How might Wegners notions of practice communities relate to Prensky's on Education?
Wegner’s Communities of practice involves individuals developing their knowledge by working together, these individuals learn from each others experiences. This is similar to Prensky's views on education, the reason being is that it links to the idea that teachers should “pay attention” and “value” (Prensky, 2006) what their students already know. This is because they are “digital natives,” who are "fluent" in the language of technology, not only should a teachers teach but listen to their students and learn from them. Another instance of similarity involves Wegner’s notion of “Joint Enterprise,” in which the Communities of Practice are negotiated by it's members, this allows for each individuals input. This Links to Prensky and his belief that teachers should listen to the “input from students about how they would teach” (Prensky, 2006) because like Cofp it is the idea of working together, this process according to Prensky means that education will appeal more to the “digital immigrant” through the equal involvement by both teacher and student.
Friday, 27 March 2009
Week 9 Task 2
What differences to all this might the 'digital divide' make ? a) To socioeconomically related access issues within society? b)To globals access issues across countries and regions?
Of course Presnkyk's concept is assuming that everyone is connected to the internet whether they be the “digital immigrant” or “digital native.” But what about those individuals who are not even on the internet, they form part of what is know as the “digital divide.” In terms of the socioeconomically, it is for reasons of age, race and ethnicity, geography, income, educational factors. Firstly for age there are those individuals that of the elderly who may not have an idea about the Internet and probably have no intention of using the Internet. Although we live within a society that is not a third world country, there are obvious economic divides between individuals. For example, in the poorer areas of England technology such as the Internet isn’t necessarily readily available to all. So those children that have grown up within these deprived areas without the Internet in their home, can’t surely be classified as a “digital native” (Prensky, 2004) if they haven’t the means to be. As regards educational factors, a child's education within certain areas of the country maybe better than another child's elsewhere, this may mean that they may feel unfairly treated. As Norris notes there is a social divide between the “information rich and the information poor.” ( Norris, :4) Meaning that the level of digital development are different for each student and so these individuals may not be as “fluent” in the digital language as Prensky may have us believe.
Of course Presnkyk's concept is assuming that everyone is connected to the internet whether they be the “digital immigrant” or “digital native.” But what about those individuals who are not even on the internet, they form part of what is know as the “digital divide.” In terms of the socioeconomically, it is for reasons of age, race and ethnicity, geography, income, educational factors. Firstly for age there are those individuals that of the elderly who may not have an idea about the Internet and probably have no intention of using the Internet. Although we live within a society that is not a third world country, there are obvious economic divides between individuals. For example, in the poorer areas of England technology such as the Internet isn’t necessarily readily available to all. So those children that have grown up within these deprived areas without the Internet in their home, can’t surely be classified as a “digital native” (Prensky, 2004) if they haven’t the means to be. As regards educational factors, a child's education within certain areas of the country maybe better than another child's elsewhere, this may mean that they may feel unfairly treated. As Norris notes there is a social divide between the “information rich and the information poor.” ( Norris, :4) Meaning that the level of digital development are different for each student and so these individuals may not be as “fluent” in the digital language as Prensky may have us believe.
Week 9 task 2
Although technological development is on the increase, the actual global digital divide is “huge” (Dutton, 2004). Individuals within poorer countries don't even have a computer let alone the Internet, the way that they learn is through traditional classroom educational techniques which doesn't involve the input of digital technology. Shockingly only 10% “of the worlds population was on the Internet in 2002” (Dutton, 2004) this means then that these children are further behind than the unknowing “digital immigrant,” simply because they have no access to even a computer.
Week 9 task 3
Should education Stretch a person do you think? (What do you mean by stretch?)
The Collins dictionary describes stretch as to extend oneself to the limit. I feel that is important to stretch oneself to ensure that one makes progresses in life. If scientist didn’t stretch themselves to the limits then the likes of Darwin wouldn’t be a name that we all are all aware of. Education should push people to their full potential otherwise everyone would remain stagnant. Looking at “digital immigrants,” it is important that these individuals push themselves to learn about technology if they don’t then they are going to be remain behind hand. Children with the regards education need to “stretch” their knowledge on the likes of English, Maths, Science and technology because these are all a part of everyday life and knowledge that is essential. When we began blogging we had a basic knowledge on the Internet, but the series of blogs has stretched us further to our limits in order to extend our knowledge in regions of New Media, exploring conception we wouldn’t otherwise be aware of.
