Finally got around to listening to this. It's good. It's nascent, but maybe that's why I love it so much:
http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/10-minute-lecture-george-siemens-curatorial-teaching/
It's not a total solution to the sage-on-the-stage v. guide-on-the-side but it's a great rethinking, and it's very practical to implement.
It's also refreshing that Siemens approach is not kick-against-the-pricks* (an approach I'm often guilty of) -- his approach respects that there is not here a complete historical break with previous teaching, but an accenting of things that were always a part of good instruction, and now need to be accentuated because of the realities of a highly networked world.
*Note on the phrase "kick against the pricks": Since it seems this phrase is less known than I thought...."Kick against the pricks" is a Biblical phrase meaning roughly "rebel against authority despite immense pain". It comes from a metaphor involving oxen and sharp pointy sticks. Kicking against the pricks represents an ideological yet futile rebellion against authority for the sake of doing the right thing, rather than out of hope of possible success.
It comes to me not through the Bible, but through the awesomeness of Nick Cave.
1 comments
Checked this out after you mentioned it today. I'd like to hear - or see - a more detailed example of an actual course or lesson taught with this method. I always get lost in that gap between teaching theory and practice.
It reminds me a little of the cooperative learning movement that was in vogue when I was in grad school, where the teacher facilitates small groups, gives them a project to do and stands back in a support role. In an online classroom, however, it seems like the student has more responsibility to participate since the teacher isn't standing over their shoulder to make sure they're engaged. If the student doesn't participate, how does it affect the rest of the lesson/students?
Interesting.
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