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The Forum > Article Comments > From Solitaire isolation to Facebook education > Comments

From Solitaire isolation to Facebook education : Comments

By Sukhmani Khorana, published 12/4/2010

We might as well transfer our epistemology to HTML, and pray that e-methodology is as memorable as the printed word.

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“Most university students with Facebook accounts have similar tales of online procrastination. They know all too well how easy it is to lose hours of precious study time to the allure of social networking sites.
Now academic research has validated the nagging suspicions of many such students that Facebook is having a detrimental effect on their university results.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/facebook-fixation-harms-student-grades/story-e6frg6no-1225697029305

The “education revolution” may be yet another collosal waste of taxpayers money.

Up to $11 billion could be outlaid on computers for schools, with most states now electing to buy 100% imported hardware, and also 100% imported software.

This simply teaches the students to believe that anything made in Australia is inferior.

In the area of software, most states are purchasing software from 2 main US companies, and one of these companies has the world record for monopoly business practices, (having been given two $1 billion fines by the European Commission for monopoly business practices) but still the education system wants to create another monopoly within the education system, by dealing mainly with this US company.

This huge gift of $11 billion of taxpayer's funding to US companies is the “education revolution” in reality.

Particularly when there has been no measurable improvement in student outcomes as a result of that outlay, and the use of systems such as Facebook seems to be impairing students, and not improving their education.
Posted by vanna, Monday, 12 April 2010 5:06:27 PM
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There is no dearth of articles that condemn social networking and its impact on children and young adults. However, there is also a growing body of research that is based on incorporating digital technology and its user-oriented paradigm successfully into learning and teaching, especially in higher education. Here are a few examples:
http://www.slideshare.net/flairandsquare/teaching-gen-y-web
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/Future-of-Higher-Ed-(NMC).pdf
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume43/Facebook20/162687
Posted by Sukhmani, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 1:31:58 PM
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Sukhmani Khorana wrote 12 April 2010:

>... what will happen when the iPad arrives?

The iPad will popularise eBooks and tablet computers, as the iPhone popularised smart phones and mobile web.

>Will libraries turn into museums?

No. Libraries are turning into online information centres. Paper books are being replaced by computers, most rapidly at unviersities and TAFEs. ANU now has few paper books on the ground floor, apart from some new books and reference collection. Other books are hidden away upstairs, in the basement, or at a remote store.

We are a year away from the term "book" changing meaning to be an "eBook". You will then have to say "paper book", just like "paper mail".

>... “Education Revolution” and the plan to provide a laptop to every student. ...

While the laptops were the headline grabber, there was more to the plan. While I grumble about progress, the federal government has put many millions of dollars into e-learning and much has been achieved.

>... privacy and ethics concerns... social networking ...

This is a topic we have discussed at length in various educational forums online and face-to-face. The safe option favoured by the scientists is to use Mahara: http://mahara.org/

This provides the students with a walled garden for social networking. The arts people tend to favour using public sites along with educating the students on the perils of these.

> If the Australian Government is keen to raise literacy and numeracy standards ...

The vocational and higher learning e-learning programs funded by the federal government are doing good work in these areas. In particular:

* Australian Flexible Learning Framework: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/
* Education Network Australia: http://www.edna.edu.au/

But they could do with a few billion dollars extra, to do it better.

>... we might as well transfer our epistemology to HTML ...

Some of us are already working in the online mode, with eBooks and all that stuff. See my: "Mentored and collaborative techniques in e-teaching": http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/collaborative_eteaching/
Posted by tomw, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 3:25:18 PM
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tomw
The reduction of paper books in a so called Australian university is quite alarming, because very little digital content is being developed in Australia.

Visit this website and see just how much Australian content there is in that website.
http://www.acce.edu.au/

Almost every piece of software and technology that organisation refers to is imported or produced overseas, and that particular organisation recently arranged a study tour by teachers at $8,000 per head to (guess what) visit software sites in the US.

The NSW education system has given out laptops to most student in the state (all laptops imported) and placed 35 programs on those laptops. All programs were imported from the US with no Australian content at all placed on those PC’s.

Other states are similar.

The “education revolution” is simply a term for getting money from the taxpayer, giving it to education departments, who then give it straight to US companies.

The loss of paper books from schools and universities in Australia eventually means the loss of Australian content from our schools and universities.
Posted by vanna, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 8:56:28 PM
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