How can a system run when the one thing that it focuses on isn’t implemented? Put it another way, how can you teach if you don’t practice what you preach — and what you preach is how to teach!?! Besides being a cyclical conundrum, I have yet to figure out how this flaw is accepted, reinforced and supported in educational settings.
I present to you — Manhattan Protege. An experimental online socialized learning environment where graduate students of education become teachers and they learn how to traverse the online landscape, support learning for deeper thinking and analysis, and improve their teaching skills. Where are the courses that teach traditional teachers how to teach online? The transition is NOT transparent, and, while most online learning exists in a vacuum (that is, the institution offers the course, the student interacts with the professor and fellow students, and the material is covered and completed — all without the opportunity of conversing with those in the field or outside the institution. Hence a vacuum.), it’s not safe to assume that ‘just teaching’ covers the bases. Students in this environment work harder and create more substantive artifacts (papers, discussion posts, projects) than their f2f (face-to-face) peers. It’s unfortunate that the learning in this environment is seen as easier, but, as the old adage goes, ‘you cannot fully comprehend what you don’t understand’. I don’t think that most people understand how much and how far online learning has come over the past couple of decades and that distance learning (online, blended, virtual) is in it’s infancy and will only grow as technology diffuses into different socio-economic environments.
That being said, go to my web-site (http://www.manhattanprotege.com) and sign up to join the revolution (or atleast the insurgency).
Humbly, Cameron