Great thoughts by Kevin Fields and Kent Young.
My thought:
Thinking about Patricia M. King's and Karen Strohm Kitchener's great
book, Developing Reflective Judgment, as context; the word empathy comes
to mind. Specifically something that might be called introspective
empathy, i.e. being able to look at and debate your own thoughts from
the viewpoint of another/others, understanding the potential effects of
variously expressing them (or not), and adjusting (or maintaining) your
thinking and/or expression accordingly. This is one of the necessary
pre-cursors to higher order reflective judgement.
Considering that reflective judgement is both an outgrowth of
intellectual and social development, the question posed is important.
I would say that, just as Kent rightly says that how we approach the
classroom is important, so too is how we approach "Cyberia". Just as we
need people who are willing to define the optimal classroom environment,
we need people who can define optimal electronic instruction media
"behavior"/protocols. Specifically, I am thinking about environments
that encourage/support the freedom of free and open inquiry.
As far as learning about other cultures, I have learned a great deal
from another net by those willing to explain how they viewed and reacted
differently to US-centric comments.
I note with interest that in all the distant learning experiments on my
campus, in reading about others, and in participating on a few
discussion lists, I have not seen a reflective, intentional
list/presentation that gets to creating an environment in "Cyberia" that
encourages the open discourse needed for maximum academic/intellectual
development. The closest we get are technical rules given by list serve
managers, some occasional parent-child transactional analysis comments,
and some tranquility-shattering blasts from a curmudgeon or two. Brings
to mind how the Wild West must have been tamed. There is no "class"
time devoted to how to be sociable in "Cyberia" as if students should
just "know" how to do this based on chat room discussions on AOL and the
like.
Just as we can talk to students about non-academic socialization stuff,
we can do so in "Cyberia", too. But it takes an active decision to do
so.
So, until some real leadership emerges, Cyberia may well stunt the
socialization process. Although it does not have to be that way.
Ed
Drive On!
>>> Kevin Fields <
k.fields@BCFTCS.AC.UK> 02/09 4:17 AM >>>
Hi Kent - and others,
I was thinking more in terms of the socialising process outside the
classroom.
We have in excess of 40 different nationalities enrolled on our
courses. We
also have students from all areas of the UK. When students come to us
it is
often their first experience of living away from home. They are likely
to
develop a varied social circle made up of fellow students from the UK,
plus
a mix of overseas students; leading to exposure to a cross-cultural mix
of
individuals. In my view, this is a very important, particularly as
these
students are still in the developmental stage of becoming adults - if
that
doesn't sound too patronising.
I am a great advocator of the use of IT within education, whether for
distance learning or any other purposes. If it is the only means by
which an
individual can gain entry to the world of education then it is crucial
that
we develop effective means of delivery. These systems are also of
great
benefit in supporting more traditional methods of education.
The only problem I have is with the possibility of distance learning
eventually replacing traditional methods. I've no interest in issues
of
tenure or ivory towers - just concern about the holistic development of
the
individuals who will comprise our future society.
Regards,
Kevin Fields
Lecturer: Tourism & Hospitality Management
Birmingham College of Food, Tourism
& Creative Studies
Summer Row
Birmingham B3 1JB
>
> Hi all,
>
> Kevin, my guess is that the value of college socialization
depends on
> whether students are being socialized as relatively
passive/dependent
> "takers-of-dictation" in lecture-based courses, or are being
socialized as
> partners in learning in courses where work teams and class
discussions are
> being used competently. The key issue is much more far-reaching
> than the use or
> abuse of information technologies.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kent Young
> Associate Professor
> Department of Business Administration
> StFX University
> Canada
>