Hi Leigh In practical terms -- can you describe the teaching-learning system you envisage in terms of the functions of teaching and elements of the system. I'm not sure that I understand what you are talking about.
Cheers Wayne On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 14:21 +1100, Leigh Blackall wrote: > I'm not convinced we are pioneers at all. Illich is significant to me > not for hi Deschooling Society, but for his vision of learning webs. > As he describes it (in chapter 6 I think), Bolivia was rolling out OER > in the form of television. The cost of television back then meant that > Bolivia could afford 1 tv per 5000 Bolivians. Illich proposed a > networked communication through audio cassette recordings. At the > time, he proposed that Bolivia could afford 1 cassette recorder per 5 > Bolivians > with enough money left over to set up a postal service to facilitate > the exchange of audio recordings being sent in by farmers and kids. He > was talking about audio blogging, where today the cost of achieving > what Illich envisioned is greatly reduced for us in the wealthy > economies, but still impossible for your average Bolivian I guess. > Even with OLPCs the difficulty of using a cassette recorder and postal > service compared to an OLPC is laughable. > > Illich was talking about networked learning, without the middle man. > Our OER efforts, and especially the production of text books with > "learning design" interwoven is more broadcast, middle man OER like > Bolivia's TV idea, distance learning, and to some extent the OLPCs.. > nothing new at all. The only thing "new" in it is the copyright and > the technology.. and seeing your historical reference predates modern > history Wayne, even our new approach to copyright is nothing new. > > Peter Rawsthorne and James Neill have been talking about student > generated content initiaties on Wikieducator for quite some time, and > in many regards this is similar to networked learning accept that it > tends to focus on a demographic we call students, that is typically > made up in crude class systems like K12 and everything in between - > leaving out the contributions that someone outside that class might > have to offer - such as traditional, subsistance, local even mystical. > > I'd hazard a guess that the funding is easily geared towards text > books. They are tangible and have established processes and protocols. > But this doesn't make it a good idea. A text book with "learning > designed" in it, over powers so much of what might be otherwise > possible. A straight text with a range of culturally appropriate > "learning design" held seperately would be far more scalable and > versatile. Especially with strong learning networks around each text. > Strong networks like in Wikibooks and blogs for example, or any number > of offline networks > > Better would be a straight text with a learning network to go with it. > In the poorer countries this is obviously not through the Internet and > computers, but the ideas and models we have through the Internet could > inform new approaches to radio, newspaper, telephone, and postal > services.. even distance learning. > > On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Wayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Leigh > > > > On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 08:57 +1300, Leigh Blackall wrote: > > > Illich's Learning Webs idea for Bolivia, cited in his book > > Deschooling Society - predating ODL, ignoring "instructional > > design", and predicting post industrial society enabled by > > networked communications. Illich was interested in networked > > communications empowering subsistance living. > > Illich's Deschooling Society is a seminal text and is a highly > recommended read for those dabbling in the future of OER. > > On a minor historical technicality ;-) Illich's Deschooling > Society did not predate the practice, research and publication > in the field of DE/ODL. I believe Deschooling Society was > published in 1971. Their are published references on DE > dating back to 1728. However mainstream DE research as a field > of research endeavour started appearing in the literature in > the early 1950's. This followed the inception of the world's > first single-mode distance education university which began > teaching in 1946 --- (The University of South Africa). The > detail of the actual dates is not too relevant -- but rather > the era in which these publications emerged. > > Deschooling Society was published shortly after the peak of > industrialisation after the second world war. DE/ODL is in > fact a consequence of the industrialisation of society. DE > delivery was not possible before the invention of the printing > press and universal postal services. It's also interesting to > note that Illich's text was published shortly after the > student revolts of the 1960s and should be read within this > context. > > Illich was not the only author commenting or "predicting" on > the emergence of post-industrial society. For example, Daniel > Bell's text on "The Coming of Post-industrial Society" > published around the same time. The notion of > "post-industrial" society was a pretty topical issue of the > time. The Fordist versus Post-Fordist debate has been well > documented in the DE literature (including for example: > Raggart, Rumble, Farnes, Edwards etc.) > > Discontinuity theory is a contested concept in sociological > terms --- Is post-industrial society fundamentally different > from industrial society, or is it more of the same? Personally > -- I buy into the theory of discontinuity which would argue > that the networked world is structurally different, but at the > same time I err on the side of caution with regards to how OER > is unfloding on our planet. I see many promising projects > (WikiEducator included) - but there is still lots of work for > us to do before OER becomes the default approach to education. > > Its going to be up to us to turn tommorrow's promise for OER > into today's reality! > > It's fun being a pioneer! > > > > Cheers > Wayne > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > -- > Leigh Blackall > +64(0)21736539 > skype - leigh_blackall > SL - Leroy Goalpost > http://learnonline.wordpress.com > http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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