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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Who’s Talking About E-Learning?

I’ve never found it effective to teach with words like pedagogical, or pepper my lectures with phrases like Conversational Cognitive Model, and Neutral Contextual Behavioral Mode Perspective, and Environmental And Social Aspects Foci. But, every time I research anything about e-learning and e-teaching, most of the information I find is made up almost entirely of such words and phrases.


Of course, these vocabulations (It’s almost a real word) do mean something. But the people who do most of the talking about e-learning, the ones using such words, the only people who really understand them, are the ones who routinely say them…….. to each other. These types of words are for citizens of Academia, not the rest of us. And there's the rub. Or, maybe it's Contactual Ameliorating Manipulation.



Every industry and institution suffers the same fate. In every type of job, for individuals to standout from the crowd, for the cream to rise to the top, those who wish to be the cream must find better ways to show-off, or flaunt their abilities in comparison to their peers. However, at this point, the terms flaunt, cream, and poor judgment become equal.

For example, while channel surfing, I stumbled across one of those find-the-best-fashion-designer TV shows. One finalist was singled out for his submission, which was the most outlandish example of fabric-passing-for-clothes I’ve ever seen. The judges agreed. One of them said the most to-the-point, most widely applicable comment I've ever heard for our topic. She said to the contestant, “It’s obvious that you are so lost within the culture of fashion design, and you’re trying so hard to impress and out-do the other contestants, that you have completely forgotten your customers.”

Individuals, single entities, can school together to form a new entity, the group, or Cerebrationally Concurring Centristic Amalgamation. That group, in this case, is comprised of very well educated professionals of learning, who have become so focused on speaking to each other, that the object of their profession, the student, has been forgotten.

Therefore, when we talk about e-learning, I propose that we rededicate our efforts for the good of the student. Instead of pedagogical let’s say “about teachers and teaching.” Instead of Conversational Cognitive Model, let’s say, “find a way to say something so others can understand it.” And, when it comes to saying phrases like Neutral Contextual Behavioral Mode Perspective, and Environmental And Social Aspects Foci, ……well, ……let’s just don’t.

Afterall, which phrase works best : Vocabulistically Non-Academian Cognizance Inducing Socio-Intercoursional sans-Centric Mode

or Teach, so learning can happen?

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