Allan Hayes (hay@haystack.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 11 Sep 1998 08:20:05 +0200 charset="iso-8859-1"
>Received: from mail.gmd.de (postix) by zeus.gmd.de with SMTP id AA18788 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for <ifetsarc@zeus.gmd.de>); Thu, 1 Oct 1998 10:39:12 +0200
>Received: from mail.gmd.de (postix) by zeus.gmd.de with SMTP id AA02627 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for <rashev@zeus.gmd.de>); Fri, 11 Sep 1998 08:54:37 +0200
From: "Allan Hayes" <hay@haystack.demon.co.uk> Subject: [ifets] Personal Introduction/Comments Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 08:20:05 +0200 charset="iso-8859-1"
Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
Email address for sending message to the list ifets@gmd.de
Web-based discussion board: http://ifets.gmd.de/discuss/
Forum's contact person ifets-info@gmd.de
---------------------------------------------------------
I have been training people in the use of the system Mathematica for nearly
ten years; before that I was a lecturer in Mathematics; I contribute a regular
column to the journal Mathematica in Education and Research. I have grandchildren.
I am not now as directly involved in education as most contributors but I
would like to contribute:
1) on the basis of reflection on my own education
2) on reading and general interest, and on a long experience of trying to to
teach mathematics, and a little in trying to introduce Mathematica into
univeristy teaching.
1) -----------------------
Looking back on my own education the salient feature seem to be how much I
educated myself, seeking out books reading magazines, listening to the radio,
welcoming help, encouragent, some praise and sometimes criticism, but
essentially doing my own thing for my own reasons and from my own motivation.
I believe that this inquisitivenss, this drive to understand, to control, is
the basic dynamism that education must build on.
The lesson that I draw from this is that the greatest contribution to
educational outcome comes from the learner.
This may seem to be stating the obvious, but it does suggest that the emphasis
should be on recognising inner drives, helping, encouraging, motivating,
appreciating, demonstrating standards; yes, providing teaching and learning
materials and frameworks, but not putting people into an educational straight
jacket, not swamping them with too much input or depriving them of space to
develop their own interests and their own creative imaginings.
I believe that IT give us an opportunity to do these things better, and for
more people.
2) -----------------------
It seems to me that the inevitable coming of universal IT facilities,
particularly interconnectednss, and the need for lifelong education because of
rapid changes in society, will set the working environment for education.
Some consequences seem invitable
Institutions must right now:
a) plan on the assumption that all students will have personal
computers and will expect their education to make good use of IT
b) make effective use of IT in their administration as well as education
c) provide IT networking facilites and help for students and staff rather then
traditional computer laboratories
On a slightly longer time scale, governments and organisations must ask what
the overall pattern of educational will be
a} will the residential campus teaching institution and the 3 - 4 year degree
model survive the availablity of long distance access and the demands of a
lifelong mixing of work and learning?
b) will education and training providers outside traditional academia become
more evident?
c) what will be the effect of global competition?
I have recently come across three interesting institutional models:
1) Thinkpad universities (eg Wake Forest) (see [1],[2])
2) Megauniversities (Open University UK) (see [3])
3) Metauniversities (Western Governors University) (see [1] and [4])
Maybe a melding of these models will evolve.
What is the role of individual educators in this? They can make
important contributions to implementation, but perhaps a vital role of
individuals will be to emphasize the humanity of education,
that it is people who matter; to seize the opportunity to rethink what it is
to be a human being; to leave the mass-production model behind; to address
students as individuals being helped to grow. To learn from their children
(and their grandchildren).
[1] The Learning Revolution, Oblinger and Rush
[2] The Future Compatible Campus, Oblinger and Rush
[3] Mega Universities and Knowledge Media, Daniel
[4] http://www.wgu.edu
-- Allan Hayes Mathematica Training and Consulting Leicester, UK hay@haystack.demon.co.uk http://www.haystack.demon.co.uk voice: +44 (0)116 271 4198 fax: +44 (0)116 271 8642
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu 01 Oct 1998 - 11:12:24 MET DST