Saying this however, there is only so far that individuals can be pushed, I hate pushy parents who continually push their children to strive to such an extent that children have no social life at all.Week 9 Task 5
5)What is 'semantic web'?
Tim Berners Lee discovred the semantic web, it is a certain way of representing data on the World Wide Web. Information that is scattered on the WWW the semantic web brings it together, this is done in a way that makes it easy for machines to find and process information on a global scale. The semantic web creates a language that a machine understands and which enables it to process the documents effectively. The semantic web is also much more efficient than the web 2.0. semantic web "using explicit machine-understandable semantic, enabling the automatic combination ad user web services" (Euzenat and Perez, 2005: 1)
Euzenat and Perez (2005) The semantic web research and application, Second European Semantic Web, Springer.
Tim Berners Lee discovred the semantic web, it is a certain way of representing data on the World Wide Web. Information that is scattered on the WWW the semantic web brings it together, this is done in a way that makes it easy for machines to find and process information on a global scale. The semantic web creates a language that a machine understands and which enables it to process the documents effectively. The semantic web is also much more efficient than the web 2.0. semantic web "using explicit machine-understandable semantic, enabling the automatic combination ad user web services" (Euzenat and Perez, 2005: 1)
Euzenat and Perez (2005) The semantic web research and application, Second European Semantic Web, Springer.
Week 9 Task 6
How does it differ from web 3.0?
The web 3.0 is different to semantic web because it is this is the part that remembers your step when you for example buy a book, it records what your preferences were around cost, quality etc so that the next time that you came to buy something from the internet it would take into account those previous actions and follow your previous preferences and find what fitted these preferences. In this manner web 3.0 is highly intelligent because it “understands web pages the way humans do,” (Harros, 2008: 48) Whereas the semantic web simply carries out the process of un scattering of the information .
Harros, D. (2008) Web 2.0 Evolution into the Intelligent web 3.0, Lulu.com
It is important to note that to distinguish between both web 3.0 and semantic web is difficult because they have been considered by most to be the same thing.
Week 9 Task 4
Is there a potential problem being stored up for people is 'education' is tailored to fit their cultural and personal preferences?
Tailoring education to fit into an individual’s cultural and personal preferences can have quite detrimental effects. I do believe that with teaching methods there should be some “input from students” (Prensky) but the main influence upon style of teaching should be teacher driven. There are a lot of disruptive children within school so receiving their input on what forms of education would greaten their attention can only be a good thing. Also there are those children that struggle with certain subjects and so "tailoring instruction to meet individual needs of children experiencing trouble learning to read" (Baker et al , 2000:50-51)obviously is important, they should be given their preferences for styles that they feel they learn from best. But if children were able to choose subjects that they preferred then they could remove foreign languages, restricting their knowledge of other cultures language, attitudes and behaviors. At the end of the day educational styles are never going to be well received by all individuals because we are all different, this is why education can’t be too flexible as to take on everyone’s personal preferences just wouldn’t be possible.
Individuals immigrating to England may find that they want to keep their cultural beliefs as they move abroad. If I was to move to Spain I would want to keep my cultural identity but at the same time I would need to embrace other cultures too. It would be out of place to live in Spain, and not even attempt to learn their language. Cultural preference then means that individuals are potentially restricting themselves, learning only what suits them.
Cultural inertia involves those who are reluctant to adopt a different culture even though the external environment is changing. Cultural inertia in terms of work force, could involve individuals who have been working for a company for 20 years and are are used to their fixed ways. They are unhappy with the changes and as a result they do not want to comply with the changes that the company is making. So if there’s new technology that they need to gain knowledge of these individuals find it difficult to adapt to these changes, because they are not their personal preference.
Tailoring education to fit into an individual’s cultural and personal preferences can have quite detrimental effects. I do believe that with teaching methods there should be some “input from students” (Prensky) but the main influence upon style of teaching should be teacher driven. There are a lot of disruptive children within school so receiving their input on what forms of education would greaten their attention can only be a good thing. Also there are those children that struggle with certain subjects and so "tailoring instruction to meet individual needs of children experiencing trouble learning to read" (Baker et al , 2000:50-51)obviously is important, they should be given their preferences for styles that they feel they learn from best. But if children were able to choose subjects that they preferred then they could remove foreign languages, restricting their knowledge of other cultures language, attitudes and behaviors. At the end of the day educational styles are never going to be well received by all individuals because we are all different, this is why education can’t be too flexible as to take on everyone’s personal preferences just wouldn’t be possible.
