tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030877408618016004.post1960996791014983705..comments2013-02-23T17:26:06.905-06:00Comments on Technology in the Classroom / Technology as the Classroom: Imperial MOOCs: Should We Be Worried? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409122545998929732noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030877408618016004.post-19623819145577069262013-02-19T15:16:47.748-06:002013-02-19T15:16:47.748-06:00Hi Krissa,
Thank you so much for your comments - ...Hi Krissa, <br />Thank you so much for your comments - you too have a lot of really good questions. The situation in India is very interesting right now, given the cultural diversity present in the subcontinent, the way in which they use technology, and the vast number of people who do not have access to that technology. Even within the slow progress, it still has hints of the imperial. Those who are learning in English, more than likely have had a history of contact with the Empire, for many, though certainly not all, are upper-class or upper-caste Indians. Enabling technological access throughout the country is important, such as the venture capitalists you mention. <br /><br />I too am interested in what will come out of China, especially. I think that in the era of so many people praising the global reach and access of the MOOC that there must be some of us who ask questions about its true impact beyond the information learned and shared. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13409122545998929732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7030877408618016004.post-30558876305567738562013-02-18T20:40:51.051-06:002013-02-18T20:40:51.051-06:00Brilliant analysis, great questions, and definitel...Brilliant analysis, great questions, and definitely valid concerns. I am curious, though, what educational projects & innovations might be taking place in those areas represented in red on the map. Are educators and learners there merely glumming onto the models and even the very institutions created in the green areas (and why are the UK, US, Canada, and Australia always represented on these kinds of maps in green? I feel awkward saying "in the greener areas of the globe"). <br /><br />I sort of know what's happening in India... that country is deeply influenced by its own colonial encounter with the Absentminded Empire, yet retains spectacularly the multiplicity of cultural heritages to which it is also heir. Indians have invested heavily in educational modalities that reflect the British influence, including the use of the English language as the language of education, but have discarded British conceits about the nobility and purity and humanism of the educational project, instead infusing it with a rugged pragmatism. India embraced digital and Internet technology with passion almost the moment those innovations emerged, and applied them to education assiduously. For those Indians who find educational technology within their reach, both native and global sources of learning have been more than welcome. What's more, Indian companies have even taken on the for-profit work of educating Americans (mostly in the area of supplemental services) using Internet technology (and American educations).<br /><br />But there are a great, great many in India for whom the technology is not within reach. The public school system is utterly broken. Tremendous inequality bedevils the nation, and women and children, typically the arbiters and receivers of learning, are foremost among the oppressed. Progress is being made through various efforts, but it is slow progress. <br /><br />But it is progress, and progress driven by those more fortunate Indians with the means and motivation - and technology - to help the less fortunate. To offer one example - a group of venture capitalists and CEOs of Indian educational businesses starting in the mid 2000s paid for the creation of content and the provision of computers to deliver that content to schools in drastically poor rural areas. I think they even helped make improvements to the buildings in which the children were to be educated. <br /><br />It will be interesting to see what India yields in the coming century. It won't be utopia, but it won't be Imperial, either, and it is bound to have a great deal of influence on us all. <br /><br /><br />But what of China? Of Japan? Of Russia? Of South America? Of all the others? I am wholly ignorant, but I daresay there will in some places be alternative models pushing back against the Imperial MOOC. The Knitterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12573577449557733639noreply@blogger.com