Hi Leigh, Thanks for that very well-considered post. I like the flipped classroom concept as well. Would you mind if I forwarded your email around to other people and lists?
Thanks! Pine On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 9:56 AM, Leigh Thelmadatter <[email protected]> wrote: > If you think of "education" as the provision of information, then yes, the > Internet is "replacing teachers". However, it is really not doing anything > different than books, video and audio; none of which has replaced teachers. > > There is a social component to education, the interaction with those who > have more experience and yes, knowledge, that a computer cannot match. Even > with a memorization-heavy subject like history, you still need a teacher, > if for nothing else, to help sift through and analyze the mass of > information and interpretations now available. > > Remember, we went through similar predictions with videotaped lessons, > before that, televised lessons and even before that, correspondence > courses. However, the completion rate on these are dismal, because people > need interaction and structure at the very least. > > Rather than thinking of technology as replacing teachers, it is radically > challenging teachers and educational institutions, not so much because that > it is providing information in a radically different way, but because > information is now ubiquitous. If teachers and schools dont exist simply to > provide a set of information to learn, what should we be doing? There is no > clear answer, but from experience, I do know it will require being a LOT > more active and interactive than it used to be. If students are going to > plunk money down for formal education, those hours in the classroom need to > count for a lot more than they use to. > > As for Wikipedia, I dont see the educational value in it so much as the > technology, but rather that it provides an opportunity for students to > "apprentice" especially from my point of view as a language teacher. > Students are creating and modifying texts, which are not simple exercises > but the "real thing" with real consequences. And not just texts, but other > forms of media such as video and digital animation.... Wiki Learning is > doing a couple projects of this type as we speak now. > > However, none of this indicates that working with Wikipedia means a purely > online environment. Perhaps just the opposite. Creating Wikipedia content > is not drill-work,but rather so-very human. With its mass of rules and > norms, the involvement of someone who has experience becomes more > essential. This is why very few new editors stick around and why the > Education Program has the concept of Campus Ambassadors. > > IMHO, technology is best used in these situations: to take drill work out > of the classroom, to take lecture out of the classroom (flipped classroom) > and to allow students to do activities that before were not possible > before. Wikipedia fits in the last category, because perhaps its greatest > contribution to education is allowing students to publish work for the > world to see within a community that is outside campus. > > Leigh > > > > ------------------------------ > Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 08:30:06 -0700 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected]; [email protected]; > [email protected] > Subject: [Wikimedia Education] Wikipedia's role in Internet-based education > > > I'm interested in hearing experienced educators' and researchers' thoughts > about what roles Wikipedia, and Internet-based learning in general, can and > can't do well. > > Articles for consideration: > > > http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0608-godsey-altschool-teachers-20150608-story.html > > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/04/technology-wont-fix-americas-neediest-schools-it-makes-bad-education-worse/ > > What does Wikipedia education do well, and what doesn't it do well? > > Is Wikipedia-based education amplifying the learning of students who are > likely to be from highly resourced schools? > > Do we have evidence that Wikipedia based education has outcomes for > students that are similar to, or better than, other kinds of online > learning? > > How can we offer a service that is widely beneficial for students and > teachers with limited technological resources? Or should we not try because > of the additional challenges? > > Thanks, > > Pine > > _______________________________________________ Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > >
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