At the risk of this coming across as some sort of manifesto, I have an opinionated stream of consciousness I’d like to delve into…
We have a responsibility, I think, to leverage the environments and technologies that are the most appropriate for our learning experiences, and for the experiences of those who look to us as examples, or as mentors. I believe this stands true without exception.
In the event a central service, or other established environment fails to meet the learning requirements of our classes, our friends, students or ourselves, I feel we have a duty to use something else – formally approved or otherwise, whether this requires set-up of our own systems or not. A return to servers under desks if need be.
We do not engage in the learning process simply to use a tool or technology – be it digital or analogue, emerging or traditional. Let alone be forced into the use of one by virtue of a central mandate, or through lack of funding in alternatives. The computer program and the pencil should serve a greater purpose than its own use alone.
Yet all too frequently I see classes, instructors and students forced into the use of a platform, with no clear logic beyond a recouping of financial investment costs, or streamlining of business processes and procedures.
This is not why we learn; this is not why we seek an education.
In my opinion, this is the inherent problem with large enterprise eLearning systems. They are expensive, they are complex; they require an immense financial investment and ongoing costs that, by virtue of their mammoth requirements, largely eliminate the exploration of alternatives. They limit mobility and flexibility, customisation and personalisation. They are the Model T of educational technology.
“You can have any color you like as long as it’s black.” Henry Ford (paraphrased)
We hear that one size does not fit all in learning, that pedagogy needs to come before technology; and yet in tandem we see a mere minute handful of systems rolled out that are meant to cover the learning experiences of every faculty, every school, every course, every student across an institution whose population numbers in the tens of thousands.
For this reason I believe we each have a responsibility to equip ourselves – to the best of our abilities – to seize hold of our own learning. To chart our own course and roll our own systems – as simple or as complex as we need them to be.
If enterprise systems suit our purposes perfectly, fantastic. But if they don’t, we shouldn’t settle for “good enough.” This is our learning we’re talking about. That’s not something we should be compromising on.
Mutiny afoot!
Here here Mike! I could not agree more with what you are saying here. And I thought that a particular institution *cough* thought along the same lines (at least it seemed so last year with all kinds of grand plans that were both heartening and progressive)- seems not which is a COLOSSAL disappointment!
Where to from here though? I think this highlights the 2 sides of our institutions – the learning and teaching and the admin/economics. I am not saying that it is an economic choice to use one proprietary system – FAR from it in fact, but perhaps the desire to manage student learning online as a whole has resulted in a rather unfortunate choice of software that now we’re ‘stuck with’, resulting in a ‘use it or else’ approach?
There will always be those who use other systems and means – even under the radar if need be, but its such a shame that the grand concept of open inclusion seems to have fallen so flat – and god knows what that will do to our students and teachers and the reputation of online learning.
@Simon McIntyre: Glad I’m not alone in this primal scream
That said I don’t necessarily see this as a full scale revolt against the machine. It is a revolution in a sense, but one where each individual battles their own perceptions about where they fit in the educational landscape and what learning means to them – in the very broad sense of the term.
I’d definitely like to see far more diversity in what we’re seeing centrally – but I don’t necessarily think attacking the system is going to be the best solution. I’ve seen the battles and skirmishes between internal units and educational bodies going on for years now and they show no signs of going away any time soon. So I think a different tact is needed now.
I think people who have gone through formal schooling inevitably become accustomed – or indoctrinated – to seeing education and learning as something that is delivered to us by another, rather than something that we control ourselves. The greatest change we can make in our own learning is an internal one.
“Emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, only ourselves can free our minds.” Bob Marley, “Redemption Song”
By using that quote I don’t necessarily mean to suggest that formal education equates to slavery, but I do think that people fall into the habit of looking to inspiration, evaluation, and affirmation outside of themselves over time, and this needs to change at our core before we can begin to see learning differently.
The way forward, as I see it anyway, is not to try and break the state or overthrow the system necessarily, but to come together in a new way of thinking that is bigger and broader than the institutions we work and learn within.
Does that make any sense?
“The way forward, as I see it anyway, is not to try and break the state or overthrow the system necessarily, but to come together in a new way of thinking that is bigger and broader than the institutions we work and learn within.”
nicely put Mike ..
word
@psysoph: LMAO
DIY Manifesto http://ff.im/-eEFPA
This comment was originally posted on Twitter