Written on 9:36 AM by Christian Olson
Recently I've been reading articles on learning gains and obstacles with different graphics types (still, video/animation, interactive, etc) and I had a thought occur to me: Why on earth do theorist and researchers feel the need to use their own terminology for everything? For example, many try to tell me that group learning is completely different from cooperative learning. Or that iterative evaluation is nowhere near the same as formative evaluation. There may be slight differences or nuances in each term, but, in essence, they are the same thing.
Now you may ask yourself: Christian, why does it matter? You might be thinking: he obviously is a beginning grad student and doesn't understand the obvious differences in [x]. Well.. that's the problem. Terminology is used to define, categorize, and communicate ideas and thoughts to others. If you are only communicating to you and your lackeys, then you have failed in your purpose as a educational professional. Sitting in your lab doing research on your pet project doesn't help anyone unless that research can help steer education towards progress or away from disaster.
If you still think that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, then I encourage you to take a class you teach or design (or a similar class). Look around and observe the students taking the class. Talk with them and evaluate their progress. They spend the first half of the semester learning the teaching style and teacher. That means half of the class is wasted trying to get up to speed with the teacher. Then the teacher is frustrated that the learners aren't "getting it."
What if, instead, that learners when from classes in their field and had the exact same terminology. That would speed up every aspect of learning. The closest teachers come to this now is: Remember in Learning Theory when we talked about Piaget? CIP? Constructivism? PBL? Anchored Instruction? This is meant to build upon what the learner's knowledge base, but it is to late. They spent 95% of their time building a whole to base, leaving the learners to make their own connections (often times those connections lead to erroneous thought).
What do you think? Am I off-base still or should I start planning Ed-Terminology-Definition 2009? (By the way, getting researchers to agree on words is another big problem, but I'll tackle that later. Admitting you have a problem is the first step)
Posted in
confusion,
denition,
learner,
teacher,
terminology
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Written on 12:22 PM by Christian Olson
I'm entering in my final year of my Masters degree and suddenly I'm filling the pressures of choosing what I want to do when I grow up. This is quite challenging for me since I feel that I would like/succeed at whatever type of Inst. Tech that I embark on. Still, I'm waiting for the job posting that says, "Wanted: Someone who does everything and enjoys whatever we want him to do." Usually the job duties require specific skills or qualifications.
This leaves me with a dilemma, I'm in my last year of schooling and I need to decide in order to tailor my class schedule, internship, resume, etc. It seems like now is the perfect time to do that. However, it is harder than it seems.
There are basically four choices: 1) University, 2) Government, 3) Business, 4) K-12. If there are more, then I'd certainly like to hear about them, but these are the areas of which I'm aware. Each has fairly different pluses and minuses and I think that I'd succeed in whatever one I choose. Again, the problem is making that ultimate decision.
So I'm soliciting your help, Blog-o-sphere! I want to know your thoughts about this. Do you have experience in these sectors? Do you have great advice? Do you have any job/internships available for education/training? Anyway, help is being solicited!
Posted in
career,
choice,
desicion,
help
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Written on 2:23 PM by Christian Olson
I recently read a great article about a college campus that completely switched to E-books. This article fascinates me. I think the greatest quote from the article is:
"We've had all four of the major textbook publishers on campus, and all of them want to get on board because they sense that this is their General Motors moment," said Mr. Hubbard earlier this semester, when I sat down with him in his office. Like the auto giant, he said, publishers must adapt or head for bankruptcy. (4th Paragraph)
What do you think? Is this really a GM moment for them-adapt of go bankrupt. I happen to agree. I think that if the textbook publishers get on board and stop fighting progress, then college can take a step into the 20th Century .
That said, I'm would be wary if my university adopted a new Kindle-like technology that was barely in its Beta stage. I've been in too many classes where the "amazing new software" ends up being a nightmare.
Still, could you imagine paying $50/semester (or less) on books instead of $300? Plus, all your books are neatly organized on your reading device, so you don't have to carry around huge piles of verbage. That sounds amazing to me.
Anyway, I'm wondering if any of you have thoughts on this. What do you think? Is this the new wave or the next laserdisc?
Posted in
college,
e-learning,
kindle,
textbooks,
university
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