week 7 task 3

http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol4.2/10_siaciwena.html

Journal of distance Education- University of Zambia

As this study is on the tutors and lecturers point of view, and less about the benefits to the students, it interesting to see how they feel and see how they feel it has its benefits and its negative aspects.

It is clear that the reasons for lecturers not having the same enthusiasm for distance learning as internal learning, is because they haven’t got enough teachers and so the distance learning creates more work and even more stress, than they originally signed up for. They need to maybe have more lecturers, to be able to become lecturers, so that they can ease the work load and distance learning does not become such a burden, and it becomes the advantage that t should be. Obviously this is easier said than done.

It is interesting that again in this study the issue of face to face contact or counseling as it is called in this study, is brought up again. But here the students believe that it is good and the lecturers believe it is not, though this may because the students have never known any better and so they think it is good, when in fact it could actually be considerably better!

Because this study was done in 1986 I thought it would be interesting to see how the University of Zambia was doing now, after all since 1986 they could have actually hired more staff and the work load may have been distributed more evenly and therefore tutors opinions today may be very different. http://www.unza.zm/index.php, as you can see it is defiantly still a factor of the university and one of the selling points to it. Has anybody found any recent studies on whether the system has actually improved?

week 7- task 2

http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/Technology/broadcast/tv-02.html

China: Its distance higher education learning

Because the population was so high in China, this was probably the best way of getting the education to the masses quickly and easily, I do not believe this would have been received as greatly in Britain for instance. Although I do know in 6th form in a school near me, a psychology A level was taught completely by television and this put a lot of people off doing the course, as they felt they would not feel motivated to go because there was no teacher actually physically in the same room as them.

I like the fact that they cater for all types of jobs, the four levels show that they are taking into account the different jobs that are available, for instance the classes ran by mines and large factories, may help people more skilled at there jobs and therefore there is no sign of it being completely elitist, although of course, you have to have gone to school, but you don’t have to be the brightest of the bunch, you can be a skilled workman as well as some one who has brains. For instance they do both courses in Mathematics and all sorts of Engineering. A student in Britain would probably learn through and apprenticeship or at college, it is less likely that they would go to university to do this. The fact the there is the opportunity to speak to a tutor face to face and the opportunity to take part in practical if you are doing a course that needs this, is pleasing to me because, when initially reading this I did worry that students wouldn’t necessarily benefit from this way of teaching, because without feedback they would not necessarily know whether what they were doing was correct or not. It is similar to the Australians distance learning in this way, in that all though initial there is no face to face contact, there is always the opportunity to do this and to get the help that you need from a lecturer. Although the difference here is that there are lots and lots of students around you, who you may be able to talk to, where as if you are learning on the internet alone, in Australia you do not always have this opportunity.

It is interesting the fact that they allow early school leavers to take the exams and enter the universities, I assume this means that they are under 18? If so I think this is a good thing, not every one is cut out for school, but learning skills and practices that they will be able to use when working are very useful. I suppose the equivalent of this in the UK is college, but the word “university” has very different connotations to college, especially in the UK, I wonder whether the same applies in China, do Universities have different connotations around them to colleges are they maybe respected slightly more in certain fields of work?

It is clear that this kind of education has helped the industries within china immensely, but there is obviously still some work to do to improve the system, but isn’t that the same in most educational systems around the world.

week 7- task 1

http://www.deakin.edu.au/future-students/online-offcampus-studies/#skipTo

If this type of study is no available to school leavers in there first year of tertiary study, does that mean they can do there first year and then there second and third year can be taken at home. And if I am reading this correctly is this really fair that students in there first year are unable to learn like this because they may still live in the out backs, and may find it hard to get to university at some points in the years, so would it no be better for this way of learning to be available to every one who wants it in Australia.

I like the idea that they have weekend schools, because sometimes even though you are able to talk to people through online conferencing, it would probably be nice to meet up with people from our lectures and talk to them face to face for a change. And here there opinions this way, or just talk to them about day to day mundane things, so you can get to know them on a personal level, as well as an intellectual level.

I think the fact that all of the courses have at least one online module is good because, it helps people become even more competent in navigating them selves around the internet, computers and other software that they may need to use.

I was able to search for courses on this website and there are so many opportunities to do so many different degrees, through the off campus learning, they even have a bachelors of arts, (media and communication).

The fact that international students who live within Australia are unable to do the online studies may seem slightly unfair but I believe that the international students who are in Australia, would be there to get the university experience and so it may not interest them to learn from home, because they would probably want to get out there and meet the Australians and live the Australian life.

week six- task 4

withi in our own blooging community, i believe that the experts are us the students and those that do the most reading, and have a fuller understanding of the readings are more like the experts because they can express there opinions to the other students and maybe help them understand it more. But also we have the lecturers, although maybe dont contribute as much as other students, but still have a broader knowledge and so they could also be counted as the experts. The new comers are less people who are new, but more people who are not familiarising themselves with the material and therefore they are learning from the "experts" who are helping them understand material that maybe they dont understand. These positions can switch from week to week, because some people may understand different articles better than others, so there are no fixed roles, Students may also be able to give the teachers insite into ideas that maybe they have never thought about before.

