I'm Serge Pothof, one of the students from the elective (senior-level) course "On-line learning" Betty told about in her essay (see Manifestation 3). She told us: "Gee, it would be very, very nice if you subscribed to the forum and participate in the discussion!" Well, I'll try to make my points clear.
[quoting Collis' paper] How should we design the curriculum to include applications of telecommunication for learning and instruction?
The first question is: "Should we include applications of telecommunication for learning and instruction into the curriculum?"
In my opinion, the answer is: "Yes, but..."
First the "yes": Of course it is interesting for students like myself not only to learn ABOUT new educational technologies like telecommunication, but also to look at applications of new technologies, to use them yourself, and to learn WITH them. I think this doesn't need further explanation.
Now the "but": I think that there are a few restrictions or remarks to make about the use of telecommunication within the curriculum of faculties involved with educational/instructional technology.
I think it's important for students to have an overview of what is available and what the developments are in the field of telecommunication. Because, if there is a focus on the use of certain applications (learning WITH new technologies) and if there is not enough attention to other kinds of technologies, it is possible that the students get a too narrow picture of the potential use of those technologies in education. Therefore, I think that learning ABOUT new technologies is in fact very important. It should be very clear that learning WITH new technologies is just showing an example of the various kinds application.
If there is agreement about the fact that a certain kind of application is going to be used, it should be clear with what purpose it's going to be used. First of all, it should have a purpose. If it's just for fun, or to let the learners see how fantastic this program is, don't do it! Learners want to have a purpose, so make clear what purpose that is (i.e., in order to have a discussion with experts about the subject in the U.S.).
If an application is used, the organizational aspects should be designed properly. First, there has to be someone who knows everything about the application. Otherwise, don't use that application! Second, the environment should be under control, for example, the classroom and--not to forget--the network. If you use, for example, video-conferencing and the moving pictures are like slow-motion (or even slower) don't use it as a tool for learning WITH new technology.
Don't want to show it all! The world of telecommunication is developing in an incredible speed: new applications, new approaches and new techniques (i.e., ISDN) can be found every day all over the world. If you want to show it all, there is a danger of getting chaotic. It's confusing for students when they don't know exactly what they have to do. And, if the teacher doesn't know either...
So, If I was the teacher, I would make a selection of applications (making clear what purpose it serves to use these applications) then I would make sure that I know all about them and that the environment is positive for learning activities and then the learners come into sight.
As a conclusion about "how should we design... ," I want to say that structure is very important. Although the world of telecommunications isn't that structured, for learners it is important to know what they're doing, to structure their learning activities, maybe even try to structure their lives.
So, learning ABOUT new technologies is in my opinion an important issue. Besides that, it's interesting to look at specific applications. Maybe even to learn WITH them, ONLY IF THE ENVIRONMENT CAN BE STRUCTURED A LITTLE BIT.