Technology has certainly changed the way my children learn, and also the way I learn, compared to the way I was taught when at their ages; I had the choice of being taught at school, private instruction (something unaffordable to my family), learning through books or peer to peer learning, whereas, my children have access to all of these things and also the wealth of instruction provided by the internet and current technologies. As an example, when I was eager to learn taxidermy I found that there were no courses or people giving private instruction in Wales and so I bought myself several books on taxidermy. These books were all very outdated, referencing the use of chemicals that are now unobtainable and I found it nigh on impossible to find any up to date material to learn from. Technology came to my rescue; the internet provided me with websites where I could find online tutorials, I could Google modern day equivalents to the dangerous chemicals used in the past, I could use YouTube to watch tutorials and see taxidermy techniques carried out before my eyes and I could do all of this on my mobile phone at any time.
In Reflective Teaching In Further And Adult Education Yvonne Hiller discusses computer assisted learning and the potential that technology and the internet has for self-directed learning, it is also noted that consideration should be given to any information found using this resource. (Hillier, 2005)
The main benefit I find to using the internet as a learning aid is the amount of information that you can find on any subject, the down side to this is that you have to cross reference any information that isn't from an academic source as it may be incorrect or unreliable content. However, this cross referencing can help you to find an alternative explanation that you can understand more easily, for example I am learning to play ukulele and I have come across several people offering ukulele tutorial lessons on YouTube and I have the luxury of being able to select the tutor I find easiest to understand. If I were in a classroom learning environment and I struggled to understand a teacher's explanation then I may have a problem. If this happens with a YouTube tutorial video then I just find another video from another person. I am concerned that I have no one to check I am learning correctly though, it is easy to misunderstand instructions and I could be getting it wrong so although I have all of this information at my finger tips do I have the quality of learning that I would have if I was trying to learn the ukulele without the use of technology?
References
Hillier, Yvonne Reflective Teaching In Further And Adult Education pg. 116 - 118
In Reflective Teaching In Further And Adult Education Yvonne Hiller discusses computer assisted learning and the potential that technology and the internet has for self-directed learning, it is also noted that consideration should be given to any information found using this resource. (Hillier, 2005)
The main benefit I find to using the internet as a learning aid is the amount of information that you can find on any subject, the down side to this is that you have to cross reference any information that isn't from an academic source as it may be incorrect or unreliable content. However, this cross referencing can help you to find an alternative explanation that you can understand more easily, for example I am learning to play ukulele and I have come across several people offering ukulele tutorial lessons on YouTube and I have the luxury of being able to select the tutor I find easiest to understand. If I were in a classroom learning environment and I struggled to understand a teacher's explanation then I may have a problem. If this happens with a YouTube tutorial video then I just find another video from another person. I am concerned that I have no one to check I am learning correctly though, it is easy to misunderstand instructions and I could be getting it wrong so although I have all of this information at my finger tips do I have the quality of learning that I would have if I was trying to learn the ukulele without the use of technology?
References
Hillier, Yvonne Reflective Teaching In Further And Adult Education pg. 116 - 118
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