by Max de Lotbinière, Guardian Online
Research carried out recently among a group of students enrolled on a distance MA Tesol course at Leicester University offers a glimpse into a not-too-distant future when learners distributed around the world but linked via the internet will be able to enhance their learning experience with the use of some simple and low-cost digital tools. Gabi Witthaus, who teaches on the MA Tesol course, collaborated with colleagues in the university’s psychology department on the “Duckling” (Delivering University Curricula: Knowledge, Learning and INnovation Gains) project to find out how a relatively small group of their distance- learning postgraduate students would respond to using audio tools, the Second Life virtual world and e-readers to share and develop their learning. The results have been positive, with e-readers in particular, she says, allowing students to open “little windows of time” to access course content.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/08/online-voice-messages-tesol-delotbiniere
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The examples of using audio and so basic here, yet they add so much to the online learning experience. One cannot underestimate the value of using a variety of communication forms on the web. These are elements that engage learners in exactly the right way. Nothing about them distracts.
On the other hand, second life is not so simple. Is it really worth all the prep time just to learn how to use it? Would observing teaching on second life really be the best use of a teacher trainee’s time given a basic standard for online that states that authenticity is critically important? Is teh teaching on second life worth observing? And then there is my personal gripe about second life- being a visual learner I find that needing to look at such strange, unattractive visual stimulation very distracting. I find it difficult to pay attention to what’s being said and what’s going on.
As a friend and founding director of online at The New School likes to say: “It’s not about technology, it’s about learning.” The first two examples here are about learning.