Ania Lian (ania@lingua.arts.uq.edu.au)
Wed, 13 Oct 1999 18:01:25 +1000 (EST)
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 18:01:25 +1000 (EST) From: Ania Lian <ania@lingua.arts.uq.edu.au> Subject: Re: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 8 Oct 1999 to 9 Oct 1999
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On Wed, 13 Oct 1999, Alan Holzl wrote:
> Despite our best advice and best intentions there seems to be a number of
> teachers who want to use the technology just because it is there and they
> can do it. Don't we all remember when we were learning to use a word
> processor and we wanted to use all of the different font types and sizes
> just because we could.
Right. So it seems that we com eto a conclusion that we should not do
things without a clear comprehension of their place in an educational
environment. Now, it also seems to me that this comprehension is not a
matter of some straightforward reading of a textbook on flexible learning,
a kind of application of educational theory, or, if you like, a kind of
activity which requires a blind follwoing of some rules which are clear
and straightforward. If this is the case, the follwoing quote in the paper
'Flexible learning..' by Alan left me a bit concerned:
"In order to be effective it [flexible learning] needs a large up-front
investment in development of materials and teh release of teachers from
their traditional face to face teaching duties as well as the research
they are expected to do. " (p. 3)
In other words, it seems to me that doing the flexible learning,
developing environments for flexible delivery, making environments fulfil
the flexibility requirement is nothing else but doing research, being
engaged in innovative intellectual expoloration. Furthermore, no creative
ideas can spring out of the epmty air. Therefore, those involved in
development of flexible environments must also be actively engaged in the
process of teaching in order to make these environments both informed
through practical problems and therefore relevant to learners.
In short, I would make a case for a completely different model of
investment in flexible delivery: one which is pedagogically
and intellectually informed through the pedagogic practice supported by
continuous intellectual critical exploration of the principles on which it
stands.
Flexible environment cannot be a matter of developing a yet another
textbook. Therefore rather than thinking about it as a place which is
preprepared, we can think about it as a place which may already have some
things in it but whose structure is always to be rethought, and enriched
and as such its creation is never-ending. Thus it seems to me to be a
better idea to create things as we go and to continue to publish the ideas
which arose in the process of development of these flexible environments.
Ania Lian
ania@lingua.arts.uq.edu.au
http://education.canberra.edu.au/~andrewl/mlal2
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