Friday, September 28, 2012

Why am I just learning about this now?!

I am taking a few other courses through SUNY and this week it seems they all relate heavily to the concept of connectivism. I am reading a few books but two in particular specifically talk about the way education has been constructed and designed... and why it is not working. Both books talk about the importance of making connections in learning and working with people to create new ideas, about learning together vs learning individually. I feel like I've been living under a rock?!

One of the books I am reading is called Asking the Right Questions by M. Neil Brown and Stewart M. Keeley. The book is about independent learning and it talks about different learning styles. One of them is called the "sponge approach" which is what I did through out grade school. My teacher gave us a book and I accepted most of what they said and what I read in the books to be true. The other approach is called "panning for gold" ....pretty much another explanation for a MOOC! It's about being given information on certain subjects but actively engaging in the information you choose and questioning it and talking about it with other people to come to your own informed conclusions.

The book also talks about "the myth of the 'right' answer" and includes lots of information on how to "ask the right questions" and get involved in learning and share it with other people. It's a really good, easy read so far; I definitely recommend it.

The other book I'm reading is called Signs by Arthur Asa Berger. In chapter 25 of this book Berger discusses codes and social codes. He said that people want to resist being "programmed" and their choices about freedom and in terms of education, this also reminded me of a MOOC.  Berger says:

"When people talk about being programmed, then it is not so much that they resent having certain programs inflicted on them. What they want is a choice of programs or some kind of program that allows self-determination, freedom, choice, openness- a program that is not restrictive and does not intrude upon them. This may be an impossible dream, beyond the capacity of any of our computer designers or programmers, but it is an ideal that is very much in people's minds. Now it may be that some degree of randomness is a part of every program or can be designed into societies, so this dream of freedom and autonomy is more nearly aittainable. I do not know whether it is possible, or where the line between an open-ended nonintrusive program ends and chaos begins."

.....Pretty interesting text to think about!!

2 comments:

  1. Naw, You haven't been living under a rock. You've been up where most people still think the open air of the "real" educational world exists. Sounds to me like you have just crawled under the rock and are discovering all the educational excitement that is biding its time as the subversion grows, until we're ready to blow the roof off the illusion that's holding everyone in slavery.

    Ok, maybe that's a bit over the top. I got carried away remixing the Matrix. Anyhow, welcome to the world of the red pill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi richele - I've just come across a reference you made in cmc11 to my blog, Connection Not Content - I'm pleased you found it relaxing! I was going to respond with the usual warnings about MOOC chaos and confusion but you now seem to have adjusted so well there seems little point. I think a connectivist MOOC at its best is a sort of massive encyclopedia that comes with a critical mass of kindred learners intent on helping each other find their own paths through mountains of content!
    Gordon Lockhart

    ReplyDelete