study versus instruction

Don Cunningham (cunningh who-is-at indiana.edu)
Fri, 9 Jan 1998 14:16:13 -0500 (EST)

Gordon,

Training versus education is a good gloss on what
I mean. Here's another that I prefer (taken from
Peirce): Education as study versus education as
receiving instruction. The second is a relatively
recent view, actually, and rather insidious. Education
shifts from something students do (or better, students
and teachers do together) to something that is done
to students. Agency is removed and learning becomes
something that the teacher or instruction causes.

On the matter of best practices, another example might
be the current push to have all faculty adopt technology
in their teaching. If your syllabus is not on the web,
if you don't use email or web conferences, if you haven't
incorporated teleconferencing, then can you really be
an effective teacher? Hands up, all those who have felt
some guilt over not having mastered HTML, even though your
campus may have offered several workshops. Ever experienced
homepage envy?

djc

Don Cunningham
School of Education
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405

Phone: 812-856-8540
Email: cunningh who-is-at indiana.edu
Homepage: http://php.indiana.edu/~cunningh