Individuals immigrating to England may find that they want to keep their cultural beliefs as they move abroad. If I was to move to Spain I would want to keep my cultural identity but at the same time I would need to embrace other cultures too. It would be out of place to live in Spain, and not even attempt to learn their language. Cultural preference then means that individuals are potentially restricting themselves, learning only what suits them.
Cultural inertia involves those who are reluctant to adopt a different culture even though the external environment is changing. Cultural inertia in terms of work force, could involve individuals who have been working for a company for 20 years and are are used to their fixed ways. They are unhappy with the changes and as a result they do not want to comply with the changes that the company is making. So if there’s new technology that they need to gain knowledge of these individuals find it difficult to adapt to these changes, because they are not their personal preference.
Blog D and E
) a Neo- luddite is an individuals who isn’t accepting of technological changes.
Week 9 Blog A
The oldest Digital Native that I know Properly is my roommate, the reason being that most of the people I know have general knowledge of the internet she has more experience. My roommate sends emails via her phone, she also checks My Space using the Internet via her phone, downloads music from itunes, knows most things about the technology inside of a computer. She has her own bloggin forum that she produced simply for fun. She also uses social networking sites online in particular Facebook in order to interact with her friends and family. I’d say she is very “fluent” (Prensky, 2006) with the language of technology. She is an expert when it comes to the looking out for the latest digital technology. The fact that she used to work for PC World means that she must have a fairly good knowledge about technology in particular the digital.
Week 9 Blog B+C
b) and c) The youngest digital immigrant I know is probably myself I’m rubbish when it comes to technology as everything seems to break down on me such as my laptop. I love music but hate downloading music because it seems to take ages, I'm not the person that a teacher should "learn about technology" ( Stewart, 2008)from even though I was born into the digital era. Although I love social networking sites such as face book, I hate online banking hence why I don’t do it I don’t trust it because I know that it will be my account that gets hacked into. I used to think I knew all about computer games until I met my sisters nephews who are younger than nine and can complete a xbox game within a day.
Week 8 Task 1 Digital Immigration
Find Out about "Digital Immigration". What is it? Who cares about it? What sort of general attitudes have been based upon it?
To firstly establish what “digital immigration” is it is important to highlight what a digital native is. “Digital native” as Prensky puts it is essentially someone who is born into the technological era. These are individuals who have a good knowledge of Technology and basically speak the language of computers. It appears then that new information on technology comes easy to them.
Now we come to “digital immigration,” the inventor of the term is Marc Prensky, and is a term used for those individuals who were not brought up in the digital world, and because of this find the technological world hard to learn. The computer world is alien to these individuals, and these “Digital immigrants” are said retain their “accent” ( Prensky, 2006) that they had before technological development, and so in this manner they are stuck in the past. It appears this perspective of technology as a foreign world then comes from the concept immigration. Where like individuals that immigrate into a new world, digital immigrants immigrate into the new world of digital technology which like immigrants seems at first a world extremely alien to them
To firstly establish what “digital immigration” is it is important to highlight what a digital native is. “Digital native” as Prensky puts it is essentially someone who is born into the technological era. These are individuals who have a good knowledge of Technology and basically speak the language of computers. It appears then that new information on technology comes easy to them.
Now we come to “digital immigration,” the inventor of the term is Marc Prensky, and is a term used for those individuals who were not brought up in the digital world, and because of this find the technological world hard to learn. The computer world is alien to these individuals, and these “Digital immigrants” are said retain their “accent” ( Prensky, 2006) that they had before technological development, and so in this manner they are stuck in the past. It appears this perspective of technology as a foreign world then comes from the concept immigration. Where like individuals that immigrate into a new world, digital immigrants immigrate into the new world of digital technology which like immigrants seems at first a world extremely alien to them
Week 8 Task 4 Aricle Names
Academic Article Named in the Harvard Manner
ARTICLE 1 Christopher Heun (2006) "Teaching Literacy to the Myspace Generation: when it come to sharpening student skils, districts take different approaches." in: Teachnology and Learning: 2704, 19, Cmmp Media LLC.
