23rd November 2008

I have uploaded some pictures into flickr of my first experience of teaching in main stream schools for you to have a look at me, in the front of a class. Wow it’s me!

In response to your comments about writing on the wall, I would love to write on my walls, so you are very lucky. If I lived on my own, my walls would be covered in scribblings that help me sort out my jumbled-up brain. I also liked how you highlighted how long we have to complete the next task. Letting me how long I have complete a task is very useful, so thank you for that.

On reflection, this delay in not contributing earlier, may have helped me to define authentic and active learning more clearly for me.

I would define authentic learning as genuine learning. Has the learner learned something that they did not know/understand before? In creating my learning object I used http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ to support my own authentic learning in how to be a teacher. The website helped me focus on how to teach the children key points that were the underlying objective of the learning object and helped me to understand that the learning object is just the path chosen by the teacher to access those objectives.

Now I can appreciate much more you asking these two questions and can see you are asking me to take part in authentic learning through active learning in searching and reflecting, my answers to you.

From working with the children this week, which was quite a wonderful and enriching experience for me. I think it taught me that most learners want to actively learn. Give them a task and they will fulfil it.

The trick I think, which is what I think great teachers have, is to make the task stimulating and enjoyable and very simply produce authentic learning that goes beyond the original task – transformative learning.

Having my my own learning object to make has enabled by to conclude, that I think you spend much more time supporting our learning than Theo does. I also know that a five minute video created by you to introduce a subject and summarise it, takes much longer to create than Theo’s fifteen minute round up in our face-to-face meetings. So I thank you for your efforts, of which I am only just beginning to appreciate fully. Thanks Simon.

Thinking about a 100% online module. It takes time to get used to no face-to-face contact at all and I must admit I prefer your videos in conjunction with the forums. I think this is because video fits into the traditional way of face-to-face contact.

Now, I can feel you smile and wanting to question me. – “In what way is a digital video made thousands of miles away in an asynchronistic virtual learning environment, the same as face-to-face contact”

And now I shake my head and say, “oh boy, I set myself up right there, just up Simon’s street for a conversation about what constistutes face-to-face contact.”

I would direct you to the learninghouse website which describes it so well.

“By watching pre-recorded clips or video demonstrations, students are able to notice the subtle nuances of movement or voice tones and draw a more concrete understanding of a lecture or lab demonstration.”

I think this is why websites such as YouTube and Video Google have become so popular. It can be much more interesting and unexpected than text alone. Praise from you smiling, is much better than text and a smiley face symbol.

I hope that you would consider my learning has been not only authentic, but also active and thanks to your support, I can now appreciate it myself. Lynn.