"Ek-self"

The potential of technology-mediated selfdirected/distance learning...

I like this idea of distance learning. It highlights the facts that learning is not confined to 4 walls, a greenboard and chalk. Self-directed learning is a whole other term, as one chooses what one wants to know and learn and how we go about learning it. 

jooohh...just imagine that...

As a kid I always wanted to try things on my own and made a statement to my parents something like: "ek-self", (me-self) implying to them that they should leave me alone I want to figure this out on my own. I guess we are all made to self-explore and 'figure things out on our own' or it is evolutionary bestowed upon us as it prolonged survival, to explore and invent. Thus, for me the self-study/ self-school the learners started where they run on their own initiative and planning in order to complete school, is amazing! But, looking back at me in high-school, I don’t know if I would have had the same driving force in me in school to do school like that and on my own terms…I’m a bit traditional you can say…you teach-I learn-I apply and I want the teacher tangibly there, maybe just because technology irritates me sometimes (with Eskom and all). Or maybe I was already "braindead" or a non-thinker just waiting for information to come to me and me not having any say in it, which made me a quiet, little girl just sitting in class after class.

I wish I could live in this new era of the educational structure where innovation is the new parrot. Oh, I can only imagine what I could have been if my brain were planted in soul for it go grow freely and wonderfully.

Just thinking that anyone can learn anything from anywhere in the world and share ideas cross-culturally and interactively, is wonderful and inspiring. Also as we see technology expanding and flourishing at an enormous tempo, it is only sufficient that learners and anyone learn how to use these tools and technology in order to enlighten their own creativity and imagination. This enlightenment of creativity and sense of self-reliance in choosing your own ‘rules and standards of learning, one would most probably be empowered by it with having a focused goal and purpose. This can also lead to individuals having a greater sense of responsibility to themselves and the world. In effect creating more reliant people in society (and we need more of that).

I can imagine myself getting together with a little study group; us tuning in on a channel to delve into a certain topic, then discussing it amongst ourselves. Thereafter tuning into an interactive classroom like a group chat where different groups from all over the world can directly discuss the topic and critically analyze it from all perspectives. WOW, that would make the world even smaller and this globalization could actually become a globalized community sharing and caring in our differences.

BUT again I wonder about funding and maintenance of the technological tools in some areas of our country. How are we as South Africa first going to instill a want and desire and self-motivation in our children to get off their lazy boys and learn? BECAUSE most kids I work with every day really just want to do nothing the whole of the day and is still in a mindset of day-to-day living.

There is definitely going to have to be certain structures and standards put into place to encourage learners to join in on learning and the motivation behind it. Thus, teachers or call them motivators or substitutes for parents as motivators, is still a necessity from my own experience.