Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:773] Re: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 106
From: Cathy Burke (cathy@windses.free-online.co.uk)
Date: Sun 03 Dec 2000 - 20:01:44 MET
Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2000 19:01:44 +0000 From: Cathy Burke <cathy@windses.free-online.co.uk> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:773] Re: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 106
Hi,
I know that I should begin to round up this discussion - summarize
etc., however, I find some of the more recent postings very thoughtful
and I want to respond.
Great stuff - and I must thank you all for contributing so much over the
past ten days and giving us all so much to think about. I hope I have
done justice to you all in my attempts to summarize and I look forward
to further opportunities to discuss the questions I tried to raise with
the list in the future.
But for now, Eric suggested,
Immersive is just another fancy word for engagement which does not mean
anything about learning especially with sims.
Engage is what Jon Luc Picard says for the Enterprise to go somewhere in
the
universe. It has nothing to do with teaching and learning.
Are you suggesting that we are using these terms to try to suggest that
some better form of learning - whether quantifiable or in quality is
happening ? It's true, these were not terms used when I was an
undergraduate, as far as I know. I am as guilty as the next person in
attempting to 'engage' my students in recognizing the importance of what
I wish them to learn. And I recognize that a whole industry has built
itself this past fifty years or so re learning theory and pedagogy. But
is teaching in the end all - important ? A.S. Neil, who established
Summerhill, an independent 'progressive' school in Britain, 1921, wrote
in 1968 'we have no new methods of teaching, because we do not consider
that teaching in itself matters very much' Wanting to learn was the one
of the most important determinants for Neil.
In spite of my efforts to 'engage' the learner with the particular
approach I outlined, I feel that Neil is voicing a truth which is hard
for the academic establishment at whichever level to hear.
On Barry's point, that simulations have the advantage in that they
create a 'natural drama' that participants find intriguing and
enthralling.
I'm not so sure this is a universal. I think that they work for some and
not for others - for whatever reason, some students do feel threatened
by 'immersive' approaches and this can compromise their learning.
Perhaps the question of choice should be addressed here. How far do we
feel that students should be compelled to learn in this way ? Should
there be an opt out ? And, I am quite interested personally in the
gender dimension here. Is the virtual world of role play, simulation and
games - for whatever historical or other reasons - more suitable for
men than for women. The element of risk involved in learning at H.E /
tertiary level has been looked at in recent research which has tried to
explain how it is that in spite of women's gains in levels of academic
achievement over recent years, still many more men than women are
gaining first class degrees - in UK Universities that is.
As a musician myself - and one who has made valiant efforts over the
years in improvising over jazz chord sequences, I loved the analogy
offered my Michael Cenker.
However - I wonder about the 'free jazz of the sixties' analogy. Is this
more free in essence? More or less accessible ? Is the product or the
process the main thing ?
Interesting! The more accessible - and palatable / the end result, the
more we will pay for it. But is this in the end what matters most?
Neil's free school has remained on the edges of society but does this
suggest anything of the value of its approach?
Cathy
Cathy
Catherine Burke
7 The Windses
Grindleford
Hope Valley
S 32 2HY
Tel: 01433 631907
Dr. Catherine Burke
Lecturer in Education: Child & Family Studies,
Bretton Hall College
West Bretton
WF4 4LG
01924 830261
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