Encountering E-Learning Education

Image accessed from: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/image/images/saturn/saturn.gif

I was inspired by Jen’s reflection on her edublog entitled “But Miss, I want to go to America Today”. This blog posting arose from the NSW Public Schools newspaper “Side by Side”. Jen observed a surprising trend in the newspaper articles contained within “Side by Side”. A significant amount of content was devoted to evaluation and discussion about digital media in the classroom. The overarching opinion was for “a push for better use of technology” (Jen Yagar, 2008). Jen responded to my blog posting on Kath Cassidys podcast “Webtools for learning”. She commented on how imperative risk-taking is when teaching using ICTs. Perhaps this is the key to enabling better use of technology in the classroom as described in “Side by Side”. Whilst many classrooms may be equipped with a multiplicity of innovative and engaging technologies, the underlying problem may be an ineffective implementation of these tools. As I reflected in my earlier blog posting putting aside inhibitions and fears is often fundamental to effective teaching using technology. 

One new initiative mentioned in “Side by Side” is a new program “Connect Classrooms”. The author of the article claims that this program is “the biggest education transformation in decades” (Issue 15, February 2008). The focus for this program is collaborative learning within a networked community. This allows for students to experience virtual excursions globally or even universally. Jen indicates that this virtual world enables students to interact with their peers anywhere in Australia as well as speaking to experts in real time. Jen also discusses another new resource called “Skool”. This is an Australian web-based resource where students are educated through online stimuli primarily within a mathematic or scientific learning context.  

These resources appear to be invaluable classroom learning tools. They highlight the significant advantage of teaching using technologies which is global interactivity and the endless educational opportunities in an online, virtual world. Student’s can indeed say “But Miss, I want to visit America today” or indeed “But Miss, I want to visit Saturn today” because of the limitless online learning sphere provided by the internet and other technological software.

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