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Joan Vinall-Cox's personal annotations on this page

joanvinallcox
Joanvinallcox bookmarked on 2008-12-31 Downes learning education Wikipedia

Interesting observation on the impact of the web and Wikapedia on education. - "Then Something Big and Important™ happened. It was called the World Wide Web. And the Web begat the wiki, and the wiki begat Wikipedia. And it was good. But it makes the way I teach, and the way I was taught, archaic. Why should someone be forced to memorize endless hierarchies as outlined above. If I really wanted to find out the differences in the digestive systems of animals in Phylum Nematoda compared to Phyum Annelida, I could just look it up in Wikipedia or some other reputable online source." I agree completely. Why is memorization necessary when good research techniques and familiarity with the topic is more than enough. But perhaps Plato would disagree - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/museum/plato.html - via Stephen Downes

  • Then Something Big and Important™ happened. It was called the World Wide Web. And the Web begat the wiki, and the wiki begat Wikipedia. And it was good. But it makes the way I teach, and the way I was taught, archaic. Why should someone be forced to memorize endless hierarchies as outlined above. If I really wanted to find out the differences in the digestive systems of animals in Phylum Nematoda compared to Phyum Annelida, I could just look it up in Wikipedia or some other reputable online source.

This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 10 Dec 2008, by Than Porter.

  • 31 Dec 08
    joanvinallcox
    Joan Vinall-Cox

    Interesting observation on the impact of the web and Wikapedia on education. - "Then Something Big and Important™ happened. It was called the World Wide Web. And the Web begat the wiki, and the wiki begat Wikipedia. And it was good. But it makes the way I teach, and the way I was taught, archaic. Why should someone be forced to memorize endless hierarchies as outlined above. If I really wanted to find out the differences in the digestive systems of animals in Phylum Nematoda compared to Phyum Annelida, I could just look it up in Wikipedia or some other reputable online source." I agree completely. Why is memorization necessary when good research techniques and familiarity with the topic is more than enough. But perhaps Plato would disagree - http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/wordscape/museum/plato.html - via Stephen Downes

    Downes learning education Wikipedia

    • Then Something Big and Important™ happened. It was called the World Wide Web. And the Web begat the wiki, and the wiki begat Wikipedia. And it was good. But it makes the way I teach, and the way I was taught, archaic. Why should someone be forced to memorize endless hierarchies as outlined above. If I really wanted to find out the differences in the digestive systems of animals in Phylum Nematoda compared to Phyum Annelida, I could just look it up in Wikipedia or some other reputable online source.
  • 10 Dec 08