Wendy & Jeffrey,
Thanks for your questions and your discussion. I'm giving these issues some thought (and am also teaching a seminar) this weekend. So I'll reply in much more detail over the next 24-48 hours; in the meantime, I thank you for your interest and your patience!
-Norm
Norm Friesen
Posts made by Norm Friesen
thanks for your interesting narrative regarding "technological change" in education, and your reflections about it, Susan.
I agree with your thinking that "capturing the first hand viewpoints of these stories would... have brought a deeper insight in the emergent struggles for adaptation of 'new technologies.'"
There are many ingrained ways of speaking, thinking and researching of/into technological change in education undermine and detract from what individual or group narratives can tell us. I try to highlight these in my book, and you identify one in your message: a focus on quantitative measures and the function of the technology (and on learning outcomes) to the exclusion of how teachers and students understood, adapted and integrated it into their practice. In the introduction to the book, I try to make the case that the multiple and complex nature of pedagogical and integration processes/activities means that we need a similarly nuanced and pluarlistic approach to research.
Important aspects of these questions are actually raised in greatest detail in the final chapter and topic for discussion in this seminar. (So there is no need to worry about adhering to a strict order in the discussion :-))
Cheers,
Norm
I agree with your thinking that "capturing the first hand viewpoints of these stories would... have brought a deeper insight in the emergent struggles for adaptation of 'new technologies.'"
There are many ingrained ways of speaking, thinking and researching of/into technological change in education undermine and detract from what individual or group narratives can tell us. I try to highlight these in my book, and you identify one in your message: a focus on quantitative measures and the function of the technology (and on learning outcomes) to the exclusion of how teachers and students understood, adapted and integrated it into their practice. In the introduction to the book, I try to make the case that the multiple and complex nature of pedagogical and integration processes/activities means that we need a similarly nuanced and pluarlistic approach to research.
Important aspects of these questions are actually raised in greatest detail in the final chapter and topic for discussion in this seminar. (So there is no need to worry about adhering to a strict order in the discussion :-))
Cheers,
Norm
Great to "meet" you Jeffrey. Your combination of background and interests sounds great. I think you will find the book speaks rather directly to these, and I'm glad to have you in the workshop!
-Norm
-Norm
Thanks for the kind introduction, Sylvia.
It is great to have the chance to be able to discuss some of the issues that I've felt passionately enough about to write about in my book.
I am grateful for the opportunity!
Of course the issues that I am most intensively concerned with is identified in the book's title (and in Sylvia's first question): What is e-learning research? How is it thought of, and why might it need to be re-thought?
I look at this question in the introductory chapter of my book (available online in the links provided). And I (try to) make the case that e-learning research is not or should not be one thing to all people. The main topics that are brought together in the phrase "e-learning research" include learning (and education), technology (the e- in e-learning) and knowledge and knowing (research). These are all pretty weighty, and don't necessarily add up to the same things for all viewpoints and interests concerned with e-learning.
At the same time, though, the meanings of "e-learning research" are not entirely a matter of arbitrary points of view. Education, learning, technology and research itself have all been written about extensively, and there are well-formulated conceptions of how they interconnect.
But I've said enough thus far. I'm looking forward to what others might have to say, ask about or comment on...
See you soon!
-Norm
It is great to have the chance to be able to discuss some of the issues that I've felt passionately enough about to write about in my book.
I am grateful for the opportunity!
Of course the issues that I am most intensively concerned with is identified in the book's title (and in Sylvia's first question): What is e-learning research? How is it thought of, and why might it need to be re-thought?
I look at this question in the introductory chapter of my book (available online in the links provided). And I (try to) make the case that e-learning research is not or should not be one thing to all people. The main topics that are brought together in the phrase "e-learning research" include learning (and education), technology (the e- in e-learning) and knowledge and knowing (research). These are all pretty weighty, and don't necessarily add up to the same things for all viewpoints and interests concerned with e-learning.
At the same time, though, the meanings of "e-learning research" are not entirely a matter of arbitrary points of view. Education, learning, technology and research itself have all been written about extensively, and there are well-formulated conceptions of how they interconnect.
But I've said enough thus far. I'm looking forward to what others might have to say, ask about or comment on...
See you soon!
-Norm