Lisa Lane

Insurgence for Emergence
When our interactions with information/content and each other change, new educator roles cannot be too far behind. Lisa explores different educators models, and includes an indication of the next (logical) step in transforming education: "What we face is a lack of magic. Aware of increasing access to information and resources via the web, we envision a world of self-motivated learners, unhampered by bureaucratic straight-jackets and obedience training. We want to use new technologies to bring them the world, controlling their learning only so they don't hurt themselves or others. We want them to learn like we learn, through connections and discovery. We want assessment of learning to be based on personal empowerment of knowledge rather than passing tests and earning degrees. Ultimately, then, we want the role of Wizard. The ultimate power, not to control people, but to change the system." Lisa Lane, , November 6, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

Control by Personality
Good post, but let me question it. Lisa Lane writes, "I think I have a right to personal empowerment by virtue of my being able to take control when necessary, or to relinquish it when required." Is this true? If one cannot take control, does this person no longer have a right to personal empowerment? Do rights depend on capacities? Or to ask the same question from the opposite question: do we exert control by virtue of our nature, our personality - or do we exert control by virtue of our actions? Lisa Lane, Lisa's CCK08 Wordpress Blog, October 29, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

Open Assessment
heh. Ever marked a paper and had learners post the paper online after the fact? Not just the paper, but your comments? It's an interesting experience. I think it's a great idea. I found myself looking at comments I had provided in the article and asking "hmm, did what I write make sense? Was it fair?". Bradley Shoebottom and Sia Vogel have also posted their papers and my response/marking. Lisa Lane, , October 27, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

My Current Learning Design Map
Designing CCK08 was difficult. I would have liked to be more innovative with the assessment as well as the content (and I suspect Stephen shares this view too). We have a fairly structured course - weekly topics, readings, papers, assignments, etc. Our topic this week - instructional design - is ripe for innovation. But, like much of education, we'll walk between two worlds (tradition and emergence) while we make systemic changes. Lisa Lane details her learning design approach, reminding us of the importance of different contexts in influencing design. Lisa Lane, , October 23, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

Lessons From Locke and Rousseau
Based on links in yesterday's edition of The Daily, Lisa highlights a few histories of instructional design. She then turns to Locke's and Rousseau's theories of learning: "Each, of course, considered education to be important to creating a productive and participatory citizenry. We have these same goals today. In Locke's view, those citizens were highly individualistic, where the government's job was to preserve life, liberty and property. People were inherently rational, and religion would instill whatever ethical training was needed: "Teach him to get a mastery over his inclinations, and submit his appetite to reason." Rousseau's goal was a more egalitarian, participatory society, whose general will determined government. He distrusted reason. It was in the nature of people to learn, and "civilization" ruined natural proclivities: "Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the author of things, everything degenerates in the hands of man." Nice chart contrasting the differences. Lisa Lane, , October 21, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

A Contrarian Chart

Natasa comments, "That's exactly how I feel about the group/network/collective issue. Man is a social animal. We are born alone and we die alone, but we do everything else in groups. The thought that I would wake up one day and there would be no groups (only networks and collectives) is really scary." Lisa Lane, Lisa's CCK08 Wordpress Blog, October 14, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

Networks of Dead People
Last week during our Friday discussion, Lisa brought up the concept of "networks of dead people". These are networks that include thinkers of the past - Wittgenstein, Plato, Einstein, Currie, and others. Ideas build on ideas of the past. Very few (if any) concepts arise in a vacuum. We can learn much by engaging with these networks of dead people (hmm, I think we need a different name - this one sounds too, I don't know, morbid?). As Lisa notes, "Contrary to the Pirates of the Caribbean mentality, dead men do tell tales. When I told a colleague, "what they said was: dead people don't answer email", his response was, "no, but they do answer questions"." Lisa Lane, , September 25, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

CMap: Learning Models, Or...

(Click on the image to see the full sized version)
Lisa Lane, Lisa's CCK08 Edublog, September 24, 2008. [Comment] [Link]

Putting It Into Action
This is a great example of the idea that teaching is more like 'modeling and demonstrating' than it is like 'telling'. Lisa Lane applies the technique of 'glossing' in an open way, encouraging students to take part in their own analysis of the text. Interestingly, when people begin to work with a text in this way, they begin to see for themselves - far more clearly than I could ever state - the complexity behind even simple expressions like Paris is the capital of France 9and, consequently, the conditions under which such a statement is 'true'). Lisa Lane, Lisa's CCK08 Edublog, September 18, 2008. [Comment] [Link]