My Musings:
I have to say that I am always intrigued when I read a post by Tony Bates, and this week, while scanning through material on Open Education and OERs, I somehow took a slightly ‘rhizhomatic’ detour in my learning. Bates’ post: The world’s largest supplier of free online learning? caught my attention. What fascinated me about the post was that I had never heard of ALISON.com, the world’s largest supplier of free online learning. ALISON, according to Bates’ post, is “the world’s leading free online learning resource for basic and essential workplace skills. ALISON provides …. interactive multimedia courseware for certification and standards-based learning.” I can’t help but wonder … How many teachers use this resource?
Interestingly enough, although the post was written in 2012, comments and dialogue between Bates and a global audience continue to occur (the last comment was posted two days ago). As noted in David Wiley’s Keynote on Open Education, you can’t plan all types of interactions. These interactions occur thanks to the affordances of ‘Connecting and Openness’ (possible because of the Web). The dialogue on Bates’ post is a perfect example of the power of an authentic ‘open’ audience and a connected world.
So, with all the data we have at our fingertips, and with students telling us what they want and need to learn (i.e., to achieve their career goals), are educators part of an education system that is struggling to be relevant … a system that is perhaps driven by outdated policy, as noted by Wiley? What do you think?
I have to say that I am always intrigued when I read a post by Tony Bates, and this week, while scanning through material on Open Education and OERs, I somehow took a slightly ‘rhizhomatic’ detour in my learning. Bates’ post: The world’s largest supplier of free online learning? caught my attention. What fascinated me about the post was that I had never heard of ALISON.com, the world’s largest supplier of free online learning. ALISON, according to Bates’ post, is “the world’s leading free online learning resource for basic and essential workplace skills. ALISON provides …. interactive multimedia courseware for certification and standards-based learning.” I can’t help but wonder … How many teachers use this resource?
Interestingly enough, although the post was written in 2012, comments and dialogue between Bates and a global audience continue to occur (the last comment was posted two days ago). As noted in David Wiley’s Keynote on Open Education, you can’t plan all types of interactions. These interactions occur thanks to the affordances of ‘Connecting and Openness’ (possible because of the Web). The dialogue on Bates’ post is a perfect example of the power of an authentic ‘open’ audience and a connected world.
So, with all the data we have at our fingertips, and with students telling us what they want and need to learn (i.e., to achieve their career goals), are educators part of an education system that is struggling to be relevant … a system that is perhaps driven by outdated policy, as noted by Wiley? What do you think?
“Networked Educators Meeting Networked Students” by Catherine Cronin: CC BY-SA 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catherinecronin/9625533767/in/set-72157627544596493
Building on original Networked Teacher by Alec Couros: www.flickr.com/photos/courosa/2922421696/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catherinecronin/9625533767/in/set-72157627544596493
Building on original Networked Teacher by Alec Couros: www.flickr.com/photos/courosa/2922421696/