I am your friend. I don’t work in education. You are talking to me about the idea that we all learn from each other, in all kinds of contexts, and that this can often be richer than more formal classroom based learning. I am sceptical. Tell me about an informal learning experience you have had online in which collaboration was involved, show me a concrete example to help me to see what you mean.
¿Did you know that I already finished my degree on “Program of educational update” at the university? It was a nice experience! I learn so much and I spent a wonderful time with people from another cities and professions. My boss told me a year ago that I had to do this course because I am engineer and not a graduate teacher, so, if I want to become a professor and get a better pay, I needed to know about educational methologies, theories, strategies, and how to do education planning. I searched for a course at the university (they are the people who offers it) but I wasn’t able to do it because my time, I couldn’t go two hours every day to the university, you know… my family and my work don´t let me the time that I need for formal classroom based learning!
Suddenly, the university offered this course like a virtual activity, using a virtual classroom (e-learning software platform also known as a Course Management System, or Learning Management Systems-LMS)… it was the solution to my work problem, I got very excite and I finally do it. I had to improve my writing and reading skills and I had to do a lot of research, but it was fun because a meet a lot of people from other cities and others activities. We learn a lot from each other, we shared different teaching strategies and we spend a lot of time in our activities. We created groups and we used chats, forums and e-mail to communicate between us, we proposed a final activity and we did a short class using our web-cam. It was amazing to see us every night in our virtual space and to share experiences and new researches about different topics.
I know that you don’t like virtual experiences, you prefer traditional courses but the virtuality is a great opportunity for those persons who want to be update or want to have a better education or different learning experiences, besides, we must have Internet and virtual experiences in these days because our lives have technology everywhere. We must know how to use it and how to be useful with technology, don’t you think? Or do I have to remind you that you can get help in your work, with your health, with your education, cooking recipes or any type of information using Internet forums or searching web sites like Google? These days, we must know the technology and we must work as much as possible with these possibilities…
We all explore new technologies, some grab our attention more than others, some seem revolutionary, others simply bore us. Tell us about that new tool, or set of tools, you have just discovered that really excites you, talk about the potential it has to change your work. What do you want to do with it?
Management system like moodle, Dokeos or webCT. They are the best, I have been able to work with them and it is a good experience. I am very excite about second life, I have no idea how to use it but I know that the students will be interest it because they like to try new things, new environments and a new way to do what they have to do, besides, they already talk about. It is like a face book, most of the students have an account in face book and they share their pictures and experiences. I also think that second life may be good tools to get involve the female group in some cases to use the technology. As a teacher, I see constantly that a women don’t like as the men to be involve in the technology world, perhaps, if we use different tools where the women can be like we (female) want to be, in the environment that we like and doing what we think is fun, I think that it may be a way to participate in the Internet.
Do you see yourself as a pioneer? Do you think you are more innovative than others in your organisation? Do you think your organisation is lagging behind? Tell us how you feel about this?
I don’t see me like a pioneer in this moment because I am not “jet” in second life world, but I see myself like a good technology user. My organization works with technology but they use the “common” stuff, we are computer programmers but we write administrative programs. In another hand, I use a moodle platform at the university as a teacher or like a student. If I see around myself I see too much people using wonderful tools and having a good performance with the technology. I hope to become a pioneer having the muvenation experience with all of you…
