Posts Tagged ‘education’
Have we asked our students?
Posted on: May 30, 2013
When it comes to implementing changes in education, have we asked the most important stakeholders what they know, think, and need?
Students realize more than we think.
Do we give them the opportunity to create and have we asked them to create?
If we do and have, they might create something like the video above. And then we will wonder why we did not ask them earlier.
Stream of knowledge
Posted on: May 17, 2013
I found this video thanks to my RSS feed and a short blog entry by @mcleod. A young man shares his thoughts on education in the video.
He contrasted how schooling was like a fountain that reused water while education could be more like a stream where the water was fresh,and ever-changing.
I would add that fountains are pretty to look at but artificial. Stream may flow in a less controlled environment but they are more natural. We also condition our children to appreciate fountains instead of streams.
Curated arguments
Posted on: March 29, 2013
I read Edudemic’s curated comments on the pros and cons of using Minecraft in Education. It was a good example of curation being superior to creation.
When some people argue about the merits of curation over content creation, at least one party will point out that curators can only curate what others create.
But as I find some of the claims that some writers at Edudemic make questionable, I was glad that one of them crowdsourced for opinions on the issue of Minecraft for education.
The opinions were well-worded and powerful. In particular I enjoyed:
I think Minecraft has about as much inherent educational value as an overhead projector, in that it depends entirely on the skill and vision of the instructor using it. Its a great blank canvas system, and the tools for leveraging that canvas are only getting better with time.
I tend to agree with the pedagogy-before-technology group. More important than the resources a teacher has is that teacher’s creativity to use what s/he has to teach effectively.
But the argument that technology is “just a tool” will gradually get stale. We shape our tools and our tools shape us. We found more efficient ways to plant and harvest crops and that gave us better nutrition and more time to pursue other interests. We search with Google, and in effect train it, and now it influences how we look for information and learn.
The rest of the comments focused on the unbridled enthusiasm of pro-Minecraft folks. They pointed out that Minecraft was not a panacea for educational ills and that it was not a one-stop, one-size-fits-all solution.
I agree. But I also think that argument is getting old.
Why not question the one-size-fits-all solution of textbooks and school periods? Why not find ways to stop making excuses for not trying newer and more relevant ways to reach and teach so that students yearn to learn?
I like watching Marco Tempest, technoillusionist extraordinaire! I have watched his TED talks and now I feature his talk on Inventing the Impossible.
One of the things he said struck a chord with me.
He explained how magicians of old lived by the code of secrecy. But in modernizing magic with technology, he found that he could not protect his knowledge. Instead, he chose to share experiences with his audience and saw the importance of collaborating with others. He might be the first person to coin the phrase “open source magic”!
I think the parallels in education are in collaborating, being open, and collaborating openly.
There is too much information now for one person to know. Teachers need to form collaborative networks of teachers-as-learners if we are to stay relevant to our learners.
As we teach, we could share openly instead of hoarding what we think we know. If we do not share, our audience will simply go elsewhere. If we do not share, we do not build up our reputational capital.
The problems we leave for our children are more complex than ours and we do not have all the solutions. But we could adopt an approach that will help them solve those problems. That approach is open collaboration. After all, we cannot each be brilliant, but we can be collectively brilliant.
One other thought: A talent like Marco Tempest draws from multiple fields. He is good at what he does not just because he specializes, but also because he can connect the dots by connecting with other people.
Opening up for a tagline
Posted on: November 19, 2012
The theme for our e-Fiesta on 30 Jan 2013 is Open Learning.
We needed a tagline or slogan for it so we opened a Google Doc up to our department to get some ideas.
We received lots of ideas over just a few days, and after some cross pollination, we came up with “Say open sesame to open learning”. Catchy, no?
If we did not open this process, we might not have had our slogan to quickly and creatively!
Open education matters 3
Posted on: November 7, 2012
Video source
This was the second-placed video in the contest promoting open learning.
The recurring critiques of the current closed schooling system are:
- it is costly (and becoming more so)
- information within the system gets old or irrelevant quickly
The benefits of using open educational resources (OER) are that they:
- are media-rich and more up-to-date
- offer opportunities to collaborate with other like-minded teachers and learners
- provide learners with greater choice
- can be more fun and engaging
Open education matters 2
Posted on: November 6, 2012
Video source
This video was awarded first place in a contest promoting open learning.
If we stopped being so close-minded, everyone wins in terms of free and open education!
Open education helps overcome:
- financial costs
- socio, geo and political barriers
- out-of-date information, teaching methods, and learning expectations
As the video explains, open and free is no longer associated with poor quality when
- the resources can be updated quickly
- teachers can customize content more easily
- quality players step into the playing field
Open education matters
Posted on: November 5, 2012
The theme for next year’s e-Fiesta will be Open Learning. Why? It is one of CeL’s missions to promote it.
Why promote open learning? Watch the video for clues.
Many thanks to our newest member of the CeL team and instructional designer, Rachel (@rachelhtan), for finding this video.
Fixing education with…?
Posted on: October 21, 2012
I like this video!
I would like it even more if the term “education” was replaced with “schooling” because the terms are not synonymous.
Technology alone will certainly not fix schooling. It is the folks who wield it passionately and skillfully who can.
Keep calm & tweet on
Posted on: September 1, 2012
I am quoting @tucksoon for his response to my comments about #edsg trending in the local Twittersphere thanks to our community chats on Tuesdays.
Glad to see that we trended again. But let's not get carried away. If the quality is good, the numbers will come. #edsg—
Ashley Tan (@ashley) August 28, 2012
Focusing on trending is like only looking at grades (the product) & not critically examining or learning from the process
#edsg—
Ashley Tan (@ashley) August 28, 2012
Simply put, educational tweeting is about the quality leading to quantity, not the other way around.
I am adding this thought to the one I had earlier about MOEsg seemingly playing the numbers game in the edu Twittersphere. I still think that exercise sends the wrong message.
The number of Twitter followers can misleading.
Some follow or follow back because that seems to be the thing to do to increase follower count, never mind whether there is any relevance or a clear connection between the two parties.
Some “followers” are marketers, bots, or fake accounts. These leverage on your account to get your existing followers to follow them.
Followers are not necessarily active contributors. They are not necessarily even lurkers (active listeners) particularly if they belong to the two categories above.
There are also followers that set up test or alternative accounts, during workshops for example, who follow but then abandon those accounts. The accounts become dead or inactive.
You can tell how many are active when you have a community event like #edsg every Tuesday, 8-9pm Singapore time. You can also tell if you use a tool like Fake Follower Check to determine how many are dead weights.
BTW, despite my attempts to filter and block, I still have 3% fake followers. That said, I have a high percentage of active followers.
In playing the marketing numbers game, it helps to say that you have a high follower count in Twitter or friend/like count in Facebook. But that does not mean they are listening or contributing.
You need an extremely high number of followers to get small portion of legitimate followers to do something unselfishly.
In the case of educational tweeting you need a core mass of passionate individuals to maintain or grow the community that interacts, develops, and helps. You get that core by interacting with them, developing them, or simply helping out from time to time.
I have learnt that educational tweeting is about educating first. It is about simultaneously nurturing and learning. It is about interaction, not mere dissemination. It is about being passionate, sharing, and reflecting. It is about having a voice and making a difference.
So I remain unrattled by those who choose to play the game differently. I choose to honour the code of education (not schooling, lecturing, or marketing). I keep calm and tweet on.
