Podcasts, pedagogy, and eliannual08

In this podcast we feature a conversation with Barbara Sawhill, Director of the Cooper International Learning Center at Oberlin College, and Jude Higdon, Instructional Technology Support Team Coordinator at the University of Minnesota. This discussion was recorded at the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Some technology experts question whether we can use the term "Web 2.0" in a meaningful way since many of the components have existed since the early days of the web. There are many definitions floating around for the term. What is meant by "Web 2.0", specifically from a pedagogical standpoint? And how can these tools be used to enhance learning?

Barbara Sawhill co-presented the session "Who's Afraid of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and the Big Bad CMS? A Digi-Drama About Fear 2.0"at the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting.

In this 58 minute podcast, we feature a session by George Siemens, Associate Director for the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba, entitled, "Connectivism". This speech was recorded at the ELI 2008 Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

The waves of technological and social change have eroded the effectiveness of traditional views regarding what, how, and why to educate. To effectively educate learners, fundamental assertions need to be rethought: the design of schools and curriculum, the nature of knowledge in a connected world, the relationship between educator and learner, the means and methods of authenticating information and knowledge, and, perhaps most significantly, what it means “to know” in complex, rapidly developing, and chaotic environments. This session will present connectivism as a theory of learning that can bridge the rift between traditional and new educational approaches to prepare learners for the tomorrow they will inherit.