ARTICLE 2 Willaim Stewart (2008) "Take a lesson from 'digital natives': our pupils" In : Times Educational Supplement. 4808: TSL Educational Limited.
ARTICLE 3 Ronald A. Yaros (2008) "Digital Natives: Following their lead on a path to new Journalism" In : Nieman Reports
ARTICLE 4 Marc Prensky (2006)"Listen to the Natives" In : Educational Leadership. 4. 8-13
ARTICLE 1 Christopher Heun (2006) "Teaching Literacy to the Myspace Generation: when it come to sharpening student skils, districts take different approaches." in: Teachnology and Learning: 2704, 19, Cmmp Media LLC.
ARTICLE 2 Willaim Stewart (2008) "Take a lesson from 'digital natives': our pupils" In : Times Educational Supplement. 4808: TSL Educational Limited.
ARTICLE 3 Ronald A. Yaros (2008) "Digital Natives: Following their lead on a path to new Journalism" In : Nieman Reports
ARTICLE 4 Marc Prensky (2006)"Listen to the Natives" In : Educational Leadership. 4. 8-13
week 8 task 5 Abstract
ARTICLE 1
The purpose of the article From Chris Heun is to higlight that “kids” are coping well with the Digital world. This article firstly highlights that “teaching” these kids about technology seems almost “silly.” It focuses it’s attention to David Debarr idea that “kids don’t know it all,” when it comes to technology there are limits. Instead of using technology for texting, kids should learn “software applications.” Chris Lenhan from the Science leader ship academy suggests that children should learn how to incorporate technology into their learning of English history and science. The hopes for the future for Lenham are to provide all 100 students with of his local school with a laptop. The article looks at Debarr’s finding of a district that has worked with “Learning.com to implement those standards of web-based tutorials.” The article hopes that technology will be “interwoven” throughout the curriculum for example using of technology with literature.
The purpose of the article From Chris Heun is to higlight that “kids” are coping well with the Digital world. This article firstly highlights that “teaching” these kids about technology seems almost “silly.” It focuses it’s attention to David Debarr idea that “kids don’t know it all,” when it comes to technology there are limits. Instead of using technology for texting, kids should learn “software applications.” Chris Lenhan from the Science leader ship academy suggests that children should learn how to incorporate technology into their learning of English history and science. The hopes for the future for Lenham are to provide all 100 students with of his local school with a laptop. The article looks at Debarr’s finding of a district that has worked with “Learning.com to implement those standards of web-based tutorials.” The article hopes that technology will be “interwoven” throughout the curriculum for example using of technology with literature.
week 8 task 5 Abstract
ARTICLE 2
The intetion of William Stewarts article is to put forward that teachers could leran a thing or two about technology from “the generation sitting in front of them in class.” The article addressed Jim Knight concept that challenges whether teachers should remain in charge of digital education because they are “digital natives,” who need to learn form children who are using all forms of media eg converged. Cary Bazalgette actually disputes Knight and brings into play that children don’t know everything. The debate of the article also suggests that future teachers face problems, with their whole life documented on the Internet students could “bully” them. Concerns even reach young children which the UK Council on Child Internet Safety hope to resolve issues by improving regulation and education around internet use eg online bullying, control violent games etc.
The intetion of William Stewarts article is to put forward that teachers could leran a thing or two about technology from “the generation sitting in front of them in class.” The article addressed Jim Knight concept that challenges whether teachers should remain in charge of digital education because they are “digital natives,” who need to learn form children who are using all forms of media eg converged. Cary Bazalgette actually disputes Knight and brings into play that children don’t know everything. The debate of the article also suggests that future teachers face problems, with their whole life documented on the Internet students could “bully” them. Concerns even reach young children which the UK Council on Child Internet Safety hope to resolve issues by improving regulation and education around internet use eg online bullying, control violent games etc.
week 8 task 5 Abstract
ARTICLE 3
Ronals A.Yaros aricle looks at john Palfreys book, “Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives’ and applies his concept of “grazing digital natives.” This concept addresses those students as “digital natives” miss most of the news reading only the Headling or maybe a paragraph. The article blames this on technology, which is used for “education, information, education and social networking.” The underlying feeling is that news needs to change to fit in. Example consists of blogging as the likes of Myspae are so popular. Journalists also need to find content that will appeal to these individuals. The problems that the article sees are “the overload of facts and updates. The article sees personalization as the key to gaining interest.
