Confession time: reading this third of Weller’s book made me nostalgic. I started getting into publishing and sharing content online during a time when most spaces I engaged with were filled with people using social media and blogging for good. So my reflections in this post draw on some of those experiences.
From ivory tower to online community
One lesson from 2002 to 2011 that has immediate relevance is how blogs and social media enabled greater access to information and learning opportunities. In Chapter 10, there is a fulsome discussion of how the advent of blogs gave academics and other public intellectuals the ability to share their work outside the traditional confines of the ivory tower and perhaps a pathway out of the dreaded “publish or perish” option for those in academia. I have benefitted from the ideas and teachings from those who have chosen to maintain an active presence on social media and give freely of their knowledge online – perhaps because they see it as a privilege and a duty to contribute to civil society. Current toxicity online notwithstanding (cue sad music here), I think this kind of knowledge and information sharing by reputable, credible experts is needed more than ever.
Hmmmm….are we really ready for this?
One of my other professional hats is contract instructor in higher education where I work for a teaching-focussed, public polytechnic university in the lower mainland of British Columbia. As I read Chapter 16 about Personalized Learning Environments, I thought of the well-intentioned goals of seeking to provide learners with experiences tailored to their individual needs. However, anyone who has experience with public, accredited post-secondary schools will tell you that getting a course from conception to open for registration is not an easy feat. Between acquiring Senate approval for the course, identifying learning outcomes, and aligning the course with appropriate skills and knowledge, it is a lot. Throw in varying levels of language proficiency, pre-requisite skills, and learning styles, and you have a very challenging threshold for scaling Personalized Learning Environments in this kind of environment.
References: Weller, M. (2020). 25 Years of Ed Tech. Athabasca University Press