Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Teach teachers about teaching? Really?

Do you think that teachers should be required to be current on the use of technology?

 

Teach teachers about teaching?

How easy is it to break habit? How can you change years of conventions and conditioning? And can you teach eLearning through eLearning? 
Flipped classrooms, game-based learning, mLearning, iPads, smartphones, LMSs, CMSs and VLEs! Can we really expect modern academics to have a handle on this huge technological and pedagogical mind shift? In an age when students need to be, want to be and can be motivated to learn to love learning, how can all these elements come together in a modern blended learning approach?
An online course should be self-inclusive, complete in itself, independent but also connected and shared within the vast amounts of resources available in the online educational realm. Students should be both consumers and creators of learning material, making emotional connections, acquiring marketable skills and releasing the course from both temporal and spatial restrictions. Today's assignments can be tommorow's resources! Education should learn from marketing, implementing a push-pull strategy, focusing mostly on the push. The new currency is word of mouth, friendships, recommendations and "likes". Education material should not be different. Resources should be judged, shared, praised and respected. Feedback and learning analytics can help! 
Can we expect tutors to act as instructional designers? Should we crowdsource students in assisting with applying eLearning? One thing needs to be understood: eLearning like all Learning is a process, not an event. With an emphasis on duration. And like any other process it has attributes which evolve and change. eLearning is not using an LMS as a repository. An LMS course needs to be maintained, updated and connected to the rest of the world. It's your zen garden.
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