Ronals A.Yaros aricle looks at john Palfreys book, “Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives’ and applies his concept of “grazing digital natives.” This concept addresses those students as “digital natives” miss most of the news reading only the Headling or maybe a paragraph. The article blames this on technology, which is used for “education, information, education and social networking.” The underlying feeling is that news needs to change to fit in. Example consists of blogging as the likes of Myspae are so popular. Journalists also need to find content that will appeal to these individuals. The problems that the article sees are “the overload of facts and updates. The article sees personalization as the key to gaining interest.
week 8 task 5 Abstract
ARTICLE 4
This article is from Mark Prensky who coined of the term “digital native,” for those individuals kid’s and students who are adapt to converged media. They are native speakers whereas “digital immigrants” will keep their pre technology “accents.” The article describes how schools can catch up with relevant education for students. Teachers it suggests should imply new technological equipment into their classrooms, which students have suggested. Other example of learning is through an online game for learning “algebra.” Teachers need to change and value their student’s knowledge; the solution is to work with students.
This article is from Mark Prensky who coined of the term “digital native,” for those individuals kid’s and students who are adapt to converged media. They are native speakers whereas “digital immigrants” will keep their pre technology “accents.” The article describes how schools can catch up with relevant education for students. Teachers it suggests should imply new technological equipment into their classrooms, which students have suggested. Other example of learning is through an online game for learning “algebra.” Teachers need to change and value their student’s knowledge; the solution is to work with students.
week 8 task 6 "Disagreements with articles"
ARTICLE 1
The article doesn’t directly use Prenskys concept of “digital native” it simply relates to it. Surely by adding Prenskys explanation into the article would make readers immediately aware of it’s points. It begins by suggesting that “kids” cope well with new technology and so the idea of “teaching” them seems “almost silly.” In some respect I disagree because they obviously need to learn about the academic side of technology, which teachers can successfully provide. The likes of “downloading music’s,” “publishing of their blogs” or using converged media forms such as the IPhone isn’t going to help them with research say at college or university, skills that I regard as important. These articles however do address the negative side of such technology but not to great lengths. The article highlights how individuals want to take technology to the next level and make it “a part of life,” one suggesting they want to” provide a laptop to each of the schools one hundred students.” But the article doesn’t take into account the detrimental effects of having technology in children’s lives, it could greaten the society of couch potatoes kids, encourage them to stay in and isolate themselves from others, "few people are active in their neighborhood than in the 1960's" (Kenal and Singh. 2004: 8).
The article doesn’t directly use Prenskys concept of “digital native” it simply relates to it. Surely by adding Prenskys explanation into the article would make readers immediately aware of it’s points. It begins by suggesting that “kids” cope well with new technology and so the idea of “teaching” them seems “almost silly.” In some respect I disagree because they obviously need to learn about the academic side of technology, which teachers can successfully provide. The likes of “downloading music’s,” “publishing of their blogs” or using converged media forms such as the IPhone isn’t going to help them with research say at college or university, skills that I regard as important. These articles however do address the negative side of such technology but not to great lengths. The article highlights how individuals want to take technology to the next level and make it “a part of life,” one suggesting they want to” provide a laptop to each of the schools one hundred students.” But the article doesn’t take into account the detrimental effects of having technology in children’s lives, it could greaten the society of couch potatoes kids, encourage them to stay in and isolate themselves from others, "few people are active in their neighborhood than in the 1960's" (Kenal and Singh. 2004: 8).
week 8 task 6 "Disagreements with articles"
ARTICLE 2
This article focuses mainly on the negative side of the era of “digital native.” The likes of Facebook it sees as a platform for bullies not just now but as a weapon of the future. The fact they believe there should be greater measures of protection seems a nice idea, but because the internet is so open I can't see how they are going to be able to bring in measure that will effectively prevent some form of bullying, as it's hard enough in real life. Also it fails to take into account that websites such as facebook and Myspace have aloud individuals to keep in touch with their friends, to make new friends, an in particular with MySpace help new music artists such as Lilly Allen, become notice and make it big in the music Industry.
