LRNT+505+Seminar+1

"Is it possible for effective learning to occur if the teacher is removed from the model of E-LEARNING, provided the content exists and is accessible? What form would facilitation take? Is this the future? Please reflect with your partner(s) and create a new discussion thread under seminar 1 in response to the above topic. Limit your response to 150 words and draw upon the assigned readings as support. Feel free to use outside resources and personal experiences as reference as well.   Question: Are they referring to the model of E-LEARNING in Towards a Theory of Online Learning by Terry Anderson? Is that "The" model?  Regardless...  The response to these questions needs to be predicated with a philosophical discussion that responds to the questions; what is learning and who is a teacher?  Human beings have relatively highly evolved brains capable of learning from the environment and experiences in a behavioural way. We also have a limbic system that connect to all of our brain facilitation the creation of the mind and making us social and therefore wired to learn through and from our relationships with others. In addition we have a huge neo-cortex (new bark) that allows us, unlike other primates, to reflect upon ourselves and our own learning (Metacognition).  We are wired to learn. From birth, and some say pre-birth, we begin learning from our caregivers, then our peers and after 5 or 6 years of that kind of learning through relationship we, in Western civilization, are thrust into “formal” education.  Yes, it is possible for effective learning to occur if the teacher is removed from the model of e-learning. This is occurring more and more between autodidactice learners who are self-organizing around affinity spaces like Peer2Peer University ([]). It could be said that that the vast majority of learning in a person's life is accomplished outside of formal teacher-student interaction and in more informal groups.  Even if we bound this discussion to "school learning" many students are creating and co-creating self-directed and self-organized learning events by leveraging their personal learning networks. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What form would facilitation take? <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Examples: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">[] Learning without a Teacher - research <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Dave Cormier, in his blog about Rhizomatic/Community as Curriculum Model of Education and Learning says, “ In the rhizomatic model of learning, curriculum is not driven by predefined inputs from experts; it is constructed and negotiated in real time by the contributions of those engaged in the learning process. This community acts as the curriculum, spontaneously shaping, constructing, and reconstructing itself and the subject of its learning in the same way that the rhizome responds to changing environmental conditions”. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">[] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Open Space Technologies <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">George Siemens’ and Steven Downes’ MOOC's <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Communities of Practice <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Wiki’s <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Is this the future?

<span style="color: #29303b; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: #29303b; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Will Richardson echo’s George Siemens thoughts in a recent post saying “What I want are master learners, not master teachers, learners who see my kids //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">as their apprentices //**//<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">for learning //**”. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[]