Week 2- Learning activities

I have missed the submission deadline and I haven't commented on the submissions of others in the group-  I apologise.

I started the week in earnest by completing the BBC quiz and the recommended reading. I didn't do very well with the quiz but no surprises there. I wouldn't regard myself as a digital native. I think I am a digital immigrant who is trying to learn the language and cultural skills.

I found the Brabazon article had a lot of resonance.  I would say that a high majority of interactions between teachers focus on the learner who finds it difficult to engage, which is in essence what I think this article is about. 

I recently listened to a colleague facilitating a discussion about strategies to encourage learners to become critical thinkers and articulate this within written work. This was during a staff directorate meeting. I was scheduled to follow on from this with a discussion about a project that I had undertaken in relation to blended learning. 

One of my colleagues clearly perceived this as a debate because he made a comment that he would be buying shares in critical thinking rather than blended learning. He based this on his belief that any form of e-learning obfuscates critical thinking because too much time is spent away from the real task of teaching. I sensed a frisson in the room especially when I challenged him on his comment. To me this is where the real digital divide lies.  The paternalistic teacher who feels it is up to them to control the resources a learner should use.

I thought both of the Prensky (2001) articles were interesting to stimulate debate and raise awareness of potential differences between digital immigrants and digital natives but did not have as much impact as "In their own words"  (JISC).  My overall conclusion on reading this was that learners are extremely diverse and will chose strategies to meet their needs and personal circumstances and for some this clearly involves a wide range of technologies. I was interested that in the LEX study (2006) p8 that there were nearly as many participants in the 35-54 age group as the 16-24 age group. This study clearly synthesizes the complexities of modern learners lives who don't necessarily see e-learning as separate to any other aspect of their learning. I will be sharing these reports with my colleague.

The Franklin and Van Harmelen report "Web 2.0 for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education" introduces some great possibilities.  I felt a bit like a child in a sweetie shop when I read this. Many of my students are undertaking short CPD courses in health care subjects. I have used a fair amount of blended learning with these learners. One of the issues is that they sometimes feel they would like to continue to have access to the resources when they have completed their course- I can see possibilities for them building their own especially via social bookmarking sites and of course blogs! 

 The report suggests enormous implications of Web 2.0 for teachers and learners.