This article focuses mainly on the negative side of the era of “digital native.” The likes of Facebook it sees as a platform for bullies not just now but as a weapon of the future. The fact they believe there should be greater measures of protection seems a nice idea, but because the internet is so open I can't see how they are going to be able to bring in measure that will effectively prevent some form of bullying, as it's hard enough in real life. Also it fails to take into account that websites such as facebook and Myspace have aloud individuals to keep in touch with their friends, to make new friends, an in particular with MySpace help new music artists such as Lilly Allen, become notice and make it big in the music Industry.
week 8 task 6 "Disagreements with articles"
ARTICLE 3
Again like article two, the article in this case focuses on the negative side of converged media. It implies that because of growing in technology, individuals use the media “for entertainment, information, education and social networking” through converged media forms such as the iphone. The simplistic nature of todays news means thats for those student readers who are used to lots of technological gadgets find news rather boring, and this encourages “grazing digital native.” It forgets to highlight that technology has aloud individuals to read about problems within different countries, news that isn’t deemed spectacular enough to be on the television.
Again like article two, the article in this case focuses on the negative side of converged media. It implies that because of growing in technology, individuals use the media “for entertainment, information, education and social networking” through converged media forms such as the iphone. The simplistic nature of todays news means thats for those student readers who are used to lots of technological gadgets find news rather boring, and this encourages “grazing digital native.” It forgets to highlight that technology has aloud individuals to read about problems within different countries, news that isn’t deemed spectacular enough to be on the television.
week 8 task 6 "Disagreements with articles"
ARTICLE 4
This article assumes that “digital immigrants” those that haven’t been born into the digital era will never be able to catch up with the “digital natives”in some case this may be true. However, not everyone born into this era is good with technology, I myself could be classed as digitally illiterate, whereas my father is a computer programmer and he know much more about technology than a supposed “Digital native” knows.
This article assumes that “digital immigrants” those that haven’t been born into the digital era will never be able to catch up with the “digital natives”in some case this may be true. However, not everyone born into this era is good with technology, I myself could be classed as digitally illiterate, whereas my father is a computer programmer and he know much more about technology than a supposed “Digital native” knows.
week 8 Task 3 Website 1
WEBSITE 1
week 8 Task 3 Website 2
WEBSITE 2
The second website is like a library itself the page has Marks Prensky’s book on “digital immigration” which is made easily accessible. The fact that it has an academic book within it means that the page is academically sounds. However this website is simply a book and draws away from new media as being “avante-guarde” (Lister et al, 2003). This website is simply a “refashion of older media”(Lister et al, 2003) and shows how remediation is at work
The website also allows you to upload and publish your own sources of information to be “self mediated” (Lister1, 2003: 77) ok this is obviously a good thing, consumers are no longer “passive” (Branston and Stafford, 2006) of media texts. The Internet has encouraged individuals to have “active engagement” with media texts, this website allows anyone to publish their work (Habermas in, Lister, 2003: 177).This brings into question the quality of information? Does this website allow anyone to publish any old rubbish. There seems to be no guidelines because anyone can upload documents so it does make the website a less reliable source.
Week 8 Task 3 Website 3
WEBSITE 3
This website seems to be quite restrictive because it doesn’t allow individuals to search beyond the website through hypertexts. It offers detailed information on “digital immigration” and outlines a lot of Prensky’s concept. It appears more of a commentary on Prenskys work rather than critiquing it. At the same time it doesn’t have any other theories or individuals opinions on “digital immigration” so the website is very limited. The website has headlines such as Home, Current issues, Subscribe, Calendar, contact us. The contacting element allows individual to be “active” users of the website in order to express their opinion. This particular website doesn’t have the date in which is was published and so makes me questions the reliability of it as a resource because you are not able to see whether its up to date. This website isn’t particularly accepting of Prensky’s concept of “digital immigration,” not once is this concept disputed.
