1. eLearning at Otago General Overview 2008 of two research initiatives ePortfolios & Social Networking. A Presentation to: Helene Leong-Wee, Deputy Director, Singapore Polytechnic Sudhir Jhajharia, Deputy Director, Singapore Polytechnic Russell Butson Higher Education Development Centre University of Otago 28 th March 2008
2. Emerging Educational Paradigm Instructional Paradigm Traditional Self-Directed Paradigm Emerging Knowledge Transfer from faculty to students Jointly constructed by students and faculty Students Passive vessel to be filled by faculty’s knowledge Active constructor, discoverer, transformer of own knowledge Faculty Purpose Classify and sort students Develop students competencies and talents Relationships Impersonal relationships among students and between faculty and students Personal transactions among students and between faculty and students Context Competitive and individualistic Collaborative learning involving teams and faculty Assumptions Any expert can teach Teaching is complex and requires considerable training
5. In higher education the focus has been on content and the delivery of this content to the student. Adopting this new paradigm would see us harnessing the collective intelligence of our students to continually improve the student experience through a more intensive interaction in the educational process. This represents a far more complex environment than is presently in place. Students would be viewed not as receptacles for information but as an integral element of the educational process. In fact, to adopt this approach is to make students an essential part of the educational process in ways that blur the boundaries between our traditional conceptions of teaching and learning. The Potential of the Emerging Model
