E-learning, faculty training

Tony writes in his E-learning, faculty training and the value of subscription journals

“I agree completely. But let’s go back to what drives academics, and that is research rather than teaching. The fact that academics in Faculties of Education are rewarded for publishing in a journal that is not easily accessible to practising teachers says it all. Currently, the Ph.D. is a training in research, not teaching …… Virtually every occupation that requires people to use technology in their work requires training in the use of that technology – except for post-secondary teaching.”

I agree.

I don’t see much emphasis in the pure training in teaching to doctorate level, and even Doctor of Education is based on research in education. Research has long been hailed as the creation of knowledge, not the teaching I suppose. But I would think that nowadays, every teacher (professor) and learner are either creating the knowledge or co-creating or facilitating the creation of knowledge using Web 2.0 tools – via blogs, wikis, Nings etc. Such research and learning creation are happening in billions ways under an adaptive complex learning ecology.

The heuristics are complex, and to a great extent the learning is based on the learner centred principles, especially for adults.  These form the basis of learning under a social environment – the social learning, where people interact not only with resources, but people and artifacts.  These also form the basis of Education Networks, Social Networks and Communities of Practice, where learning is not confined to any single individual, but is embraced by “networks”, “groups” and “teams”, and in certain circumstances mediated by information and communication technology and education technology. 

 They are ephemeral. They are ubiquitous.

Learning and research is multi-faceted, and has become an emergence phenomena.