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scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

http://eli.elc.edu.sa/2011/index.php?&ln=en

johnslat · Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 5:12 pm Post subject:

Dear scot47,

"E-learning is considered as a major component of an integrated education system in modern societies. It represents an advanced stage in the development of a knowledge-based society."

My highlighting and underlining.

Regards,
John

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

I hated talking to frigging computers in class instead of to real people. I must be underadvanced. Duh.

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 1:53 am Post subject:

All my students do with their laptops is chat online and tune me out. Some progress!

NCTBA

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 2:13 am Post subject:

The fact is that for most of us, when we have to be absent for class, our bosses will tell us that posting assignments on Blackboard or the equivalent is not the same as being physically present teaching the class. It might be an adequate substitute for one or two days of absence, but not for long term.

To me, that attitude pretty much says it all. Most people just don't consider e-learning to be the equivalent of real classroom teaching with a knowledgeable teacher present.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I agree. A blackboard ( a real one) and a box of chalk are my didactic tools. There is a school of thought that KSA can cope with the educational consequences of the population explosion by using Blackboard (the cybernetic one).

When our masters get a notion or an idea, they can be quite obsessed with it. And fancy technology ensnares many in this part of the world. You want a problem to go away ? Throw money at it.

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

e-learning is only as useful as the the student's ability to learn/study independantly. Most Arab students that I have taught are barely able to manage course work within a physical classroom setting that has a teacher present. So...it will be a long sometime before e-learning catches on in KSA as a viable option to an actual classroom and teacher.

e-learning has helped life long learning in Canada at least. It has enabled isolated communities, and individuals that do not have the means/ time to attend school in person.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The independent learner is not something often found in this part of the world, but the danger is that our masters will cotton on to an idea and go off in search of some impossible dream.

It used to be the Language Lab. Now it is Cyberspace and e-learning.

The technological fix.It reminds me of how the Pentagon used to think that if they had enough helicopters they could control South Vietnam.

That did not work either.

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

Yes, ...talk about putting the cart before the horse!
Until student's catch on to the 'love of learning' for it's own sake, spending money on all the latest technological wizardry will be useless. Baby steps...eventually leads to running...all in good time. I do believe there is potential for students to grasp the notion. Perhaps the current student's granchildren may "get it".

Kipling

johnslat · Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 4:03 pm Post subject:

Dear Kipling,

"I can assure you nobody and I mean NOBODY has ever thrown money at me. Quite the reverse in fact, . . ."

They've thrown you at money? Seems rather a strange practice. Did it hurt much?

Regards,
John

Kipling · Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject: Ready, Aim.......Do'h

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 11:54 pm Post subject:

I found that my students in KSA took to using Blackboard quite well. Of course, their generation thrives on technology, and most of them instinctively know the basics of accessing information electronically. However, their use of Blackboard was limited to using it as a kind of class bulletin board. They liked being able to access copies of the assignments that they had missed or lost, and they kept up with the announcements I posted just in case I posted an announcement that said they had two extra days to turn in an essay. If they were absent, or sleeping, during a powerpoint that I presented, they could easily review a copy of it on Blackboard.

But to actually use it as a tool for distance learning? I don't think any of them had the self-discipline to use it in that respect, not even the really motivated ones.