Monday, February 28, 2011

Westcast - Couros Part 2

Yeah I know my description was a little cryptic so I will try and explain it a little better. Alec actually actually calls himself an Open Educator - basically he does all (or I would assume as much as he can) of his teaching, classwork, lectures, assignments, etc. in an open and transparent way using the internet. He beleives that using online apps such as Google Docs, Flicker, Twitter, and basically any other Web 2.0 programs will take education to a whole new level. People will no longer have to be locked into a classroom to take a class - or to become a student. Student's from around the world can take the same class and all contribute to work or ideas using online programs. Naturally topics such as digital citizenship and social justice online are topics that he is also passionate about because without them its very difficult to have meaningful online relationships.
I think this is a really important philosophy to have heading into the future. The internet is not going away, and the amount of information available in it is only going to expand - probably dramatically. It makes sense that educators should start breaking up the idea that learning has to take place in a classroom. Students should be able to get notes, or assignments, ask questions, do homework or classwork from anywhere they happen to be. I don't think this means the end of the classroom - far from - I just think that it means an extension of the classroom to everywhere a student can access the internet, which increasingly is anywhere.
Well that was a bit intense so I think I'll finish with a spoof vid that Alec made of himself - it does a good job of showing off Alec's philosophy and his sence of humour as well:

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