An Expat Educator in Asia » LMS http://xpatasia.edublogs.org Reflections on working as an Digital Learning Consultant in the Asian Region. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:47:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Evidence of 21st Century Learning on a Learning Platform http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/21/evidence-of-21st-century-learning-on-a-learning-platform/ http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/21/evidence-of-21st-century-learning-on-a-learning-platform/#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:51:35 +0000 Paul McMahon http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/?p=273 In the lead up to the conference, I have been meeting with quite a few vendors. Some of these have been learning platform vendors. These guys have the unenviable task of trying to sell their product to schools who are not really clear on what they want to use it for. Some schools for example convey to the community that their programmes are inquiry based and student centered but then they say that the platform must hold lots of past papers and worksheets that to all intents and purposes look exactly what I used when was taught 40 years ago!

I am currently out of Hong Kong working in Australia but I know that the many of the schools in Hong Kong have closed down due to the Swine Flu Pandemic. There is a lot of talk about how the students can still do work online. I am wondering how effective it is and, if it still follows the inquiry model?

Given that many of the schools say that they have been prepared for this to happen for some time now, it should be easy to see how schools have used these tools effectively. I, for one, am curious to know if it is possible to see 21st Century Learning in evidence on a portal? It is easy to direct kids to a website to do activities and write reports or submit results but what would we see on the portal if the students are engaged in communication, collaboration and creative endeavors leading to innovation?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Photo: If the leaders don’t get it.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcleod/2919154475/in/pool-858082@N25
]]> http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/21/evidence-of-21st-century-learning-on-a-learning-platform/feed/ 1 Where do we Mash to? http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2008/06/06/where-do-we-mash-to/ http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2008/06/06/where-do-we-mash-to/#comments Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:38:22 +0000 Paul McMahon http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2008/06/06/where-do-we-mash-to/ I have been in some conversations over the last week or so that have centered on the ability to be able to mashup content from multiple content sources into a blog, a portal, an LMS such as Moodle , Eclass , StudyWiz , CLC , or virtually anywhere. This discussion has caused me to reflect on the comments of Wesley Fryer in referring to safe areas away from public view for students. He calls this sort of an application a walled garden .

Having been in a school where the portal was so ineffective and so poorly used as to be a complete waste of everyone’s time, it makes me think that we really need to think very carefully about how we as educators use tools with our students. There are some truly excellent tools out there for learners. Last night I accidentally stumbled upon this post by Alan Levine about 50 web2.0 ways to tell a story . The tools are listed and supported by great exemplars on an excellent wiki .

Sure, we as educators can and maybe should make use of tools such as these but do we try to mash them into some sort of portal? Do we just make links to them on our class webpage? Is there some way that they can be pulled together for easy monitoring by staff members no so familiar with tracking RSS feeds ?

And what of privacy concerns? Should we just allow any tool to be made use of if we can see a fit with what we are doing in class? If so, how do we respond to a parent who informs us of a bullying situation on an external website between kids at our school? Can we really say that we have no responsibility for what happens out on the web when we are making use of it in our teaching?

Comments welcome!

Cheers

Paul

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