I second Bill's comments. Have also forwarded yours to friends in the California Faculty Association who are dealing with the online "learning" issue.
Larry Shute On 5/9/13 4:32 PM, William Quimby wrote: > Ooh! Well said! Especially the last line! This is a strong interest of > yours, right? Please develop it further - article? Book? > (Perhaps you can pull together some other PEN-L posts and create an > outline from that?) > > - Bill > > On 05/09/2013 3:36 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> With enough effort and discipline lots can be learned online. And > > yes, if I lived in some remote village with no school but access to > > the internet (interesting proposition) and a power supply, I might > > be interested in online learning. > > > > But to think of learning as the relationship between a learner and > > some given subject matter is profoundly distorting. > > > > Learning is first and foremost a relationship between two people. In > > the context of history, education is the relationship between one > > generation and the next. It is the generation of the parents telling > > the generation of the children what matters and why. They do this > > not only by defining curriculum, but by illustrating via their own > > commitment to the subject matter, why it matters, how it matters, > > when it matters....etc. > > > > Although teaching institutions are often built around hierarchies, > > dominance, and obedience, there is still in the experience of the > > classroom the reality as experienced by the students vs the reality > > of the teacher. And though it might not be expressed openly, and > > though it might not change teaching practice, there is an infinitely > > higher chance that it will change reality with face-to-face learning > > than with distance learning. At the very least, the political aspect > > of education is much more visible with the traditional model than > > with the online model. > > > > Much more can be said, but I'll only add that with the move to > > online learning, another massive expropriation of social space will > > have succeeded. And let's not kid ourselves; this will not happen > > because online learning is better. It will happen because it is yet > > another way to guarantee profits and to fragment and isolate the > > working class. There is both an economic and a political dimension to > > this move, and they are both horrendous. > > > > Online learning makes the structure of domination absolute, the > > prospect of appeal, unrealistic, and the likelihood of universal > > surveillance, a sure bet. > > > > Joanna > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
