal lives at the same time. All of a sudden our classmates, who are potentially strangers, have access to our friends, contact information, interests, and even our locations via status updates. 99% of the time this information could be completely harmless, but it might present the question: “Should we have separate accounts on social networks for our “social” and “educational” lives.
Granted, most sites have “lists” and “limited profiles” that we can take advantage of, but not everyone knows how to take advantage of that. Some users are just now joining these networks to meet class requirements. The last thing I want to do is offend a classmate or professional contact by joining a group or making a comment that may offend them. I find myself being very careful trying to separate the two uses, but I am finding it difficult with most of my social networking experience being for social purposes.
Interesting points, Wesley, on the issue surrounding “blurring” academic/professional and social networks online. I know where you’re coming from. I have at least four different Twitter accounts right now that I use for different purposes, and am somewhat careful about what gets posted on Facebook.
A part of me, though, wonders if some blurring of social, academic, and professional could be helpful. For example, some of the people I follow on Twitter (who I don’t know in “real” life) use their accounts to mostly post about ed tech. However, sometimes they’ll mix in a vacation photo, an item from their local paper, or something funny their kid said. I find these occasional blips of life mixed in with pure “information” help create potential for a social bond to exist, make the other person seem more approachable, and help me remember that the tweets and status messages I’m seeing come from people. This “remembering these are humans” bit is a non-issue in a face-to-face classroom, where it’s totally natural to talk with your neighbor about where you’re from, what you do for work and play, what your family is like, etc., and where we’re generally less cautious about revealing information about ourselves because the medium of conversation seems less permanent and therefore less risky. I think there’s a new set of social skills evolving around how to disclose enough information to be engaging and have a genuine presence in online discussions without disclosing so much that we or other parties are uncomfortable to the point we bail out of the conversation or the network altogether.
In recent months, I’ve taken a few more risks and decided to accept Facebook friend requests from people I’ve only really known professionally. So far, I’ve been pleased with how this has gone. Definitely, I’ve wound up connected with people with different backgrounds, political beliefs and cultural attitudes from my own. However, knock on wood, this has all been a positive for me. I think I get more well-rounded perspectives on topics and issues that interest me. Also, when I started working for the State, I tried very hard not to tip off too much about my politics or opinions about high level education policy. However, now that I’ve opened up some of my social network profiles to professional contacts from that work, I don’t worry so much about seeming unbiased/neutral when I go out to talk with groups around the state because I figure many people already know where I stand anyway. Some of these people may not share my political, social, or religious views, but I find that other parts of my profiles sometimes connect with them. For example, sometimes I’ll be at a conference or facilitating a workshop and someone who is part of my extended network will mention something about seeing videos of my dog online, and this will lead to a friendly conversation about dog behavior. In a few minutes we’ve developed not necessarily “friendship,” but at least a relationship where we’re connecting as people, not just professionals playing roles or strangers with opposing goals or political views. (I’ve caught myself thinking things like, “He can’t be all bad. He has a dog.”)
The other thing I like about the blurred lines is that I sometimes learn that people from one part of my life (say, old high school friends) share an interest in another part of my life (say, technology) and this leads to some good conversation and, sometimes, introductions to new people who expand my networks in valuable ways. These serendipitous connections wouldn’t have happened if my networks were all carefully sorted into closed boxes.
Of course, I’m (with mixed feelings) past the “youthful indiscretion” phase of my life, so there’s really nothing on my profiles now that would cause me more than mild embarrassment should any of my networks access it. I would probably have a slightly different view on how open to be and how many online identities to use if I was in my early twenties trying to start a career from scratch.
Nonetheless, I think while people should definitely be thoughtful about what they disclose to the whole wide world, there’s also some risk in missing out on potentially valuable connections because we err on the side of not sharing enough.
I also think I use a mixture of theories for teaching and learning. I think being able to adapt is important for any teacher.
***On Mr. Calvert’s post (apparently he couldn’t sleep…..:))…. I definitely agree with his last paragraph we often are afraid to “say to much”, but then may not say what needs to be said…..fine line and really difficult to determine which way we should go.