The people who are excluded are generally people who are not on our course, because to many people what we are talking about would not interest the general publice and other media students wouldnt necessairily know what we are doing to be able to access and comment on our blogs in the first place. i think that definatly people can become experts over time , the more they blog and the more they read other peoples blogs.

week 6- task 3

http://forums.techguy.org/

The tech support guy, website is a very simple website, layed out with a side tool bar with options such as welcome guide, forums, about us and how to help. This website has been around for ten years and the people who are answering questions within the forum are very knowledgable about computers, it was one of the first sites to give out free computer computer support online. It is celebrating its tenth year and has over 210,000 members and 27 forums. You have to be a member inorder to post any questions though, which may be an issue for some people.

I believe that it does have an element of communities of practice because for one, anybody that is registered is able to answer questions that people have. And so there is not just one estrablished leader, they can all post there ideas and work together to figure our the best way of going about a certain activity. i believe that this website does encourage learning by practice in an activity, because you have to actively go on to the forum, post your question and then try out the different suggestions that are posted on to the forum. It can not be done in a passive way, while using some of the ideas that are suggested you may have to go back on the forum and ask some more questions! and so it is extreaml active.

It also appears to me to be a number of communities of practice because with in the sub forums, they use alot of language that only people with knowledge of the subject could join in on, but also if new members join they can learn from other members and learn to be as knowledgable as other members. An example of this is the "Digital Photography and imaging" section, in which one of the members asks what the best software is for removing "noise" the person who posts this is still resonably knowledgable, but is still asking questions and asking for people advise who may no more.

week 6- task 2

The differenece between an organisational unit and a community of practice.

Leaders

In organisational units i believe that there is usually one boss, one that rules over everybody, where as in communities of practice there are often leaders, but the point is to learn off every body not just the one leader. Like it is said in wenger "the boundaries are flexible" it is not an institution For instance in schools there is one teacher who teaches the class. In Cheerleading evreybody has different experiences with different aspects of the sport. For instance i have a dance background and help out with that, there are a few gymnasts who help with the tumbling and there are few people who have a cheerleading background! Some of these people are better at what they do than the actual coach and so often the coach seeks there advice on how to go about things!

because my cheerleading team has a coach, does this then mean that it is not really a community of practice?

Learning that people do together

Wenger also states that it is defined by knowledge rather than task, so a organisational unit may be focused on getting the job done and finished by a certain deadline, for instance in my job at sainsburys we are told that we have to scan 19 items per minute, other wise we are not performing to the standard and could get a warning to improve. Where as in cheerleading we need to concentrate on the knowledge so that everybody knows exactly what they are doing, so there are no injuries or anything, though in the end there is a task and a goal which is to do well at competition. So i am again unsure whether this means that we are not a real community of practice?

Week 6 -Task 1

what is it about?- My Chosen communities of practice is cheerleading. The university cheerleading team is about having fun, learning new skills, bonding with your fellow cheerleaders and working towards similar goals such as competitions. When i am at cheerleading i feel that i am in a community of practice especially becasue of the fact that " Communities of practices develop around things that matter to people" and evry single cheerleader in the jets is very passionate about what we do and it matters alot to us.

How It Functions- in Wenger is states that typical engagements include engaging in joint activites, which as a team we are involved with both during and out of training, as we warm up as a team, we learn new skills as a team and we often socialize as a team. Every practice is a joint acticity for us. It also talks about creating artifacts, i am not sure whether this is what it means, but within cheerleading our coach choreographs a routine and together we create it by putting up the stunts, doing the dance routine, doing the jumps and moving around the floor in a cheer like fashion. Adapting to changing circumstances, comes into it because we often have to change a routine to improve or change to fit new rules so that we can enter it into the next competition. Also with it being a university squad, every year we hold auditions and we get an influx of new and eager cheerleaders, here we have to adapt our routines to incoorpoorate the new members. Commitment and relationships is shown in the fact that consistently every week we get the whole team showing up for practice and putting 100% effort in, relationships are formed because we spend so much time together i have made some of my best friends at uni from the cheerleading squad, we are not just friends when we cheer we meet with ach other out of this as well.

What capability it has produced- evrybody that comes to our practices is shown how to stunt, dance and jump, even tumbles are thrown in as well. As well as learning routines. They are introduced to new vocabulary, that they may have never ehard of before, for instance the names of stunts and jumps. Also when joining the jets in particular you realise that we have a certain style and a way of approching things, which is very centred around enthusiasm, sometimes being a bit silly, but genuinly being happy to be there and work hard.