*"One thought, expressed by my partner in education, Maxie Schneider, is that the people who learn in Second Life are the educators -- the students are just transient, waiting to get back to World of Warcraft or something with great graphics and lots of action."*
I agree this is largely true. However in what you said is an element of the new way education is moving. It is no longer a matter of the sage on the stage, we are rapidly moving into an environment where the learning is bi-directional, where students and educators (maybe that should be another word now) are both learning. This is the spirit of collaboration. We need to actually accept that we will be learning as much, if not more than the students, and often even from our students. It's the wiki-syndrome - everyone is equal - we're judged not by name or degrees but by what we say and do.
Craig. I agree. Each semester or session taught, brings to me more insight on the subject. Usually, it is a participant of the event who pints out this "quick step". We can never really be an expert at anything...there's always something else hidden within. Rudi
On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 1:48 AM, Craig Blewett <craigblew...@gmail.com>wrote:
> *"One thought, expressed by my partner in education, Maxie Schneider, is > that the people who learn in Second Life are the educators -- the > students are just transient, waiting to get back to World of Warcraft > or something with great graphics and lots of action."*
> I agree this is largely true. However in what you said is an element of the > new way education is moving. It is no longer a matter of the sage on the > stage, we are rapidly moving into an environment where the learning is > bi-directional, where students and educators (maybe that should be another > word now) are both learning. This is the spirit of collaboration. We need to > actually accept that we will be learning as much, if not more than the > students, and often even from our students. It's the wiki-syndrome - > everyone is equal - we're judged not by name or degrees but by what we say > and do.
So what is the shape of learning in Second Life. Personally, it seems that almost every day, I'm learning, and not just how to do things in SL -- how to find out what I need to know, how to work with people, find out their stories, marvel at ingenuity or originality. It refreshes me. Why doesn't it refresh students the same way? It puzzles me.
On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 1:48 AM, Craig Blewett <craigblew...@gmail.com>wrote:
> *"One thought, expressed by my partner in education, Maxie Schneider, is > that the people who learn in Second Life are the educators -- the > students are just transient, waiting to get back to World of Warcraft > or something with great graphics and lots of action."*
> I agree this is largely true. However in what you said is an element of the > new way education is moving. It is no longer a matter of the sage on the > stage, we are rapidly moving into an environment where the learning is > bi-directional, where students and educators (maybe that should be another > word now) are both learning. This is the spirit of collaboration. We need to > actually accept that we will be learning as much, if not more than the > students, and often even from our students. It's the wiki-syndrome - > everyone is equal - we're judged not by name or degrees but by what we say > and do.
I was writing on Saturday in the Google Group Connectivism and
Connective Knowledge of this course as a reply to George’s question
regarding ”how people manage to cope with the overwhelming amount of
information and multiple contexts”... that this is about a skill of
strengthening one’s own self-confidence through widening one’s own
world view – managing to see one’s own learning and life as a whole. I
received a peer comment explaining what this means in practice: “ the
need to learn to formulate one’s own core values, strong beliefs, deep
wishes and dreams, as a basis for choosing actions in the moment”…
With reflection to educators and learners facing each other in SL – I
quote Teemu Arina’s blog (http://tarina.blogging.fi/ March 23, 2008):
“…Plato’s story about Allegory of the Cave predicts virtual realities
like Second Life… In Book VII of The Republic, Plato’s story starts by
picturing a cave, where men are being chained by the leg and also by
the neck since their birth, so that all they have experienced before
is what they can see right in front of them. Behind them is a light of
a fire burning. Between the prisoners and the fire are puppeteers who
move around objects from the world outside the cave. The shadow of
those objects lands on the walls right in front of them. The voices
coming from their back would be associated with the shadows, because
they’ve never had the ability to turn their heads. The group doesn’t
know anything about the outside world, therefore the reality they
experience is nothing but the shadows on the wall.”
The most important educating skill to learn – I believe – is the
sharing of one’s own learning process. What I personally see to be the
most complicated in this – is to teach, encourage the learners to
actively develop this skill. The complicity of it is like the Plato’s
allegory – learning to understand how other’s shadows on the wall look
like and how this increased understanding can be collectively
utilized. Kyllikki.
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