Jane had so many thought provoking statements in her keynote! I had to jot down a few before they were lost. Do you have more to add to the list?
"We can't talk about dialogue." (an analogy: "We can't talk about love.")
"We usually have too much what for our when."
"We're not in charge of what learning occurs, we're in charge of what teaching occurs."
"Never do for a learner what a learner can do for herself."
I don't know whether all my Jane quotes come from the keynote but here's a few:
Our job is "only connect".
The dialogue is among learners of whom the teacher is one.
If there's learning happening the teacher should get out of the way.
Evaluation is finding out how they know they know. We don't assess learners; we assess the learning.
On power - We don't EMpower we Epower. That is, we turn the lights on and evoke the power. We don't empower or put the power in.
I was just chatting with my colleague Mil Juricic at NVIT about our experiences at the Symposium and he reminded me of another quote from Jane's talk:
Now doesn't that leave you with one of those moments where you shake your head and then say, ahhhh... I think I get it!
The more you plan, the more room you leave for spontaneity.
Now doesn't that leave you with one of those moments where you shake your head and then say, ahhhh... I think I get it!
Hello Sylvia,
This is funny- please see my post (of yesterday) on the same topic.
You must have caught my thoughts flying through the virtual big-brain!
Joan.
Hey! And now reading your post, Joan, I think you've matched what Heather Ryan has stated in the Making it work with large classes thread :
And while reading your phrasing "the more structured the design, the greater the potential for constructive spontaneity" I had a flashback to Jane's reluctance to use "plan", which is the word I used. (Can someone remind me why?) Thoughts are flying around the virtual big brain and lost thoughts are resurfacing!
"...once
you dive in and give up some of the control (not all though because
there is a skeleton of concepts and elements on OH's or powerpoint that
guide direction), you feel freer than the time and resourcing limits
imposed by typical classes."
And while reading your phrasing "the more structured the design, the greater the potential for constructive spontaneity" I had a flashback to Jane's reluctance to use "plan", which is the word I used. (Can someone remind me why?) Thoughts are flying around the virtual big brain and lost thoughts are resurfacing!
Just read Heather's post. I confess I've not surveyed all discussion lines. I'm finding it cumbersome moving around this website- my computer takes too many moments to bring me where I want to go every time I click the mouse. Anyone else having that problem?
I think Jane preferred the concept of a course 'design' over a 'plan' because it suggests fluidity and flexibility. 'Plan' sounds more rigid, results oriented while a 'design' is more like a work in process, and sounds more 'creative' I guess. But actually I don't think there's a huge difference. Depends on what one's concept of a 'plan' is, doesn't it? Anyone else? Did I miss something?
By the way, I went to the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology website that you referred to (because your friend from there had mentioned the topic at hand)- what a great looking website!
Joan
In reply to Joan Higgs
Picking up on Joan's comment about finding SCoPE cumbersome
by Sylvia Currie -
Joan says: I'm finding it cumbersome moving around this website- my computer takes
too many moments to bring me where I want to go every time I click the
mouse. Anyone else having that problem?
I'm so glad you brought this up, Joan. I'm always curious to hear back about experiences here in SCoPE. I'd be very interested in hearing from others on this as well! I'll contact you by email if that's okay so I can understand the issue better. Maybe it's something we can fix.
Sylvia
(scurrie@sfu.ca)
I'm so glad you brought this up, Joan. I'm always curious to hear back about experiences here in SCoPE. I'd be very interested in hearing from others on this as well! I'll contact you by email if that's okay so I can understand the issue better. Maybe it's something we can fix.
Sylvia
(scurrie@sfu.ca)