Learning Technologies: Design & Applications

RE: Lenora / website or interactive LMS

Other practical limitations of building a website such as:

• maintenance
• no contributions (which seems to be vital to the collaborative spirit of the indigenous learning collectivities)

Elders: I would also say that allowing interactivity could eventually allow the inclusion of the elder’s positions on the subject. Through oral communication (recorded or live) or videos (pre-recorded or live). This is a very important aspect of indigenous learning and culture… which are inseparable.

Cradleboard:

RE: Lenora’s web access is dial-up only. It can take a really long time to upload and download files. Plus she’s never created a web site before and doesn’t know anything about where one puts a website.

• After exploring http://www.cradleboard.org/, I wondered why Lenora does not participate in the online learning community.
• She could create a blog or use Moodle for the elementary grades
  • (which now comprise: Geography Online; Social Studies Online; Science; History and Music Online)
• The electronic Powwow sounds intriguing! Why not use that?
  • It offers:
    • Student lessons
    • Teacher plans
    • Live Chat
    • Discussion Boards
    • Announcements for all Electronic Powwow
    • and Private Cradleboard participants.

Considereing that indigenous literacy challenges the traditional 3 “Rs” (reading, writing and arithmetic) and consist in (Currie & Kaminski, 2008):

• Respect. …on-line education for indigenous learners must respect their cultures and traditions by making them an intrinsic part of the studies
• Relevance. Authentic activities, relevant to community issues, must be incorporated in conjunction with the academic knowledge conveyed in lessons or units.
• Reciprocity. Advanced communication tools honors cooperation.
• Responsibility. Students are given the freedom to choose how they wish to fashion their study path. At the same time, the inclusion of self reflection fosters the promotion of equity and pride, leading to autonomy and ultimately self-determination.

The Electronic Powwow sounds perfect!

Problem: Lenora’s web access is dial-up only. It can take a really long time to upload and download files. Plus she’s never created a web site before and doesn’t know anything about where one puts a website.

Discussion question: Is a website the way to go for Lenora – why or why not?

Dial-up:

• A dial-up system has never worked for me. The fact that it is slow has usually deterred me from accessing the information.
• However, if I consider Lenora’s indigenous society, this may not be such a deterrent. Aboriginal reservations often function on a much slower time frame.

Nevertheless, if I were Lenora, I might want to ask other band members to find out how they feel about this issue.

Interactivity:

• According to recent research, the construction of knowledge through interaction is far more effective for indigenous students than learning in isolation.
• Indigenous learners have been shown to appreciate reciprocated questioning; feedback and reflection through problem-based projects.
• Group forums and team work are operations and activities’ design formats that make this type of mutual assistance possible.

In view of these findings, I would say that a blog would be better than a stand alone presentational website.

Module 2: Presentation Tools: Spaces, Places and Platforms for Learning / Other web-based approaches

RE: Pro-D