My thoughts on participating in an elearning communtiy

As I start this 'facilitating elearning communties course" with some fear of the unknown the following quote feels very real.
"Technological change is the only constant in our work today"
Unattrib

In considering how we may faciliate learning in the future, I wonder if we have the foresight and ability to think outside of what we currently know, as Plato did

"Someday, in the distant future, our grandchildren's grandchildren will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many hours in front of boxes with fires glowing within. May they have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge."

Do we get glimpses of what will be????? It is hard to think about twenty years from now given the current rate of technological change.



Beginning this course (and I am now in week 3 ) I have read quite a few articles and contributed to blackboard discussions( common practice for me), visited several blogs, virtual education communities and participated in a virtual classroom( albeit through written wordtexting) discussion( first time in my life) and - I am realising that many others are far ahead in the consideration and use of virtual classrooms and their limitations and strengths.



I have used Blackboard for five years now to support my face to face teaching and have used it to have off campus realtime discussions with students . However from just being on this course three weeks I can see how constrained and limited and unexciting blackboard is, especially for our many of our younger students who are very computer virtual world savy.



Yet in my classes we have many mature students and some of them are still getting to grips with basic computer speak and skills. One reading in this course highlights this consideration when thinking about facilitating on line:

Effective Online Facilitation article
http://pre2005.flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/facilitation.html
states "It should not be assumed that teachers (or students for that matter) automatically know how to communicate or behave online (Coghlan 2001). Many do not and require professional development or mentoring in the skills and techniques of facilitating... Online engagement to a degree has to be engineered. That is, it needs to be part of an intended design. For example you cannot expect students to engage in meaningful discussion on a particular topic if each are at different stages in the learning program."



Participating in the virutal classroom 'eluminiate' was fun and much better than phone conferencing - though this weeks hour of get together via telephone was helpful for me in clarifying some questions I had.



I am particularly intersted in the cultural aspects of elearning and await with interest some discussion on this. On blackboard I made the following comments:


The students in our classes come from very diverse ethnic, cultural, religious, social and economic backgrounds. To me this adds richness to the learning that occurs within the face to face classroom. Several aspects help the learning and teaching in this setting for example:
1.Our students stay in cohort group for the three years, so they build strong collegial and personal friendhshps with other class members.
2. We spend time helping students to get to know each other and building a positive atmosphere in the class ( and yes this includes using icebreakers, but appropriate ones for the diversity)
3. With having no more than 35 in a class we can do lots of small group work and during class time endeavour to present content and engage students in mutliple ways. In other words no class is ever just a straight lecture.
Fo me the bottom line is "relationships" - being respectful of differing view points and I always pay full attention when a stduent is speaking and expect the rest of the class to do the same. From my experience it is often when a student for whom English if not their first language starts to share, that a few other class members will see this as a time to side chat and whisper. I have found this time and time again. So I always hope that my genuine interest in what teach person is saying and my attending , is noted and modeled. However at times I resort to a "sh", and sometimes a "please don't talk" as to me when students who are reluctant to contribute finally do so they need all the encourgement and support I can give.
Has anyone else found this a problem????????? Is this a positive side for elarning where race and spojken english is not being judged so quickly?????

As quoted"Online you get to know your students' [classmates]minds not just their faces."
Harasim, L., Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L., and Turoff, M. in Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online. "The 'e' in e-learning stands for experience."

I also have questions about how ones teaching integrity and passion, that are far more easily evident face to face, is transmitted via elearning. I guess I am a bit sceptical of education via internet based on the level of dishonesty and fantasy that exists in other internet worlds. Back to Plato - will we have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge?


Anyhow that is enough from me until next time.