elearnspace

Transforming the way to learn through dialogue and participation: “Overtime, I think universities have become more removed from society and gradually have been involved in a production of knowledge, which tends to objectify reality…I think teachers have to, almost, relearn the pedagogical approaches. Even if we think about dialogue as a conversation, we should not escape from the fact that there are many power relationships that influence the relationship between teachers and students. If teachers engage with students in conversation, unless both sides are aware of the expectations, and of the power relations experienced, it can be very difficult for that conversation to be based really on an equitable basis.”
Issues of power and control are central to many changes in society and education. Wikipedia? It’s about trust/authority/power. Classrooms? Power/control/authority are the defining elements. And yet, we are now at a point where no one person has the ability to see a field in its entirety. We are all seeing small fragments at best. Theoretically at least, more contributors=more diverse ways of seeing the field. The downside, of course, is that we get completely overwhelmed because we have not yet adjusted our tools and our methods for handling abundance.