Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:1191] autonomous learning
From: Marshal Anderson (marshal@marshal.co.uk)
Date: Tue 20 Feb 2001 - 14:18:59 MET
From: "Marshal Anderson" <marshal@marshal.co.uk> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:1191] autonomous learning Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 13:18:59 -0000
> Anita wrote,
>
> > The push towards autonomous learning - which is seductive,
> and which the
> business providers would like to follow - will not work.
> Anyone who has
> been in education for some time knows that.
I think you've hit the nail on the head there - but maybe a different nail
from the one you thought :)
The problem lies in the view of autonomous learning - you're right that
business (and governments) (might) see it as yet another aspect of pedagogy
that means things can be done on the cheap - if people can be 'autonomous
learners' then plainly they don't need expensive things like tutors - give
'em the books and let them get on with it :-/
OTOH, the idea that someone can be empowered to develop their own learning,
that they become their own personal contructivist and 'own' their own
learning seems to be a good thing. In any formal course students will still
need guidance, course content still needs to be constantly re-developed and
there is still a 'teaching' role - but the more autonomous students are the
more they will be able to get what they (rather than governments and
employers) want out of the courses they take.
Institutions will always take the meaning of something that suits them - a
few years ago in the UK the government cited research that 'showed' that
class size didn't matter and the research used to support Integrated
Learning Systems is being cherry picked right now.
In the and, as in so many of these discussions, it comes down to what I mean
when I use a particular word.
Marshal
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