Looking to the future Week2- #edcmooc

Hello everyone

This week the main topic was "metaphors" in education. Understanding  the concept of metaphor as a cognitive component that allows the integration of new concepts into existing knowledge fields .

Regarding readings and Balfour Stewart , I think the future is now! . Within the educational context, the technology has been developed to automate processes. From a utopian perspective we think that the use of ICT in education automate all educational processes . However, as we have Balfour technologies are not always suited to a general requirement , maybe we are in a dystopian state.

On the other hand, we can also consider using the Mooc as a metaphor to support the generation of knowledge and the learning process . The structure of a Mooc helps students to get a criticism of the general context and  not just watch the Mooc as a Web site, but rather a collaborative learning environment, so the Mooc allow members of a course generating knowledge, based on blogs, wikis , video stream, etc. .

Finally, the use of metaphors in learning may break new ground for the future of education and even more so if information technologies are adapted in these processes. But as I have said before, the technology will not be the final solution to achieve a utopian context in education, I believe the cornerstone is the process to build and maintain learning... technology will always be the medium.

Perspectives on education - Week1- #edcmooc

I'm going to express my opinion about ICT usage (according with John Daniel lecture). In the speech, there is clearly a utopian vision of the integration of the ICT on education systems. I think that ICT is only the 'tool'; I mean, the use of any technology won't be the whole solution for the education context or in any other context. In this case, I think that for talking about a solution, first the ICT must be accepted, adapted and finally they shall be adopted.

But, What I mean with this? Well I mean that all of this depends on the societies' behaviour. Nowadays, there are several studies about the use of ICT in classroom or for mobile learning (in anywhere) and there are several studies about the adoption of these technologies too. But the questions is: What if the population does not accept it?. It is well known that ICT developers are working on new and better devices. They are focusing in young people in a marketing strategy for personal use. But the major impact on marketing is focusing on enterprise and academic institutions.

I agree that ICT enables access to education. We can take a course via Internet from a distance or we can participate in a workshop virtually. But we have to questioning (as Noble point out) the others two points "Quality and Cost". Nowadays there are a lot of free websites on the Web that "teach you" something, but Who makes it a valid teach? Or who determine that the content on the website is a quality content? In other way, Universities and academic Institutions can offer courses with the most explicit quality content but the cost could be expensive. However, there are Academic Open resources (like mooc's) could provide this quality in a cheaper cost.

In developing countries is always hard to have a whole access to technology. It will depend on the financial status of each one. As I wrote is Hard but it is not impossible to access to them. Statistics show that accessing ICT in countries grows up with different rhythm... but grows!!! That means populations accept the new technologies and adapt it to their activities. The ICT developers can take it as a commercial advantage, and they can create a need of it (marketing program).

In conclusion, I think that ICT must be considered in both fields: Business and Education. Also I think that ICT consumers must have the priority of use any technology. I consider the ICT as a tool. Many Institutions and business adopt technology to have competitive advantage. In the education context, I consider that Universities must participate in creating Open Resources with high quality using ICT to spread and build the knowledge

Lectures:

• Daniel, J. (2002). Technology is the Answer: What was the Question? Education, Unesco. Retrieved November 19, 2013, from portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=5909&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
• Noble, D. F. (1998). The automation of higher education. First Monday, 3(1), 1–8. doi:10.5210/fm.v3i1.569.
• Larreamendy-Joerns, J., & Leinhardt, G. (2006). Going the Distance With Online Education. American Educational Research Association, 76(4), 567–605.