5.1 Wikieducator: memoirs, myths, misrepresentations and the magic  (Page 3/21)

• WikiEducator has a strong commitment to the developing world in making sure that all citizens can engage as equal participants in the development of free content. This commitment is endorsed by COL’s “Learning for Development” — the thrust of our current strategic plan .
• WikiEducator has a commitment to build capacity in parallel with free content development, thus leveraging the advantages of a learn-by-doing approach. (See, for example WikiEducator’s Newbie Tutorials .)
• WikiEducator has a forward looking disposition and encourages responsible experimentation with evolving technologies in our search for sustainable solutions for e-learning futures. (See, for example WikiEducator’s Tectonic Shift Think Tank )
• WikiEducator facilitates networking nodes of a range of projects in conjunction with our mission to develop free content for education. (See, for example FLOSS4Edu and the Future of Learning in a Networked World FLNW2 .)

Myths

I use the notion of “myth” with caution. In fiction, there is no requirement to validate the truth. Similarly there is no impediment to basing a fictional work on fact. The myths I’m referring to are the traditional stories (sometimes ancient) of the academy which attempt to explain selected aspects about our educational realities. By interrogating these myths, hopefully we can establish plausible grounds for mainstreaming the free content movement in contributing to the sustainability and common good of education. Perhaps we should take the time to engineer new myths that will sustain and direct our educational futures. I encourage readers to help me in this creative story writing process.

The first myth: universities have been around a long time - technology doesn’t restructure our pedagogy

Yes, universities have been around since medieval times and are one of a handful of organisations that survived the industrial revolution. Why should this be any different in the knowledge economy? The reality is that technology has succeeded in restructuring pedagogy and there is no reason why it can’t do so again. In deconstructing the myth I refer to one substantive example of technology precipitated change that has altered the pedagogy of the university in fundamental ways. I’m referring to the inception of the large-scale distance education universities. Two observations:

• Institutionalised forms of distance education did not exist prior to the onset of the industrial revolution.
• The specific roles that the learning technologies assume in the teaching-learning situation can actually alter the pedagogical structure. For example: Media resources that are used as adjuncts in support of face-to-face pedagogy, (for example slide show presentations) do not alter the pedagogical structure of classroom teaching. However, asynchronous learning resources must actually carry or mediate all the functions of teaching including the presentation of content, forms of interaction (both simulated and real dialogue) and assessment. Incidentally, this is the reason why slide show presentations don’t migrate well into eLearning contexts.