I'm writing a blog for my e-Learning Concepts class and I figure I may as well copy over my blogs from there to here to keep a full record. You may find this interesting.
I find it interesting that none of the teaching techniques taught in instructional design mention re-teaching material as a form of learning. If that sentence sounded confusing, let me digress… After two years of playing ultimate Frisbee I decided to start my own team at college where there wasn’t a team established. So naturally I was responsible for being the captain and teaching new players how to play the sport. With only two years of experience, I wasn’t very good to say the least, however when I was training my team basic and advanced styles and techniques my personal skills started to explode and I believe I became a better player myself from teaching what I knew. As a second example to my claim, when I was taking the Intro to Authoring (Adobe Flash) class in the IIT program, I was frequently asked to help fellow classmates with their work, debugging their code and reciting the previous class’s lessons. I’m not sure how I was initially chosen by my classmates but after repeatedly asked to help I became considerably proficient in Flash. I have not thought of a practical application of using re-teaching as an eLearning technique, especially if there are time constraints. From my personal experience, I have found that the skills I have mastered in the past have all had a history of me teaching someone else the skill. I’m curious what other people may think of this, specifically from people who have been in a position of training/teaching (professors, coaches, mentors).
~Robert Rathgeber
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Starting a Blog
Several thoughts have been going through my head lately that have developed into more than just a single thought but rather a discussion or experiment within my mind. I tend to get ideas and inspirations in my mind and much like my new talent for art, it helps me to get the ideas out of my head so that they can be resolved and not forgotten.
I guess this first blog post can talk about this dream I had a few nights ago. The original content of the dream is of course strange and may have come up for different reasons than the message I later pulled from it. I won't wierd you out with everything that went on but the signifcant part to me was when I left my house to offer these people a ride home and even though they didn't know me at all, they accepted me as a friend immediately and almost put me in the center of attention so I wouldn't feel "left out" in a group of people I didn't know at all. I thought about this dream a lot that day, much like I do with all my dreams I can remember, and realized that in social gatherings where new people are introduced, most of the time the greater group of friends don't make much of an effort to absorb the new person as a friend. I suppose the most natural response to a new person joining a new circle of friends will be for the friends to the newbie as an outsider. There's even a small mentallity that the new person is responsible to be the first to open up first so we can all find a way to relate. In the worst situation, the circle of friends will completely ignore the new person and only talk amongst themselves, laughing about inside jokes, people they know about, or anything that the new person couldn't possibly join in on the conversation with.
I must admit that I have both acted selfish in this way and felt uncomfortable as being the "new guy". It sucks, on both ends. I'm a little shy and soft spoken but I do like meeting new people and I hate not being "allowed" into new friend circles. And come to think of it, an extreme example of this would be going to any bar. That is all that really happens, friend circles go to the same place and drink but accepting and meeting new people there is a rarity. Why is that? The environment doesn't help faciliate us, i know, but do we just want strangers around us so we can pretent to want to meet new people? What the fuck is wrong with us. Lets just stay home, turn up the music and drink in a basement and we will have the same results. I go to the same party each weekend at the frisbee house and small groups of new people show up for the party through an insider invite. Guess what happens? That small group of 5 people find a corner and talk amongst themselves because its the only place they are 100% accepted.
Here is what I suggest. Lets put the new person at the center of attention. Lets celebrate the arrival of new people so that we can grow socially. I say we stop what we're doing, everyone walk up and shake the new hand. Put the game on hold please, spend a few minutes to ask them questions; they came here to meet us, remember?
I know this entry makes me sound bitter from some recent experience but this is all from that one dream I had. I hope I keep this blog going and it would mean the world to me if you left comments because I'm writing this for you to read.
I guess this first blog post can talk about this dream I had a few nights ago. The original content of the dream is of course strange and may have come up for different reasons than the message I later pulled from it. I won't wierd you out with everything that went on but the signifcant part to me was when I left my house to offer these people a ride home and even though they didn't know me at all, they accepted me as a friend immediately and almost put me in the center of attention so I wouldn't feel "left out" in a group of people I didn't know at all. I thought about this dream a lot that day, much like I do with all my dreams I can remember, and realized that in social gatherings where new people are introduced, most of the time the greater group of friends don't make much of an effort to absorb the new person as a friend. I suppose the most natural response to a new person joining a new circle of friends will be for the friends to the newbie as an outsider. There's even a small mentallity that the new person is responsible to be the first to open up first so we can all find a way to relate. In the worst situation, the circle of friends will completely ignore the new person and only talk amongst themselves, laughing about inside jokes, people they know about, or anything that the new person couldn't possibly join in on the conversation with.
I must admit that I have both acted selfish in this way and felt uncomfortable as being the "new guy". It sucks, on both ends. I'm a little shy and soft spoken but I do like meeting new people and I hate not being "allowed" into new friend circles. And come to think of it, an extreme example of this would be going to any bar. That is all that really happens, friend circles go to the same place and drink but accepting and meeting new people there is a rarity. Why is that? The environment doesn't help faciliate us, i know, but do we just want strangers around us so we can pretent to want to meet new people? What the fuck is wrong with us. Lets just stay home, turn up the music and drink in a basement and we will have the same results. I go to the same party each weekend at the frisbee house and small groups of new people show up for the party through an insider invite. Guess what happens? That small group of 5 people find a corner and talk amongst themselves because its the only place they are 100% accepted.
Here is what I suggest. Lets put the new person at the center of attention. Lets celebrate the arrival of new people so that we can grow socially. I say we stop what we're doing, everyone walk up and shake the new hand. Put the game on hold please, spend a few minutes to ask them questions; they came here to meet us, remember?
I know this entry makes me sound bitter from some recent experience but this is all from that one dream I had. I hope I keep this blog going and it would mean the world to me if you left comments because I'm writing this for you to read.
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