Alan Holzl (a.holzl@mailbox.uq.edu.au)
Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:40:04 +1000
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:40:04 +1000 From: Alan Holzl <a.holzl@mailbox.uq.edu.au> Subject: Re: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 12 Oct 1999 to 13 Oct 1999
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I think that Anna, misinterpreted my statement below to mean that lecturers
should give up all other activities such as research and lectures to
concentrate fully on the preparation of flexible learning materials. If
this is so, then my response is no. I mean that lecturers should still do
all of these things but less of them to compensate for the extra time they
need to devote to developing flexible learning materials. My experience in
Australia is that teaching staff are allocated responsibility for
developing new subjects with absolutely no release time from other
activities, especially research, which is still king when it come to
promotion.
On the matter of how research and teaching informs the development of
flexible learning materials, of course it does and I agree most strongly.
This is also a two way process as the experience of working in a team,
which includes educational designers, to develop flexible learning
materials also informs the lecturer's teaching practice and provides a
catalyst for research into their own practice. As an educational designer
my goal is to assist lecturers to develop their own knowledge and skills so
they don't need me anymore.
Alan Holzl
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 18:01:25 +1000
>From: Ania Lian <ania@lingua.arts.uq.edu.au>
>Subject: Re: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 8 Oct 1999 to 9 Oct 1999
>
>List address to send message to everyone: ifets-discuss@LISTSERV.READADP.COM
>Details of current discussion: http://ifets.ieee.org/discussions/discuss.html
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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
>
>------------------------------
Alan Holzl
Research and Development Officer
Learning Resources Development Unit _--_|\
The Teaching and Educational Development Institute / *
University of Queensland, Ipswich \_.--._/
11 Salisbury Road
Ipswich QLD 4305
07 33811265 Fax 07 33811252
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