Keynote speakers
Prof. Johannes Cronje – Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria
Why I don't use the Library
In an internet-enabled world the information bottleneck has shifted from the bookshelf to between the ears of users. Whereas in the past it was difficult to get hold of information because there may have been only one copy of the book, it now becomes difficult to get hold of information because it is obscured by other information. Ask your librarian for "something on how to deal with plagiarism" and you'll probably get 10 books, 100 journal articles and uncountable websites - and all you wanted was one page.
That's the first reason I don't use the library. The second reason is that libraries contain books. Books are dangerous. They are dusty, they can contain germs, and they can contain old, outdated information that could kill you. Thirdly, libraries contain solutions. In a postmodern educational paradigm, good educators would want students to work out their own solutions and not reproduce what they can get in the library.
This address will take the form of a showcase showing alternative pedagogies where databases, spreadsheets, wordprocessors and the Internet have been used to make learners producers, rather than consumers of information. Some examples of this can be found in my virtual museum on Internet-based learning
My website gives an indication of the field in which I work.
Professor Terry Mayes – Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning, Glasgow Caledonian University
The Great eLearning Swindle!
Is e-learning delivering its promise? In this talk I will consider some
of the problems for which e-learning might be a solution. Shallow
learning? Rising student numbers? Remote learning? Borderless education?
Cost? I will approach the question by examining first the language of
e-learning and trying to expose some of the implicit assumptions that
encourage us to position e-learning in a role that is almost bound to
fail. I will attempt to clarify the proper place for e-learning by
examining it against the concepts of the 'alignment' and 'enhancement'
of learning and teaching - concepts which, when you strip them of their
organisational baggage, encourage us to rethink the kind of learning we
are trying to achieve and the extent to which our teaching methods and
assessment techniques really do match the intended learning outcomes. I
will suggest that when you do this, you come to some surprising
conclusions. E-learning is not what we thought it was: but it just might
be revolutionary after all.