I am just sitting on the train back from Nuremberg to Cologne after a day of intense discussion and thinking. I met new people and I appreciated to have had a chance to learn a lot.
Most of the people seemed to have a more general interest in the subject and were not trying to discuss particular questions. That let to a more open discussion where people were willing to jump on topics which were not so close to their personal issues.
I was not able to answer some of my questions but there was a lot of other things emerging that were worth listening to without sticking to own themes.
I was missing some critical voices that really challenged the advocates of “self organized learning” and “personal publishing” as a method of facilitation. I won’t say that the discussion was positivistic journey into self fullfilling prophecies, but I think it is pretty hard with a bunch of convinced bloggers to crack the reasoning of a student that has good arguments against an unquestioned and pseudo-liberal “self responsibility” in formal education.
There is more responsibility that remains on the side of the educator than just to be a “light tower” for otherwise self-organized learners. There is a strong expectation among students about the benefits of studying in contrast to being self-learning and I am not ready to agree that most university courses fail miserably in helping students master certain fields. What I would agree on is that many courses define a much too strict curriculum that leaves few or no chance to practice a research approach in learning.
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