I (Rob) had a great conversation/brainstorming session with Dean and Alec about designing a course that can transcend some limitations of time and geography as we help our students to start developing a personal learning network.
Big thanks to Dean who volunteered to take care of the post-production for this show as I head into the busiest part of a teacher’s year. I’ll owe you a beverage next time we’re in the same town.
EdTech Posse 5.5 – Teaching Beyond the Limits of Space and Time
Hi guys (hope you don’t mind the ‘familiarity’…you seem pretty familiar as I have been listening to your podcasts for a while now). Just wanted to jot a couple of thoughts down in response to this podcast, which I listened to while running along the waterfront in Auckland a couple of days ago. A lot of what you were saying hit a note of accord and I found myself grinning like an idiot (not a good look). Did think there were a couple of points I’d like to add into the mix, though. For example, you were discussing the optimum length of a course and one aspect that I don’t think was mentioned directly was motivation (extrinsic or intrinsic), although there was discussion about how interest in a subject can shape the learning experience (irrespective of duration). Alongside this factor is the notion of whether a learner is ‘ready’…if they have developed the necessary cognitive framework that can be built upon with this next set of thinking and/or skills. If the learner is in just the right spot then an hour may be all it takes to turn the tide; something that just falls into place that makes sense of everything else. I think that this may be the case irrespective of whether it’s a content based or process based course.
The other thing that really struck my imagination was the embedding of one discipline with in another that really ‘smokes the tyres’ of the learner. The example was the art class with embedded math. Awesome. We did something similar (but not as sophisticated) at Dubai Men’s College where we had a project-based ICT enhanced blended-learning programme over 40 weeks. Math, English, academic literacies, ICT literacies, and Arabic were all integrated into the incremental, experiential learning course. Students would gradually produce one artefact over 10 weeks, building cumulatively another ‘bit’ each week, and the focus was very much on the process – the learning journey – rather than the end product.
I reckon I’ve drivelled on for long enough. Many thanks for your thought-provoking, entertaining podcasts (and I love the dogs
Cheers. Hazel