Is the way we learn changing?

[Steve]

Perhaps not the methods through which we learn, but the media through which we obtain information.

For example, I used to like watching documentaries on the television. However, now, I prefer to read online articles - for some reason I find them far more interesting than reading a book (except a really good O'Reiley book on something obscure like "PC Hardware in a Nutshell") or reading the newspaper.

I watch the news for half an hour a day - find out that Britney Spears cheated on Justin, some other famous person is going to prison for doing something naughty, some company has been swindling money out of people, and Dave is suing Mike for calling him an oboe when he was five.

Then, I fire up the computer, hit some forums, spread and gain some knowledge, following that I check out www.theregister.com for news that's ACTUALLY interesting.

I don't feel like going on anymore; time for somebody else's thoughts...

edit: Oh, one more thing - I think the point I'm making is that TV is increasingly providing pointless information that isn't of much use to anybody.

[petrefax]

i tend to agree that changes have been made to the medium of education - i did teacher training 9 years ago & at the time most of what i did used a piece of chalk & a blackboard, or if there was one available an OHP with slides i'd hand-written with what was basically a felt pen

these days i have a laptop connected to an svga projector. most colleges are using interactive whiteboards in place of blackboards. a mate of mine who is part-way through teacher training at the moment has told me that interactive whiteboard use is part of the syllabus on her course...... they hadn't been thought of when i was doing the same course!

(ok, so now i'm starting to sound a bit "i remeber this place when it was all fields" but you get the idea!)

/wanders off looking for pipe & slippers

[Steve]

My old school started to get interactive whiteboards in my last two years there, and my college is plastered with the things. It's amazing how quickly things change.

[FunkyT]

Virtual learning environments are also pretty cool e.g. http://www.blackboard.com/

They're certainly one of the ways forward if you're studying from home or on a part time basis.