Sunday, November 22, 2009



What is it about Elluminate that so many of our institutions can't/won't host it? Are the choices they make so cautious as to allow nothing other than the microsoft colonisations to enter the institituion? Last year visiting TAFE colleagues carrying out Skills Recognition (RPL) in the state of Victoria, they couldn't understand why we didn't all use Elluminate routinely to help people prepare evidence for RPL and to carry out interview type assessments.

The pedagogical move to diversity of learning facilitation as shown in the open education resource movement on Wikieducator and the possible use of digital tools used routinely by students (Facebook/mobile phones/Skype etc) keeps being subverted by the IT policies we function with.
A tension indeed here for us to grapple with.

3 comments:

Hervé said...

I suspect it is a question of cost and probably technical restrictions on existing network .It is very hard to get any institution to spent money in the present environment ,especially when budget cuts are expected in the near future. As usual, it is always the short term financial gains that prevail...

willie campbell said...

Herve
I think you have valid points there. I also wonder if the Microsoft colonisation that is economically attractive has quite a lot to do with it? I know this year we have shifted to a Microsoft e-mail system and intranet. Seems as is erveything is linked and really hard to break out of.

Leigh Blackall said...

Conviviality is a word I like. Its a long way from the lips of anyone ive met in educational institutions, yet it is probably THE learning objective.

Software is an increasingly defining tool for so much of what we think, see and do. Teachers have been too slow in developing a critical understanding of that, and so, like the rest of us, we are beholden to IT Units and their evidently limited comprehension of social issues, learning and education. In their own words, "enterprise system" and "business case" is the framework for their choices.

Your questions are good, but only a tip of an iceburg you are sensing...