[LINK] Library naming (was Apple iPads for Victorian School Students)

[Tom Worthington]

Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> To me a library is a place where you can go for information. It can aid 
> learning but education is far more than learning. ...

Yes, the move to "flexible learning centres" is more than passive 
information supply. It is easy to see what looks like a library with the 
books removed and think there is not much happening there.

> At least some of the education process (quite a lot, IMHO) should be 
> about teaching, where a person with knowledge and expertise interacts 
> with students in individual, guide, "push" and feedback mode. ...

Yes, that is what I do when I am teaching. It is just that I use a
computer to help me do it. David Lindley calls this "Computer 
Professional Education using Mentored and Collaborative Online 
Learning": 
<http://www.ijcim.th.org/v15nSP4/P09SEARCC_ComputerProfessionalEducation.pdf>.

If you strip off all the fancy technology and terms, the actual teaching 
method has not changed much since Aristotle was in the business: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/mobile_elearning/index.shtml>.

> ... student ... don't know what they need to know and in what 
> order.

Yes, what a teacher does is to guide the students. The amount of 
guidance depends on the topic and the student. What I find useful is 
that by using the computer based system in place of lectures, the 
guidance can be more individual. The materials used are not that 
different: lecture notes and study guides in the form of web pages and 
e-book textbooks. What is different is the way you can devote individual 
attention to students online.

> You can't replace a teacher by a computer, the internet, a book, or a 
> library, if you want students to be educated in a serious subject. ...

Yes, many people read the free web version of my Green ICT course and 
ask "is all there is to it?": <http://www.tomw.net.au/green/ebook.shtml>.

They miss the point that reading the notes on their own will not do them 
much good. Without the teacher to guide them to explore more, and the 
other students to discuss it with, this is not much education.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890