writing this post i have answers for several peoples in mind. But I think it could be worth to make it more general. „Why are you doing it (pause) teaching with the use of the internet, teaching by using social media – even aiming to generate public accessable content?“ That’s a question – in the moment you’ve been asked – and you have good luck, you have students at your hand you can handover this question and be sure it will go your way. If you have no students in your moment – you have your experiences – your own visions – and the glance of your students eyes you can tell about. (Maybe the glance if they got the first valuable feedback from elsewhere? Maybe something different.) But is there anything deeper? Is there an educational an pedagogical mission enabled to deliver an very good answer? This should be a challange for more than one mind. My small one will try a start with a little metaphor. It raised up in me, because as a young father of a 2 year old little and lovely and live-spreading girl – i remembered this question we had as parents very well and I am sure that those questions are deeply ancored maybe with different symbols all over the world. Here it is the picture of a hot plate (or burner Leo tells me) versus Hand or finger. What should you do in general with your kid. Will you be able to avoid your kid could get in touch? If it is so life-spreading like our daughter – you could be are a very busy busy person – I would like to predict. Let them mak the experience itself? (Then you must be the right person – very iron-harded, very strong. Compared to the above its very very much easier to avoid) But going back to the picture itself – A glance about theory gives a lot of pro’s and cont’s. There is no real and true answer – I would imagine. There is no true or false.
The only thing I think everybody would assign which is false is: To point to the lighter – tell not to use it. Locking the door and leaving the building. Leaving the land and the mind of your child. That’s what would happen if we do not do what we do. And in response to Dave Truss – thats one reason I would not be able to go back.
In the reverse this could clear a bit the part of the mission. You should be able to tell what fire could be good used before your kids could have burned themselves. They should have had the possibility to make their first experiences how creative it could be using the fire – handling the fire – steering it. They should have a glance about what could happen if it is out of control. And they should have enough learned what to be done to keep the fire burning. Chemists now know – there is a whole variety of fire (or oxidation) – so they could also be able to see the differences of fires – and techniques to get it running.
This all comes out of one sentence which got deep deep entry of my educational soul: Emanzipation – in the word meaning: Ex Manus Cipere! in German: „Aus der Hand reichen!“)
Bis denne
Andreas
