Following The Thread – my Ph.D. Thesis
Category: education
Learning by Ear
I grew up listening to my mother play piano “by ear”. She’d taken piano lessons after her older sister and heard her practice all the pieces she would be learning. After a few lessons the teacher told my grandparents that there was no point in paying for piano lessons for my Mom, as she was playing “by ear”. She could play any piece after hearing it a few times so she didn’t need to learn to read music. She played beautifully, and very expressively without the benefit of lessons.
94samick.jpg (JPEG Image, 1681×1607 pixels) – Scaled (46%) via kwout
A few years back, fellow teachers and some students began to talk about visual, audio, and kinesthetic learners, declaring that each person favoured certain senses for taking in information, for learning. With the advent of the web with its sight and sound possibilities, learners can choose to learn through a variety of media, and perceptual channels.
Podcasting specialist, Donna Papacosta, in her Trafcom News blog, links to the Online Education Database, where you can listen, for free, to speakers, using iTunes U, on topics like Human-Computer Interaction, Engineering Ethics, or a wide variety of others, from universities such as Queen’s , Harvard, and the University of Glasgow. If you see yourself as an auditory learner, (cross-sensory phrasing deliberate) or simply would prefer to listen rather than read while commuting, check out the Online Education Database
"That’s The Way We’ve Always Done It." & Schools
Ian Jukes of edtechnot.com has an excellent, easy-to-understand article explaining why school reform is so necessary and so difficult:
Ian Jukes article – 1/03 via kwout
I recommend the whole article, especially if you disagree with it – http://www.edtechnot.com/notarticle103.html – because the snippit I’ve supplied doesn’t include the logic.
Via Experiencing E-Learning – http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/daily-bookmarks-01242008/ – final link.
Understanding the Net Generation’s Academic Interests
The new tools that attract students to blogs and social networking software—including the resources that make possible site design, intertextuality, the combination of video and audio elements with text, the ability to comment and respond—can be used for the age-old project of developing the thinking, reading, and writing skills of students.
from MyLiteracies:
Understanding the Net Generation through LiveJournals and Literacy Practices – http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=384 by Dana J. Wilber
We have a radically new communication tool that uses text, images, sound, and moving images with sound, and can be made fully public, public in a limited way, or kept private. Many, probably most students, are rapidly teaching themselves elements of this new communication tool, and the academic world needs to – not just allow but – encourage the use of the web as a formal learning tool. Wilber’s article explains what is happening with the Digital Generations’ communication habits and patterns, and why faculty should be aware of and using these tools to help students learn.
I strongly recommend this short article.
Learning Living 
