Forgot how to change a password. Go watch the video. Need to remember how to change the context in Novell to get my U drive storage space to appear? Go watch the video. All of this plus much more will eventually be enshrined in short videos for the employees at all 70+ campuses to review and train themselves.
This leads me back to my first observation about the multimedia lab. I am not kidding when I mention that all women who see the setup, which has been very prominently displayed until our new home is available in August, has made some comment about fashion shows, shoots, glamour, or photos. Yet every guy who walks in notices the green screen and the video camera and gets excited about video opportunities. Is this an example of how our minds work differently?
The excitement of unboxing and learning new things has set in and I am finding that breaking down the reaction from educators is more amusing than I thought it would be. Resistance to change is an epidemic in education. Once I mention that no we will not be debuting the next Kardashian line of clothing the offended person immediately tells me that videos won't work.
"I need to see it in person, someone has to explain it to me while I do what I am learning." "Videos are boring we don't want to watch videos." Across the board the female response has been, with a couple exceptions, negative while the male perspective has been embracing. What does that say about us as educators and the breakdown in learning? Are we truly allowing ourselves to be defined by gender?
The men seem to like the idea that they can control the learning as they can pause, rewind and fast forward a video. Women miss the human element and social aspect of learning. One wants to get the act of learning out of the way so that they can do while the other is more interested in the process of learning.
The question for us as the lab is around longer and starts to show a finished product will become the efficiency of learning versus the time honored traditions of one to one face time. Do we continue to let ideas about how we best learn take control or do we stand up and embrace that we are life-long learners? As a life long learner whether male or female shouldn't we take responsibility for our learning and shake off the fear of learning models that challenge the old lecture and hand holding methods?
Just some thoughts about learning that have come up the last few days. Please excuse me I have to go watch a YouTube video to see how this thing is supposed to work.