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• people working in shifts
• parents taking care of their small children at home
• entrepreneurs
• people living abroad
• people with health problems
• people with negative school history
• people living in sparsely populated areas
From listening towards dialogue
Thirteen years ago we started with thirteen students that studied quite
independently. It was more about giving and receiving information and
making the learning visible mainly by writing essays etc. The interaction
between a student and a teacher/tutor worked fine but there was little
interaction between the students. Now the students outnumber 500 and we
are on the way from listening to dialogue and collaboration.
The general debate related to e-learning in Finland has mainly moved
from talking about web2.0 technologies to talking about social media and
how it can be used for supporting learning. Thus the focus has shifted from
technology and tools to people and collaboration. Social media in itself is a
bit challenging as a concept as it is defined in various ways. One definition
that is quite commonly used is formulated by Eija Kalliala and Tarmo
Toikkanen. In their book about Social Media in Education (Kalliala ja
Toikkanen, Sosiaalinen media opetuksessa, 2009) they define social media
as “a process in which individuals and groups construct collective
meanings with the help of content, communities and web technologies”. In
this definition the individuals, working together and sharing are in focus,
not the technologies. Also in this article and presentation the technologies
are seen only as a means to an end. As it has been said, without people,
web2.0 is just an empty kitchen with a nice set of shiny appliances but
nothing bubbling in the kettle on the stove.
Three settings to choose from
In Online Upper Secondary School the students can choose between
three ways to accomplish courses. Using a food metaphor, they can choose
if they want to enter a buffet, an à la carte restaurant or the kitchen in order
to learn to cook.