Category Archives: EDCMOOC

The digital environment for elearning – is this as good as it gets?

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I am reflecting here on the state of the digital environment for elearning – to what extent we could regard our current provision as the best we are likely to have, given warning signs for the future.  Issues of access for impaired students to web based learning and the freedom of learners to express their views on a free web form the core of the consideration.

My views are summarised in the diagram below and the ideas are developed in the audio commentary.  A transcript of the commentary is also attached.

Artefact V2

Audio commentary: Click the start arrow to play –

 Transcript – The digital environment – is this as good as it gets

#edcmooc – It’s not the technology, it’s me!

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Reflecting on the first two weeks of EDCMOOC, we have seen many views of technology – broadly split into idealistic/utopian or fearful/dystopian views of the impact technology might have on our lives.  In too many of these views however, the user is shown as a follower – either as a happy and fulfilled user, mindlessly following a tech-led path or as a helpless victim, exploited by the negative controls imposed through technology.  Even in Week 3, which is about being human within a digital culture, there are still follower elements – “…in the debate about the implications of digital..technologies, what (and who) will define authoritative notions of normative, exemplary, desirable humanity…” (Graham, 2002).  We seem to be looking for someone else to define what is our appropriate positioning in respect of technology.

My graphic for the Week 3 competition suggests that it is all about us – how we behave and whether we choose to use technology as a facility to help us to improve, or whether we allow ourselves to be seduced and diminished by merely indulging in it.  Sitting at home, outside an organisational context, I feel enormously enabled by technology. It allows me to feel part of a network of people who will support my intellectual development (and I hope they feel the same!).  This does not come for free however, it requires effort and thought and a conscious positioning with technology and applications which makes them likely to contribute positively to personal growth.

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(click on the picture for a larger image)

#edcmooc – Early thoughts

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My experience in studying elearning has been interesting but non-productive to date.  Having failed to introduce ICT and elearning successfully while volunteering at a school in Tanzania, my ambition has been to find out how to succeed.  However, most of my study so far has focused on Higher Education rather than schools or required a level of teaching experience which I don’t have.

My observation in Tanzania however, was that teachers were keen to get onto Facebook and pupils were keen to play games – so there was an interest in digital culture, just not in formal elearning.  Part of the problem is the didactic nature of African school education – which doesn’t recognise interaction, enquiry and fun as part of the learning experience.

So, I have hopes that approaching elearning from the broader perspective of digital culture may be a route I can develop.  I can’t hope to change the culture of African education overnight but maybe I can try to lead digital explorers into more intellectual enquiry hence, at least vicariously, towards learning. In Africa, capability is often recognised as a de facto qualification for lower level jobs, hence those able to demonstrate digital literacy may be able to climb the ladder of employment, even though not as advantaged as those who have the approved examination certificates.