After looking at several blogs on the web for educational technology, I came to realize that one of the most important elements distance learning is communication. Without the technology to communicate, there would be no distance education, even in the old days of correspondance classes.
Many educators use the Internet today to communicate and share information. I had the opportunity to go to a presentation by Richard Bryne who hosts this blog: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. He uses this blog to communicate all the new tools and technology educators and the public can use for free. His presentation was amazing and he is using communication through the Internet to keep educators up to date on free technology that changes so rapidly. Teachers Teaching Teachers http://teachersteachingteachers.org/ is another example of collaboration through communication on the Internet.
Siemens discusses bringing together contributions from experts around the world. Blogging does bring together educators from all over the world communicating and sharing ideas. Sharing ideas in an online environment is that comfort level for educators.
The world is suddenly getting smaller with technology and education is just taking advantage of this global opportunity.
References
Siemens, George. The future of distance education. Video. Walden University.
"The world is getting smaller" that is a great quote which I never thought of it as such-due to technology. What do you think of the 6 degrees of separation theory? Do you think that now it is maybe 3? Are you familiar with this phenomenon?
ReplyDeleteHi Sherri,
ReplyDeleteThe education blogs that have emerged in the past decade have become an invaluable resource and a tool to get a lot of great information "on demand." Teaching used to be a fairly isolated activity. Blogs and other tools, such as self-hosted webpages and wikis make the sharing of information so much easier.
Thank you for the link to Teachers Teaching Teachers. What a great resource!
Cheers,
Margaret