Blogs

I have been reading about MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in which a relatively small number of instructors work with a relatively large number of learners. Knowledge is freely available and easily accessible (see http://www.prorabaugh.com/2012/08/22/guest-frank-framington/) and it got me thinking – has the emergence of new learning paradigms de-personalised the learning process? Are MOOC learners likely to ‘know’ their instructors? Is this important?

Test blog 2

Test Blog 

Having just joined the teeming world of Twitter I was encouraged by a recent post asking what if schools were more like Twitter. Lots of great (and relevant) metaphors followed but I was most interested by one of the replies as it focused on 'getting Twitter'. In this reply, the respondent explained that whilst he had been a Twitter user since its inception, it was only recently that he was able to fully engage with Twitter in terms of being part of a dynamic and emergent conversation.

Scenario:  Your school decides to introduce a large scale Android Tablet program involving 600 students and staff and you have never even used an Android Tablet
As a working teacher, I feel I am always negotiating the issue of control – at times I need to exert control over students but my preference is always to negotiate control with students - the ‘power over’ versus ‘power with’ dilemma. As a colleague, I also worry about my propensity to dominate. I know (hope?) that this is a dilemma that other educators struggle with.  

A common scenario in class: A teacher or peer explains how to solve a particular problem or do a particular task. We nod wisely as we follow their logic – now it all makes sense!
Most of the time, though, we have just linked the pattern of logic to the particular layout of the question. Thus, we can look through the same question and produce the same logic – we “recognise” the problem and the solution. All too often, we fool ourselves and others into thinking we understand when in fact we are only recognising.