This website seems to be quite restrictive because it doesn’t allow individuals to search beyond the website through hypertexts. It offers detailed information on “digital immigration” and outlines a lot of Prensky’s concept. It appears more of a commentary on Prenskys work rather than critiquing it. At the same time it doesn’t have any other theories or individuals opinions on “digital immigration” so the website is very limited. The website has headlines such as Home, Current issues, Subscribe, Calendar, contact us. The contacting element allows individual to be “active” users of the website in order to express their opinion. This particular website doesn’t have the date in which is was published and so makes me questions the reliability of it as a resource because you are not able to see whether its up to date. This website isn’t particularly accepting of Prensky’s concept of “digital immigration,” not once is this concept disputed.
week 8 Task 3 Website 4
WEBSITE 4
This website wasn’t overly academic but I did like the ideas behind it. Offering some information about Digital Immigration. The website is a blog slide show and it’s quite innovative and fun. I feel this is what the the online/website is all about, allowing individuals to comment on “digital natives” using a slideshow is very interesting and reiterates new media as “avante-guarde, ” But it isn’t a reliable source with no references to academic sources, there wasn’t a date went they were published and there were no theories to back the writers comments. It was also very disorganised making it hard to understand.
This website wasn’t overly academic but I did like the ideas behind it. Offering some information about Digital Immigration. The website is a blog slide show and it’s quite innovative and fun. I feel this is what the the online/website is all about, allowing individuals to comment on “digital natives” using a slideshow is very interesting and reiterates new media as “avante-guarde, ” But it isn’t a reliable source with no references to academic sources, there wasn’t a date went they were published and there were no theories to back the writers comments. It was also very disorganised making it hard to understand.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Africa and the use of games in education
E learning within Africa as the website claims has been put in place in order to provide special training that is “affordable and accessible.” The website illustrates how a game can be used by individuals to allow them to take the role of a district medical officer, epidemiologist etc. This pariticualr type of video game “offer a learning platform that enables teaching to be associated with true-to-life situations” giving people the opportunity to gather vital knowledge on yellow fever which may otherwise have been disregarded. Whilst video games here are obviously a good it is important to consider that there are differences between gaining knowledge through the internet and gaining information form experience and practical work which is essential part in medical learning.
Africa and online learning
In some cases and especially in the instance of Zambia with the outbreak of cholera it seems that e learning is essential solution for educating children, because even though they were prevented from going to school they could still learn things. If these children weren’t to have access to e-learning then it is inevitable that their exam results would be greatly effected. As the website highlights it is necessary that government be “prepared” for disasters such as flood and disease. forms such as tv and radio’s as the websites points out are important to educate individuals on potential health risks, it is the governments duty to educate individuals and prevent further outbreak in the future through accessible forms. The online world is accessible to children through “café’s” and at “home” so children who are off school because of outbreaks of cholera in the area will not have to “miss their lessons.” online educating in such extreme cases is and essential part of life not only making learning more flexible like that offered from Deakin university but educating children who otherwise wouldn’t be. Cholera is widespread in Zambia the online world can only enable individuals to “learn about Cholera” too.
Africa and online learning
In some cases and especially in the instance of Zambia with the outbreak of cholera it seems that e learning is essential solution for educating children who were prevented from going to school. If these children weren’t to have access to e-learning then it is inevitable that their exam results would be greatly effected. As the website highlights it is necessary that government to be “prepared” for disasters such as flood and disease. forms such as tv and radio’s as the websites points out are important to educate individuals on potential health risks, it is the governments duty to educate individuals and prevent further outbreak in the future through accessible forms. The online world is accessible to children through “café’s” and at “home” so children who are off school because of outbreaks of cholera in the area will not have to “miss their lessons.” online educating in such extreme cases is and essential part of life not only making learning more flexible like that offered from Deakin university but educating children who otherwise wouldn’t be. Cholera is widespread in Zambia the online world can only enable individuals to “learn about Cholera”
Deakin university and Virtaul education
Deakin University in providing online education allows for individuals to be educated from long distances and at any time. The issue with distance maybe that certain individuals can’t afford to travel of simply don’t have the means. Having the ability to learn when it is most suitable is a lot better for the likes of mature students “full time workers and stay at home mums”(Cumo, 2007:157) Travelling great distances is extremely time consuming and tiring this makes learning and working near enough impossible. The university provides students with tutorials and tele-tutorial groups in order to help with guidance on the course. It makes sense that this will allow for students to have a good knowledge of other individuals on the same course as themselves and to gather guidance from them. Not forgetting that online “students participate more in discussions and learn from one another.” (Peterson, 2005: 47) Tutors give individuals the ability to have deeper discussion about the unit itself online, this virtual one to one helps to prevents confusion. What is good is that the university allows for students to come in during the weekend if it is needed in order to clarify any issues with the course. Virtual education is overall positive, but I wouldn’t say its to such a degree that Peterson implies, “online learning technologies are better than face-to-face.” (Peterson, 2005: 47)
Deakin university and Virtaul education
These are all obvious positive points to different style of learning and education that Deakin University provides . However there are also negative implications when looking at virtual education. The online world prevents students from having that face to face interaction with the lecturers themselves, if someone doesn’t understand the unit then an explanation through this virtual system can be less audible than it would be if the students were face to face with the lecturers. Long distance education encourages laziness, students can easily carry out work when it suits them best. This means that the quality of work maybe reduced, as Stephenson puts is virtual education “it’s not the be-all and the end-all.” (Stephenson, 2001: 215). With real life lectures and seminars there is the greater pressure to meet deadlines and go to lectures and seminars. The ability to monitor who is turning up for the lectures and seminars is easier to to establish than seeing whose online and gathering important information materials. Some people and especially young students in their first year often have other distractions like TV, so they need that push that is often taken from lecturers. Not only this but university is about experiencing the world to learn to become independent such as cooking and taking care of your own money, which if your working from home there isn’t that experience.
