Take a deep breath Selwyn its going to be ok!!

Wow!!! What a Reading! Tony was right this article by Selwyn is definitely full on and very conflicting to the way many of people in education feel about e-learning.

As a child who began school in the mid 1980's and completed my high school education in 2000, I have personal relationship with the points made at the beginning of this reading. I agree with Selwyn (2008) when he points out there has been distinct mediocrity with the eduction technologies of the 1980's and 90's promising much but delivering little in the way of sustainable educational change.
As a guinea pig of the new technologies in education at this time and the new curriculum framework of the 90's I understand Selwyn's frustration that the re-launch of often indistinguishable national policies and local initiatives hard to swallow. However while children of this time may not have had the greatest access to new technologies and the clarity over assessment, teaching curriculum and vision for the future of NZ schools may not have been the greatest, one clear positive has come forth.

Through this time teachers began to explore, imagine and wonder about a world of technology enhancing devices. And while this may be a bit holistic in view it has allowed teachers from the traditional ways of teaching slowly accept new approaches and ways to teach.

Another area that Selwyn challenges and I must agree with is; while money has been thrown at e-learning in many ways the lack of a collaborative shared vision from the beginning has left the infrastructure and hardware in schools lacking and the software provided limiting. Thus the introduction of the private sector and control had by these companies when informing and supplying schools.

Although while Selwyn makes some understandable and justified points I would have to disagree when he now claims the e-learning could now be seen as just the implantation of computers into the classroom, and current teachers/schools are still unsure, and many are somewhat sceptical, as to why they have computers in their classroom in the first place. I believe this view is narrow minded and does not show a clear representation of how e-learning is now taking place in 2009 across NZ and asks the question "when was the last time you taught in a classroom????"

In summary while agreeing with many points about lack of vision, continuous changes to policy and lack of the basics when developing a e-learning world, it must have been hard for those first involved in introduction. To think they were creating policies and convincing teachers, schools, communities and politicians that e-learning was the way to go when only 1 in 10 people had access to a PC and the idea of broadband was just a dream. I think Selwyn needs to take a chill pill and focus his energy on how policy can enhance e-learning and not stay dwelling on what has been.


Selwyn, D. (2008). Business as usual? Exploring the continuing (in)significance of e-learning policy drive. Computers in New Zealand Schools, 20(3), 22��4�

Reflection

Over the past few weeks I have been reflecting on my e-learning /e-teaching practice and identifying what technology do I really use effectively, what has the biggest impact and how can I enhance my teaching through using this technology effectively.

Firstly I realised I am great at setting things up jumping on board the boat with very little idea where it is heading. While seeing many great tools and hardware out there I am often keen to give it a go.

So from this realisation I have decided that the most important thing for my style of teaching is computer time. My children need as much time in front of the machines as I can get them. This said being one class of 32 out of 1000 intermediate kids makes this very challenging.

So a few goals for me.... use my Mimio at all times when in the class - and get the kids using it in my rotations everyday not just now and then.
Intro kids to my class blog and get them to do this during class time as well as breaks.... and most importantly up date my wiki so parents and children are inform of what is and has been happening... photos for this is a must...

WOW so much to do!!! while e-learning is great for motivation, connecting learners and enhancing learning in the 21st century is definitely adds to ones workload hmmmm another thought to ponder!!!

Off to do more readings and find out how the rest of the world thinks and copes with e-learning 101.