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ilearninguk posted an update in the group Activity 0.2 small group reflection 10 years, 7 months ago
Hi all.
What is our topic of reflection going to be or is it organic?
Joel
ilearninguk posted an update in the group Activity 0.2 small group reflection 10 years, 7 months ago
Hi all.
What is our topic of reflection going to be or is it organic?
Joel
I’ll chip in the notion of fear around uptake of technology? The idea that the people who are taking up technology sit within a standard distribution curve (a good explanation is in Chasing the Chasm by Moore – which I know is a business publication but it transfers to this issue really well) so you have those who grab technology, run with it, develop build, imagine etc then back into the curve you have the late majority who are sitting there watching technology develop and keep developing. Bit like the early adopters being on a train and the train pulling away from the station hereas they are still stood on the platform. Not only is the gap increasing but the speed at which the gap is growing is accelerating…. Do am I stood on the platform becoming fearful of the gap? do I introduce technology to my teaching knowing that I’m not that good with it and thinking that I have a class of young IT literate (digitally literate?) students who will rip my use of technology apart…
Questions are then I suppose
1) is this the case?
2) what can we within the community do to help?
Hi, I am Kathy, one of the support tutors with ocTEL. I find this topic of fear very interesting. As someone who has worked with technology over a number of years, I have seen the technology changing rapidly. What is “hot” and all the rage one day, sinks into oblivion the next. This has let me to orient my attention towards student learning goals primarily. I tend to look at technology through the lens of what I need for my students to achieve their learning goals and not necessarily the smorgasbord of technology that is available.
I also like and use the principle of parsimony: If you can get it done better and faster with s simpler tool, use it.
This is what I always emphasize with the faculty with whom i work. Having and using every tech tool that newly comes out, doesn’t necessarily guarantee better learning experiences for students. I think my emphasis is on designing interaction sets that will motivate students and assessments that are relevant, contextual and meaningful for them in their offline lives.
Just my two cents….
Agreed – it’s about what I am trying to achieve / what do I need my students to achieve. However even getting some staff to have a conversation about teaching is an achievement in its own right sometimes… especially with the more research oriented institutions where teaching is seen as an inconvenience rather than something to be engaged with. So I suppose I’m not just chipping in simple fear as a discussion point, where as Joel said elsewhere in this group that there are ways of working with people that can help reduce fear, but also the idea that staff don’t want to particularly engage with teaching and will use the ‘I don’t want to learn/have anything to do with technology as a get out…
Was wondering the same thing. Perhaps we should start from fear of technology adoption and ‘theme associate’ from there?