Hi all:

Well I happened to be very busy over the last two weeks. Our family packed up our stuff and moved into a new home, so I have not had a time to focus on these reflections as much as I would have liked. Thus the combined post.

I came away from module three thinking that the design of educational technology has little to do with science, but more with the application of the tools we use. I am not suggesting we do not look at the way that students use the tools in their hands, but be more cautious about over analyzing one particular tool or medium in a environment where the next big thing has already rounded the corner. Building on this, we are not at the point where the machine is doing the learning for us, it is simply facilitating what we ask it to do.

I found module four to be a real enjoyable discussion point. It took what is happening in current practice and examined how educators are to deal with this. I was particularly annoyed with what Blackborg attempted to pull off with patenting the interface of a online learning environment. I also expressed my view that unless there is more equality in the world, we are going to continue to see the under privileged “liberating” what they cannot ever have or own.

Cheers,
Ryan M.