I don't think so having just read Read Haythornthwaite (2008), yes the role is certainly changing but are practitioners surplus to requirements? Who will ensure that the learners are making sense of what they read or indeed are they sourcing the right material. A quick wander around Wikipedia is evidence enough of inaccurate and irrelevant material being used in education.
As practitioners we are responsible as leaders to help guide our learners through their education this now involves a changing role or should I say additional roles. We need to manage information and collaboration as Haythornthwaite puts it, transformations are occurring in who learns from whom, and where we learn and engage with others. Or is learning just about 'Google' and an ability to type a question into a search engine, surely students need a 'Guide on the side'.
So as a practitioner my job is safe as long as I move with the times, I can't see many dinosaurs lasting much longer if the technology is not utilized within the learning environment, not that I have a say but I am sure our future learners will have a big say.
Haythornthwaite[Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (2008), ‘Ubiquitous Transformations’: Proceedings of the Networked Learning Conference, Halkidiki, 2008.
2 comments:
Human nature makes us teachers and human society requires it. Nothing can diminish that, teaching is in its simplest form a flow of knowledge from someone who knows something to someone who does not. Someone has re- arranged the marbles in the bag.
Cheers Jonathan, well put you restore my faith.
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