Activity 4 - Discussion - self-paced learning

Good night Ladies,

Thank you for starting the discussion and for giving us a few good arguments to defend group paced learning...

First all, quantity is not quality. We can not measure the relevance of our posts by the quantity.... The match ends only when the referee blows the whistle.
So if you say 2-0, we must say...wait and see...

Second. How can you defend self-paced learning when we are doing a great and typical group paced learning activity? If this discussion was self-paced how many weeks could last this activity. Would it be as effective as we are doing? We don't believe it could work as well...

Third. You say that "students should be responsable for their own pace" and that "no one is making any pressure with deadlines". People learn with each other, in group. Teacher should set deadlines or otherwise a course that should last 6 months could last 2 years. How many teachers could deal with this clasroom ?

Finally. We must agree. "the new means of communication brought many possibilities to online distance education". The problem of self-paced is interaction. It doesn't promote group working. People can, as you say, "download", "fulfill their assignments", "access to a bigger amount of information", but what about interaction. How can they build their knowledge in a group ? For example, by now, George Siemens and Stephen Downes are giving the Second Edition of the course "CCK - Connectivism & Connective Knowledge". All the content, since the beggining of the course is on the net. It's true that is a course that can be made at our own pace, but if don't interact with the others learners in group paced learning, we are exclusive passive learners. We won't be able to contribute to build colective knowledge.

Men rules...

Hello dear Paulo!

Alright... You are making group-based learning look very pretty but it is not that perfect!

You are right, quantity is not quality but someone had to start! ;-)

Second, yes, we are doing the activity in group because we are a team and we decided to do it that way. And because of this specific experience we can say that group paced learning is very difficult to do. We have been suffering all the the effects of doing the activity this way. It is not easy at all! We have to meet, talk, discuss, use collaborative tools so in the end we have a post that we are all happy with. Whereas if we were doing this same activity individually, each of us working at our own pace, our advances would be way quicker, we could look for information, read it, pick the interesting parts and then write a post without discussing it with the other team members. So the rhythm of this discussion would flow faster. but we like difficult paths so we decided to do it in group! :)

Third, if a learner is motivated enough to follow a self-paced course, they won't take ages to finish it! If they do take that long time, it means they really made the right choice because they couldn't follow a course with strict deadlines and structure. You are applying the word "classroom" here... but if we are talking about self-paced learning we can't say that! if 2 learners can start the course at the same time and finish it in different timings then it shouldn't be called classroom in the traditional meaning of that word. Also because learners can have the possibility of starting the course whenever they want to... so, are we talking about classrooms here? Isn't it self-paced? because the way group-based works is very difficult to start a course if we suddenly see it and want to do it but... :( sadly it has already started... and we need to wait for next year's schedule... Does this waiting process bring any motivation to someone that was so excited about learning new things?

And you talk about the teachers dealing with self-paced learners... and dealing with so many different learners, at the same time, with so many different paces and learning styles? Isn't that difficult?

Fourth, "show me the proves" :) People can learn individually, without having to be in a group. The tools that Internet provides allow us to do that. More and more we have the possibility of staying home and learn with no limits! Someone that embraces a self-paced learning course doesn't want to be ruled by the teacher's pace. And just because you learn at your own pace it doesn't mean you are passive! it is exactly the opposite! You are VERY active in your learning process: having to choose you path, selecting material, doing research and being more and more independent. You end up having an even more active role in your own learning process than if you were doing it in a group. You get more involved and this brings along motivation and interest for what you're doing.

Last, "Men rules"... only in your tiny limited world }-]