I am posting some of Jeff's content from the course to my own blog to be able to access and share in the future after the course is over.
What is a Wiki?
The Flat Classroom Project
Horizon Project
Wikis in Education
Now that I know how wikis, blogs and RSS work, and fully understand the meaning of connectivism, I am quite discouraged by where we are at work. We have 2600 courses on Blackboard this term and offer 400+ full online courses per year. The quality of those courses varies greatly. Some are excellent and innovative, some are dull, unengaging and mirror the punishing nature of chalk and talk teaching. However, very few faculty know how to use wikis (or what they are even), blogs, podcasts or RSS. The whole concept of connectivism in learning is not even on the radar of most faculty.
Recently, one of the CCSNH colleges decided that all faculty must post their syllabus and contact information on Blackboard, the online teaching software used at CCSNH. It seemed to me to be a small step in the right direction. In the face of faculty resistance, the decision to have all faculty post a syllabus and their contact information on Blackboard was abandoned. I am appalled at the faculty who resist and at his lack of leadership.
The college is struggling for enrollments (no surprise there!) and yet the entrenched faculty resist change. They prefer small classes in the chalk and talk mode of not engaging students and teaching so ineffectively. To me, it's more about what the teacher prefers than what the students need.
Oh yes, the union part of the problem. Unions are not known for progressive and forward thinking ideas. Plus technology makes top down control very difficult for a union.
Entrenched faculty who resist change and think technology is a fad and not essential workplace, problem solving and career building skills for students are a reality for us. Dinosaurs who do not see their oncoming extinction are such obstacles to change for us.
We have made a lot of progress in the past few years, but have a long way to go to catch up to the most effective technology enabled ways of engaging students and being a mentor, guide, information architect for them rather than a boring lecturer.Jeff''s video as an active link - How will CCSNH compete with this?
Guess it's time to talk to reporters, the newspapers, and anyone else who will listen and make this a priority. I'm willing. If any of you are out there........give me a call. I'm on a mission. Talk the talk I say! Dinosaurs are extinct. We aren't and our children shouldn't be. Time to kick butt!!
ReplyDeleteI am excited that you are excited about this technology. It is amazing how comfortable people become with what they know and how "uncomfortable" people are with change. The smallest change sometimes puts people over the edge. It is encouraging that you can make the connection with web2.0 tools and see the huge benefits with your online learning community at your college. The million dollar question is, "Who can we convince that it is a good investment and how do we make using web2.0 tools a reality?"
ReplyDeleteGreat Post!
ReplyDeleteHow is your college going to compete with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50YBu14j3U
and I encourage you to click through to the website they mention.
What I think bothers me the most is education is suppose to be about change. It's suppose to be about pushing new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of doing things. Instead it has become about the test, about the content, and less about the thinking, about the change.
Education is slow to change....but if we don't wake up fast, we're all going to go to work one day and nobody will be there to teach. If you are all about content...you are...or already have been replaced by Google. Teaching is about thinking and leading the learning process.
""Who can we convince that it is a good investment and how do we make using web2.0 tools a reality?""
Good question and my only answer is.....one teacher at a time. :)
I absolutely agree with your post, but I'm worried about the us v. them climate that change is creating in schools. There has to be a way to engage experienced 'chalk and talkers' so that everyone moves forward, at a pace we can all live with.
ReplyDeleteStudents also represent a friction as new technology is introduced. Every teacher has a wiki and they are always being asked to sign on to a new 2.0 tool, or to remember a password. When presented with a podcast project, mine asked if they could just write an essay instead.
Is there a danger of too much experimentation?