The transition of the internet into a more interactive read/write phase has had huge implications for teaching and learning, both for students and for teachers.
Online learning is very different when it is not simply a matter of finding resources in a cyber library. It is far more engaging when the learners can actually participate.
We have seen a huge growth in social networking tools to the point where we are now faced with a smorgasbord of possible places to explore.
One thing is pretty obvious: we can’t continue to do things the old way.
Just recently edna (Education Network Australia) held its first online conference day.
There were 5 sessions on offer:
• Social networking with me.edu.au
• Finding resources for embedding in Multimedia
• Digital Literacies
• Learning without Borders
• Education in Other Worlds
The staggering thing was how the first set of sessions booked out within 6 hours.
We set up a second day and that too booked out within hours.
If you would like to view/listen to/watch the archives for the 2 days of sessions then they are available through links on http://url.edna.edu.au/aPGh
The first four sessions were held in Live Classroom, while Education in Other Worlds was held in Second Life.
In the section headed Wimba Live Classroom Archives you will find some advice about the barriers that inhibited people’s ability to participate in these sessions, and indeed drove them to participate at home rather than in the work place. They are no doubt familiar to you: firewall and proxy settings, pop-up blockers, settings which mean you can only open one instance of a browser, disabled sound cards, prohibitions on certain URLS, and so the list goes on.
And while we are on inhibitors to online learning here is a video that education.au’s CEO Greg Black submitted to the recent OECD meeting in Korea.
It is a video so try it at home not at school.
Access it at http://url.edna.edu.au/W4vH
Recently education.au commissioned a report called Educators and ICT usage which looks at how educators are using the internet, what services they access and what delivery modes they prefer.
The report is at http://url.edna.edu.au/rcBQ. It found that the main barriers to using the Internet for educators were poor infrastructure – bandwidth, equipment reliability, accessibility (41%), and the blocking/filtering of Internet content.
edna recently ran a “proof of concept” project called edna.tv. The project aimed to explore possibilities for making online video accessible to Australian educators, and in particular the use of “grass-roots” video. The project can be seen at http://labs.edna.edu.au/ednatv together with a Show and Tell video, and the opportunity for you to comment at http://me.edu.au/c/ednatv
Post a Comment