As Kotkamp states in the "Digital Objects" article, "learning is not a stable process that starts and ends with clarity and security" (67). I experience this weekly doing homework for this class. Wrestling with my own lack of tech sophistication, and a driving resistance to all this electronic stuff, I am well acquainted with the "uncertainty and disturbance" of learning that she speaks.
Anyway, I liked that both Kotkamp and Coopman hold a favorable slant towards e-learning, while questioning the usability of the available software. As a student, I have found Blackboard frustrating, pointless, and repetitive. I could never figure out why we had a class discussion on-line, and then another on the exact same subject in class.
So, it strikes me that part of the dilemma with e-learning lies not only with the availability of software that facilitates an appropriate power-balance between teacher and student, encouraging participation and mutual knowledge sharing, but also in developing a curriculum that makes use of electronic tools while not attempting to replicate, or replace, the classroom environment. Maybe keep classroom discussions in the classroom, and use e-learning tools for what they are. Instead of trying to replace lectures, we should supplement them with electronic assignments--have students create blogs, like we're doing for this class, and use them as a learning diary. Or, instead of, or in addition to, an essay, they do a multi-media or Powerpoint presentation requiring the same amount of research and effort. Or have a separate, on-line segment of course work for small-group projects.
If the goal is learning, maybe we need to shift our focus to a more inclusive one that allows us to make use of the powerful tool that the computer is, in the best way possible. Maybe hold on to some of the traditional stuff that has worked for decades (lectures and essays are powerful tools, too!), and instead of having a classroom vs. the computer perspective, harness the potential for both.
Just off the top of my head...
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I agree. I think too many times designers try to simulate "real-world" experiences. I.e. that they contain new media's potential within this urge to verisimilitude - - trying to do the same old thing in forms and media that are not the same as the same old things. In fact, this is a persistent dilemma within educational technology and tech in general - - i.e. how disruptive technology should be versus how continuous (with the past, the familiar, etc.) it should be.
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