Distance learning is where there is little or no in-person, face to face meetings on one’s learning. I have just found out that it is becoming more common among students who live in rural areas, where students engage in meaningful learning over the internet – distance. Wolcott recommends to minimize the psychological distance for the student there should be a “learner-centered approach” through building rapport, decreasing isolation and enhancing interaction.
To build rapport I strongly affirm with the view that a person’s attitude can affect their own learning. If a student has the attitude that distance learning is “second best” then face to face teaching they can end up self-fulfilling their prophesy. As teachers we should be constantly challenging and building up our students towards learning. Wolcott states that “If our teaching methods demoralise students, rather than challenge them…there is little dignity in being learner”.
Distance learning can be challenging for students this is why it is also important for teachers to aim at decreasing the isolation and enhancing interaction between teacher, student and other students. This could be done through cross-group discussions where students can talk informally to each other, incorporating activities like role playing and case studies. Students could do podcasts and send them to each other, getting feedback. They could enhance social interaction through the use of a blog or a buddy through emails. I just thought that another way to decrease isolation could be to arrange a one-off soical meeting with other students.
I believe that distance learning can be just as effective, if not more practical for those students who are not apart of school environment.
Journal article:
Wolcott, L. (1996). Distant, but not distanced. A learner-centered approach to distance education. TechTrends, 41(4), 23-27.
I just have to realise that technology is all about experimenting, practicing and fiddeling. I am a person that likes to know the clear cut reason behind what I am engaging with and thus find it very difficult to just sit and fiddel on a computer. So from experimenting and playing around for over five hours on two different assignments using two different programs, was all for a *snap* *crackle* *POP* show!! In short i lost both works and now i have to start again. From this I’ve learnt that there are never any guaratees with tech, expect the unexpected. So back to the experimenting, practicing and fiddeling i march.
I will leave you with this thought, if technology is something we are persuing to catch up with, yet we are the designers of our own creations, why then are we struggling to keep up with it?
“We prepare youth for full participation as productive and effective citizens in an increasing global economy”.
I discovered this website in my exploration. This worldwide school net community with 90,000 members from 194 countries addresses 21st century technology ideas that interplay in the lives of children today. It has opened my eyes to a new dimension of meaningful project learning experiences that can take place in the class and be connected with other people around the world. This website will be a good tool to use as a future teacher to assist with ideas and propelling lessons towards collaborative learning on a global scale, which I think is crucial for students to be involved with. This allows them to connect and share ideas and experiences with others whilst improving their social skills.
http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.cfm
This is my 2nd vodcast on the 6 C’s of Motivation….
meeeee
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Now this image is a bit of a paradox isn’t it??!!!
Mark Prensky debates the issue of the knowledge gap between the digital natives (today’s students) and the digital immigrants (teachers). This metaphor actually made me consider how the gap between generations is ever expanding as new technology keeps updating. This has made me question whether the digital natives of today will oneday become the digital immigrants of tomorrow??
Prenksy claims that teachers in the 21st century are stuck in 20th century practices. This shows the divide. Teachers should utilise the tools their students learn from within non-school contexts. These include things like computer games and mobile phones. Yes!! Computer games can actually increase educational engagement! Consequently, students will be more motivated to engage and participate in class, as it maximises the value of their learning. This was a fabulous review and I definitely recommend you to hear it. http:// http://www.marcprensky.com/speaking/++Prensky-Speech-CoSN-13min.wmv
This journal article by Turkle discussed many ideas behind computer literacy. Something that struck my attention was; understanding how a computer worked assumed you could understand how other technological devices worked as well. This challenged me to question my beliefs as I tend to think that a person who is good on the computer will be good on a mobile, or any other technical device. Now I realise that this might not always be the case. The article also talked about motivation and how “we need to be able to put ourselves in the place of others in order to understand their motivation”. I believe this is really important as we all learn and engage differently at different rates, so this is definately something to take on board when preparing to be teachers.
so i set up two accounts…..not realising i was posting on one and sending people to view it on another…so after all that i had infomation on both which I have had to convert, I’ve lost a bit but i guess thats all part of the risk taking learning in ELEARNING!!
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