Having worked as both a teacher in higher ed, and in a support role for teachers in higher ed, I have to agree 100% with Andrew.
Flash is the devil you know. Teachers use it so they don't have to learn something new. It amazes me how many people still get away with making flash sites, and burning it to a CD, and calling it education. For so many people, just putting an "e" (can I buy a vowel?) on the start of something still makes it *very* exciting. On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 12:14 PM, Andrew R <a_rem...@hotmail.com> wrote: > >> A question was asked early in this thread about what are the benefits of >> using Flash? There's been no answer to that question. I was hoping to >> learn >> some answers because I've been confused about why it's become so widely >> used >> in eLearning. I think I see several factors but I also think I'm still >> missing part of the puzzle. > > > > Christie > > Barrrrrrrrrh – to express my frustration about this general topic. I also > agree with most of what you're saying. My first paid web work was developing > online learning products in the days before the term eLearning existed > (showing my age here). From what you are saying it sounds like the scene has > changed little over the last ten years. So from my observation the tide is > not turning the whole scene has been riddled with problems since the term > got 'eLearning' gained buzz word compliant status. So I have couple of > slightly different takes on what you're saying: > >> 1. Teachers/trainers continue to be committed to linear, push >> methodologies. > > > > Plenty of teachers, trainers, training providers, universities, TAFEs, > schools, HR areas, etc are essentially lazy and can't be bothered to > actually understand learning theory. This is why they 'continue to be > committed to linear, push methodologies', it's easy to understand and cheep > to develop. Vendor just give the market what they want. >> >> 2. Teacher/trainer decision makers don't love the web, possibly because >> they >> can't control it. > >> >> 3. There appears to be broad acceptance of the theories of multiple types >> of intelligence and different learning styles by teacher/trainers, but no >> interest in learning how the web has evolved to meet those different >> needs. > > So you're saying they hate the web and still don't get it after all these > years. In my experience the real reason they hate it is fear; it shows them > up to be lazy, sloppy and in the worst cases bad at their jobs. The smart > and innovative teachers etc love the web because it is a great tool, full of > opportunities and it can be used to work around many of the problems of more > traditional media. > > > > And now on to a small rant about Flash. I'm with others here – basically I'm > perplexed by the implication that Flash is some how cornerstone of good > eLearning, esp since so much of it is so bad. And here's the problem and I'm > going to make some gross simplification to illustrate my point. Flash is > prominently a tool for supporting interaction with certain types of content. > It does not enable a whole bunch of other activities that could (should) be > included in supporting learning activity, such a peer discussion, > collaboration, testing and application of knowledge etc. So while eLearning > is predominately seen as Flash then eLearning is should not be viewed as a > sound approach to learning. The accessibility issue is a great summary of > the problem with Flash; it can be accessible but because it is often done > badly it generally isn't. So a good tool often badly used. > > > > And this is the reasons I have a problem with Flash... > > Andrew > > > > http://webgovernanceproblems.blogspot.com/ > > > > ________________________________ > See all the ways you can stay connected to friends and family > ******************************************************************* > List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm > Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm > Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org > ******************************************************************* ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org *******************************************************************
