>
>Strange to say an experienced sensitive teacher in a traditional class can
>offer more interaction and flexibility of offer than any VLE will ever do??
I have little doubt that this is correct. However, can a sensitive teacher in a
lecture hall with 150 students of mixed ability, doing different level degrees,
with no more contact time than that a week, offer more flexibility and
interaction than a VLE can? Or rather, can the teacher in that position best
help them learn in a crowded lecture hall or via a VLE?
I think everyone would prefer seminars of 7 students, backed up by one-to-one
supervisions, and a programme of closely tailored lectures, but that world
exists only in a couple of places now. It's a case of how to manage the
numbers, I fear.
I worry that RBL can at its most reductive mean giving those 150 students some
photocopies and telling them to work through the material themselves. I went
to a workshop recently about RBL which more or less advocated this, and was
rather shocked. Isn't this the equivalent of downloading handouts from a VLE /
the web, without any of the chances for discussion and follow up (both
student-teacher and student-student) that a VLE provides? And, yes, also
without the tracking tools that allow that teacher to see which students are
and aren't using it, backed up perhaps by tests.
I do know that if I was paying to go through a degree today and was presented
with RBL with little chance of quick follow up and interaction with my peers
and tutors, I'd feel short changed, whatever pedagogy I was told informed it.
On the other hand, I suppose a textbook or primary source is in a sense
resource-based learning. It may be another of those catch all terms which can
disguise bad practice in its wide embrace?
I agree James - the things you can do with a VLE can be done piecemeal
elsewhere. You can link your Yahoo Group to your Bravenet minipoll, to your
Hotmail email, to your msn messenger, to your CASTLE-made MCQ test, and you can
track broad usage from your free sitmeter statistics. Perhaps VLEs grew up
partly as a solution to the nightmare that would entail.
Sam
............................................................................
....................................
Sam Brenton, Educational Technologist
Educational and Staff Development
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS
Tel: 020 7882 5309
Fax: 020 7882 3159
http://www.admin.qmul.ac.uk/staffdev/ltech
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