tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post2270050079063420869..comments2023-10-29T11:15:37.625-04:00Comments on sleeping alone and starting out early: the sleeping alone review of books: Opening Up Education (Part 2)Jenna McWilliamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767988531102621970noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-58205088895556534022009-04-15T03:18:00.000-04:002009-04-15T03:18:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.eshahttp://www.education-guide.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-25254778045938944622009-04-14T22:07:00.000-04:002009-04-14T22:07:00.000-04:00p.s. You really need to show me how to do all the ...p.s. You really need to show me how to do all the fancy stuff with images, quotation marks and embedded video. I gave my blog an overall today but still looks rather bland by comparison.Russ Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07511049176803171906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-1741158989785592132009-04-14T22:05:00.000-04:002009-04-14T22:05:00.000-04:00Great stuff Jenna. I love the way you frame the cr...Great stuff Jenna. I love the way you frame the critical issue and then move the debate forward particular in response to this quote. <br /><br />existing academic institutions do help to navigate through the human sea of knowledge. They organize it into majors and requirements to make the decision process much easier and more goal oriented. They provide a teacher and classmates to both guide and motivate. They provide a structure and a social context to help bridge students from beginning stages of learning toward maturity. They help students address issues of finalizing work by providing a schedule of "deliverables" (assignment sets), of matching the learner with the job market, of certifying the value of students' learning, and the general issues of being a young person at home.<br /><br />One can't emphasis the imporance of structures, liveworld communities of academic practice and clearly defined targets. I think we need these more than ever given the loss of structure and the anxiety of choice one encounters in many online spaces. Especially those where dozens of agendas are at work attempting to recruit the agency of the learner. The question to me then is how to educators empower learners to becoming more automous, independent, capable of identifying and setting themsevles worthwhile learning objectives etc. From a Vygotskian perspectives even advanced learners need to be scaffolded and guided to navigate and learner how to exploit the full potential of distributed online communities / resources as powerful learning resources.Russ Francishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07511049176803171906noreply@blogger.com