Learning

Ideas about "learning" are constantly changing.

Learners today are becoming processors--manipulators of information.

	AOL Survey: Children between 2 and 5 years old spend 3 hours a week online¹.
	"Some students say the best professors are the ones who bother to make Web pages for their courses. And a growing number of students use the quality of course Web pages as a deciding factor when picking classes.²"

Learners must develop skills that allow them to use information in ways to enhance their particular interests and expand their understandings.

	Learning requires the ability to navigate selectively through the wealth of information available.
	Learning requires open access to information, and the sophistication to use it productively.
	These capacities structure learning as an active process.

Students must become accustomed to active learning in a flexible environment.

	Time and space are flexible.
	Materials can be customized to individual needs.
	Teachers become guides and mentors rather than simply suppliers of knowledge.

The university becomes a center of information rather than simply a place to be.

Creative design can be used to link individuals to the resources available.

	"From the Comments by Students it became evident that the use of technology did not ensure that the instructional process was always enhanced. ...It is evident that technology can in fact amplify instructional weaknesses as well as strengths.³"
	Instructors must demonstrate the use of resources, take the time required to allow students to attend to these resources, and provide incentive to students for integrating online materials into their study.

These resources can be used to expand learning options.

The courses I teach are centered on the web. From there I can help my students explore the wide world of information that is available.

	Introduction to Sociology
	Alcohol, Drugs, and Society
	Sociology of Deviant Behavior
	Society and Technology

Samantha Thompson Smith, "Parents: Rank Techno-Learning for Children Beside Nursery Rhymes and Blocks," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Help@Home, Personal Technology, page EV7, Sunday, March 12, 2000.
Jeffery R. Young, "Students Say They Check Courses' Web Pages Before Deciding to Enroll," The Chronicle of Higher Education, Thursday May 27, 1999. (http://chronicle.com/free/99/05/99052701t.htm).
Jon Rickman and Mike Grudzinski, "Student Expectations of Information Technology Use in the Classroom," Educase Quarterly, No. 1, 2000.

Unless otherwise noted, all pages within the web site http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/meanderings/ © 2000 Robert O. Keel.
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