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

[Jan Whitaker]

At 09:29 AM 17/06/2010, Tom Worthington wrote:
>ps: ANU uses the terms "Flexible Learning" and "Blended Learning",
>rather than "e-learning". This is partly a matter of andragogy and
>partly marketing. ANU is a hands on place and not about to replace
>everything with online distance education.

Actually there is a difference between all those terms.

I did a project for VET about 10 years ago dealing with designing 
facilities for the new teaching and learning approaches. One of the 
ideas, blended learning, was applied to the mix of face-to-face and 
online activities, be it access to materials during or after f2f  or 
interaction/discussion support or whatever else you wanted to do. 
'Blended' stood for having a f2f component. If that approach was 
going to be used, it had a huge impact on how the physical space was 
designed and furnished. Now that wifi is a stable technology, the 
wiring issues have reduced, but you still need a surface to put your 
laptop! Light control in f2f/e-learning environments is an issue 
still. There are other variables that I can't come up with off the 
top of my head.

Flexible learning may or may not include an e-learning component, but 
in today's world, it most likely does as a given.

'e-learning' is a broad term and could apply to many elements of the 
teaching and learning process. I doubt there are any educational 
institutions that aren't allowing for e-learning in some way, if not 
on their own premises, then with regard to what students do outside 
that environment. By now it should be part of the fabric and 
certainly not ignored.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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