There has often been debate as to how new New media essentially is. This virtual education isn’t as radical as may have been originally anticipated again like Remediation virtual education isn’t simply “avante-guarde” (Lister, 2003: 40) or radical but an imitation of previous systems. The radio and television were educational systems before the Internet and virtual education has built upon these previous systems and now the Internet simply allows individuals to “write back” (Lister, 2003: 21) and ask any queries
There has often been debate as to how new New media essentially is. This virtual education isn’t as radical as may have been originally anticipated again like Remediation virtual education isn’t simply “avante-guarde” (Lister, 2003: 40) or radical but an imitation of previous systems. The radio and television were educational systems before the Internet and virtual education has built upon these previous systems and now the Internet simply allows individuals to “write back” (Lister, 2003: 21) and ask any queries
The article for week 7
http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/Technology/broadcast/tv-02.html
This article highlights’ the use of long distance learning in China through television, radio and even print.
As the article notes china was the first country to use TV and radio for higher education purposes. Before the introduction of education through radio and television those, who entered higher education was less than 2%. What is most important about these broadcast forms is that they enabled education to be available on a mass scale in a relatively “short” period, this is obviously impossible with the traditional one to one style of education that universities alone provided before hand. It’s fair to say that without these broadcast forms education would be much more limited.
China higher education institution ration went from 0.7 per cent in 1975 to 4 per cent in 1987 here it is evident that television and radio education has had a positive effect in appealing to a greater number of individuals. Education through television does not loose it’s value because of the “direct transcription of conventional University classroom teach.” At the same time “technology may widen the wealth gap” (Cumo, 2007: 157) because during the 70’s and 80’s not everyone had a television so not everyone could be educated.
This article highlights’ the use of long distance learning in China through television, radio and even print.
As the article notes china was the first country to use TV and radio for higher education purposes. Before the introduction of education through radio and television those, who entered higher education was less than 2%. What is most important about these broadcast forms is that they enabled education to be available on a mass scale in a relatively “short” period, this is obviously impossible with the traditional one to one style of education that universities alone provided before hand. It’s fair to say that without these broadcast forms education would be much more limited.
China higher education institution ration went from 0.7 per cent in 1975 to 4 per cent in 1987 here it is evident that television and radio education has had a positive effect in appealing to a greater number of individuals. Education through television does not loose it’s value because of the “direct transcription of conventional University classroom teach.” At the same time “technology may widen the wealth gap” (Cumo, 2007: 157) because during the 70’s and 80’s not everyone had a television so not everyone could be educated.
The article
What I feel is important is that this particular article does take into account the potential limitations of education through these broadcast forms. Obviously with practical projects it is impossible to carry these out anywhere but with the walls of the university. These programs “cannot allow answers to students questions directly” unlike in face to face situation found in seminars and lectures. Therefore confusion for students is much harder to resolve and is why tutoring is “necessary.” This is resolved by the use of the internet, Deakim University highlights that with virtual education students have the ability to become interactive with lectures and potentially “write back” (Lister, 2003: 21) to them and even have any queries answered quickly. What we cant forget is that these broadcast forms have allowed individuals to be educated at a higher level who otherwise may not have had the opportunity. As a result these broadcasts were an essential part of Chinese education.
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