Education
Add: History, Definitions, Online Education vs traditional, Adult education vs children, Learning design, Learning paths, Books/Resources
Quotes
William Butler Yeats: ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’
from Managing Technology in Higher Education: Strategies for Transforming Teaching and Learning by A. W. (Tony) Bates, Albert Sangra (published in 2011)
Within higher education, there are different epistemological positions. Objectivists will argue that there exists a reliable set of facts, principles, concepts, and theories that can be consistently demonstrated and proved. Truth exists independently of the human mind. Thus the laws of physics are constant, whether you believe in them or not.
Constructivists, however, argue that knowledge is essentially subjective, constructed from our perceptions and mutually agreed on conventions. Thus even science is merely what scientists believe to be true at the time, and can be interpreted differently (the argument over climate change is a case in point). Knowledge is dynamic and not constant, we continue to assimilate new information that leads to the reconstruction of our understanding.
from Learning with E’s: Educational Theory and Practice in the Digital Age by Steve Wheeler (published in 2015)
Schooling in its present form was designed to meet the needs of a society that no longer exists. This is a view that is gaining a great deal of traction. In his famous TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson argues that while other professions are rapidly adapting to meet the changes, education is standing firm, stoically preserving its status quo.
The state-funded school is a system where one size must fit all, and where the individual is swallowed up in the machinery of the school day. It is the place where we entrust the future of our youth, the generation that will take our place.
For many the school experience is about uniformity, standardization and synchronization. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown call it the ‘mechanistic approach’ to education because it relies on systems of checks and repetition, and regards knowledge as something to be delivered, rather than something that can be discovered and negotiated.
Mission
from Learning with E’s: Educational Theory and Practice in the Digital Age by Steve Wheeler (published in 2015)
I am an educator who truly believes that the moral imperative of what we do must be centered on the development of people; of individuals; their unique talents and interests and of their growing awareness of their own aspirations and values.
Educators need to continue to challenge the idea that acquiring knowledge is the only goal of education.
In its purest form, education is about drawing out the learner from within themselves, giving them space to express themselves, explore and play; to ask the ‘what if?’ questions and learn according to their own preferences and at their own pace.
Online learning
from Managing Technology in Higher Education: Strategies for Transforming Teaching and Learning by A. W. (Tony) Bates, Albert Sangra (published in 2011)
The changes in technology are also being accompanied by changes in educational philosophy. We focus on four changes or divides in education that interact with the applications of technology for teaching and learning: a move from an objectivist view of knowledge to a socially constructed view; a move toward developing skills associated with managing a rapidly expanding knowledge base, rather than focused on learning prespecified facts, principles, and concepts; a move towards learner-centered teaching; and a view that the Internet and related technologies radically change the nature of knowledge.
Most university and college instructors have no alternative model, no other pedagogical framework, than the traditional classroom lecture, seminar, and lab-based model.
from Learning with E’s: Educational Theory and Practice in the Digital Age by Steve Wheeler (published in 2015)
The 1.0 School is no longer able to effectively teach the 2.0 Student.
Digital tools provide a number of previously unavailable affordances, which in turn open new doors to learning and new possibilities for education. Praxis in the digital age will involve teachers and students co-constructing new ways to teach and learn.
Pedagogy in the digital age is profoundly social, involving the negotiation of meaning and the co-construction of knowledge. It is about learning together.
Arthur C. Clarke once said: ‘Any technology that is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.’ And therein lies a problem when we first try to introduce new technology into schools. We are seduced by it. It appears magical to us. We become enthusiastic about it to the point that it is seen as an answer to our problems, even though we don’t know what the problem is yet.