As I have begun officially working as part of the Mormon
badges project (more on that later!), I have had the chance to do more research
about the ties between education and technology and the potential for open
educational content.
In the course of my research, I found an interesting quote
in Curtis J. Bonk’s book , World Is Open
: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education. He makes the claim that
now, ‘‘’Anyone can now learn anything from anyone at anytime’.…
it does not matter if you are a scientist on a ship in Antarctic waters or a
young girl in a Philippine village— you can learn when and where you want and
from whomever you are interested in learning” (7).
As I’ve begun working more with the idea of badges and how
to use technology effectively for education, this is a fascinating idea.
Traditional learning models state that we must learn from certified
professionals (aka teachers) who can demonstrate clearly where and how they
gained their expertise. But it’s pretty exciting to be able to learn from each
other, not just the formal experts. I do think that there is something that can
be learned from each person, and it’s powerful that through the internet we can
connect with those who have the knowledge and skills we want to learn. And this
is true no matter where they’re from throughout the world or if they have the
formal degree or not.
Of course this raises major questions about credibility,
which my team mate Ellys Dyck addressed on her blog, and regarding how we can
find the best possible teachers and “experts” throughout the world if we’re not
looking for degrees. I was surprised to read in Martin Ebner and Mandy
Schiefner’s book Looking Toward the
Future of Technology-Enhanced Education : Ubiquitous Learning and the Digital
Native that in fact those who are considered the “net generation” often have
trouble judging this very same issue. They wrote that “these children, who are
often called the net generation, are very smart in their use of new technology,
but they are not very sophisticated in terms of media literacy, and do not
obtain high scores in judging and reasoning” (xxv).
So how do we preserve the credibility of a traditional
educational system while allowing for the flexibility and diversity inherent in
the internet and especially web 2.0? This is where I think badges will play a
very important role, although it seems to be that there are quite a few kinks
left to be worked out of the system. I really think the idea of clear
certification, although with more flexibility, like is possible with the badge
system is an important step towards establishing a new step for education in
our digital culture.
I attended a counter-culture college in the early 1980's, WPI, which 'open majors' where there were no requirement and the classes were pass/fail. The lack of formal accountability in the course area was balanced by the institution of three faculty-mentored independent study and an oral competency exam from a faculty board. The poly-technic institute experience was akin to a high-level vocational program which valued hands-on learning and demonstrated proficiency over formal book-learning, and resonates with the ideas of free-thinkers and self-made men (women).
ReplyDeleteAlas, the non-system, the WPI Plan, was on its last legs in 1985 due to the threat of non-accreditation by the college authority, and push-back from parents that the education was unrecognized and non-transferable and non-comparable with other traditional institutions.
When I look back at all my education, the experiences that most stick with me where the ones that produced something large, tangible and objectively valuable (having intrinsic merit) as a by-product, such as a research paper or thesis paper or production-grade computer program. The point being was that it was the extensive, mentored effort at delivering something significant through an end to end process of design, construct, review iterations that had to meet a real-world bar - this "labor" over time was the realization of the instruction.
This "supervised labor to delivery of significant things" is what seems to be missing from any easy and convenient open-house of content.
I think William makes a good point about mentored learning on significant projects. I'm currently writing a collection of poetry and working with a faculty member who helps me revise my poems. I predict it will be one of the most significant experiences of my undergraduate education.
ReplyDeleteWith the resources available on the net,it could definitely be possible to set up meaningful mentored learning relationships with experts or experienced enthusiasts online. That's probably one of the relatively untapped possibilities for online learning. It would be great to see a website aimed at connecting mentors and mentees. I can see how mentored learning could enhance and complement the valuable peer learning that goes on in many open online learning models.