Elizabeth Wallace

Hi Cindy:

Perhaps we're all just quietly thinking about this complex question about the nature of online dialogue. Personally, I still shake my head in wonder everytime I stop to think about this brave new world online. The fact that I can talk to almpst anyone, almost anywhere using a machine on my desk which shows me pictures and words, plays me music and videos (and of course spams me) is truly amazing, and we take it too much for granted.

To comment on the "dialogue" word in the title of this seminar, I'd like to play Devil's Advocate, and question whether dialogue is actually what we do online. Jane Vella's work on Dialogue Education comes to mind here.  Here's the link to some resources in SCoPE related to the Teaching and Learning Readers' Group which discussed her book Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach (2002): http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/resource/view.php?id=460

In her book, Jane points out that "Dia means 'between', logos means 'word'. Hence. dia + logue = 'the word between us " (p. 3).  It occurs to me that in an online environment there are many things that can create "noise" between us (or among a lot of us) which can interfere with the clarity of the dialogue. The noise can be external events, internal pre-occupations, the sound of construction outside my window, or the weak wireless connection that causes my words to be lost. In f2f dialogue, the noise can be mitigated by reading body language or hearing tone of voice.

So perhaps we need to come up with a different word for what happens online instead of dialogue.  What happens in a virtual world is much more than the word between us. Who will lead the parade to come up with a new term?

Welcome to the discussion forum on the text for the readers' group gathering of April 26th, 2007, in the Halpern Centre at Simon Fraser University.

Huber surfaces the problem that faculty members in every research university face: the challenge of juggling the demands of research and teaching. She provides insights into how those demands are managed, by introducing four case studies. The stories tell of professors who have made a scholarly study of their own teaching in psychology, chemistry, engineering and literature.

As you read the case studies, and Huber's interlaced chapters on the nature of the scholarship of teaching and learning, which of the comments and experiences resonate for you as you think about your own teaching?  Do the strategies used by the four professors parallel any of your own approaches to studying your own teaching? What ideas are you taking away from the text?

Just a note to thank Theresa for her kind words about what Sylvia and I are doing. It's no secret that Sylvia is the creative genius behind SCoPE. As I've said many times, I just run around trying to keep up with her.

However, I will mention that one of my major tasks at the moment is building the infrastructure that keeps SCoPE going. All the participants in this forum can help by sending suggestions to Sylvia, and of course by being actively engaged. You may have noticed that we have over 800 members in SCoPE now, and there are many "regulars" already signed up for this conversation. Your support is very much appreciated.

Through my working relationship with Therese, I've come to understand her passion for virtual worlds, and from her complimentary comments about Tia, I'm sure they will make wonderful leaders for the seminar. I know everyone will have a lot of fun in the next three weeks and you can be sure I'll be following along. Let the games begin!

Liz

Thank you to everyone who joined in our conversation about Freire at the Halpern Centre at SFU on March 29.  It was inspiring to hear the exchanges between experienced faculty and new instructors over the challenges of "educating for freedom" which Paulo urges us to do in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Many thanks to SFU's Media Services for obtaining the recordings made at U of T, with Alan Thomas and Roby Kidd speaking with Paulo Freire when he visited in 1979.  The news is that the two DVDs (Letters in the Earth and Becoming a Christian) have been purchased and are in fact part of SFU's library collection although they were so new they hadn't been catalogued when I showed them to the group. They will be catalogued by the first week of April, so available to be borrowed after that. A copy of the videotape, Guns and Pencils, will be added to the collection soon.

I'm adding to this forum a copy of the questions that I circulated with regard to the Forewords and Chapters 1,3,4. If they are useful for any of your teaching and learning activities, please use them freely.  Our discussion on the relevance of Paulo's comments in Chapter 2 to our work at SFU was most interesting, and I hope everyone will continue to reflect on the messages in that chapter.

I welcome comments here, not only from the educators who joined us on the hill, but from anyone who is interested in the writings of Paulo Freire and their relevance to education in the 21st century.

Liz

Sylvia: All good ideas.

However, I think you should also have a space where we can list the various conferences and meetings that we attend and where people can meet with us to talk about SCoPE. For example, you have already made a presentation in the 2007 Northern Voice, and willl be at the Moodle Moot in Alberta. I made a presentation in Vancouver at the UCIPE Network, and will be presenting in Sydney, Australia in July. You just sent me an email list of places you are going and things you are producing to promote SCoPE.

Sylvia, apart from making explicit how visible SCoPE is becoming on an international scale, I think this will help the SFU administration in their decision making about support for SCoPE.

Liz