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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=379582202-24102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2> Roland wrote:</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=379582202-24102007> </SPAN><BR>I have
some Sudanese lads who are struggling with renaming files yet can happily play
computer games and chat online. Is it appropriate to measuring their learning
from their understanding of a computer desktop, a metaphor based upon the
workings of a small business office? The different ethnic groups at our school
have vastly different traditions and ideas of what it means to 'be working
together'. I am now not sure if the collaborative, learning model that I carry
about in my head is best and only way forward. <BR><SPAN
class=379582202-24102007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2> </FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=379582202-24102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I once read (in a scholarly text on metaphor
in the English language) of an ESL student who was wrestling with the
phrase "the solution of your problems". Rather than interpreting
'solution' as akin to 'output', this student had seen it in a chemical
sense, and in his mind was something like the "dancing
mothballs"</FONT> <FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>demo (if you're not
familiar with this, it's described here: <A
href="http://www.science-is.com/bubbleballet.htm">http://www.science-is.com/bubbleballet.htm</A>)
... so every so often, in his mind, a problem/mothball would float to the
surface, and needed to be tackled head-on ... but most of the time, life
was lived keeping them in motion ("solution") rather than obtaining "the
answers". This strikes me as a rather interesting (but definately
non-Western) way of living life. Cultural context is
important.</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
class=379582202-24102007></SPAN></SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=379582202-24102007><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2> </FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=379582202-24102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I often find myself surprised that here is
another group of students who I need to explain what a filing cabinet and
suspeded files are. It's a while since someone asked me "what do we need
to save our files from?" (the boogie-man who lives around the
corner?) But it certainly seems true that students (of any
culture) barely have enough knowledge of the workings of a business office
in order to get the most out of the standard computer metaphor, which is based
on that. So we should perhaps stand back and query "collaborative business
office" metaphor on which must of our work relates, and also wonder exactly what
sense of the computer, through the user interface, the student is in
fact constructing.</FONT></SPAN><BR><BR>I would like us to engage with what it
really means to transform ICT education, beyond rubbing the latest shiny new toy
or unboxing the latest bit of commercial software. I like asking the big
questions in my IT classrooms so here is one. What can we do to really help our
students make this world a better place for us all to live in?<BR><BR><SPAN
class=379582202-24102007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>In the spirit of
asking big questions, perhaps it is time to explicitly make the computer, the
user interface and the metaphors which frame them the object of
study.</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
class=379582202-24102007></SPAN></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN class=379582202-24102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Cheers,</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
class=379582202-24102007> </SPAN></DIV></SPAN></FONT>DISCLAIMER:
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