Forum posts

Find a film, a poem, a novel, a short story, a picture, an animation, a song, a video clip or any other artifact that u think it tells something about the Other Adult Learner and comment upon it. How this Other Adult Learner is imagined or 'described'? Reflect on how u, as an adult educator, could relate to this adult(s). 

Forum post 4

The notion of “other” means when a person is different from the group, and they are not accepted by the group. To illustrate this point, let me share with you my school experience. I attached a photo of my class-11 grade. There you will see a blonde boy in glasses, who is Albino. His name is Enes Gutyeres Eulohio. He is “the other” in many ways: set of genes, nationality, religion, giftedness. As Dr Zuleika Zevallos (2011) gives a very good explanation of how otherness is constructed through the concept of “social identities”. She claims that “social identities reflect the way individuals and groups internalise established social categories within their societies, such as their cultural (or ethnic) identities, gender identities, class identities, and these social categories shape our ideas about who we think we are, how we want to be seen by others, and the groups to which we belong”.

Zevallos, Z. (2011). What is Otherness? https://othersociologist.com/otherness-resources/

The Lifesaver interactive videos can help people save lives. Taking the perspective of the mainstream values of your home community, how acceptable and hence useful you think these videos would be in informing this community on CPR? Why? Alternatively, you can check "Stan"!

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As for my country, these videos would be accessible only for those who can afford high speed internet. If I imagine that Tajik people have it, I would say that Stan and Lifesaver are useful and acceptable.

Tajikistan is located in an actively seismic zone, and there are also spring floods in the mountains, so anybody can end up in a situation where either help is needed or you are the one who needs urgent help. There is a huge demand for such games and videos.

These apps stimulate a high level of the engagement  thanks to asking questions and providing immediate feedback. According to an expert in differentiation Dr. Tomlinson (2014), students should have the opportunity to do the task at different speeds, with various kinds of support, in different groups, and in different modes.The point of going back to questions answered in a wrong way is an example of differentiation where such factors as students with weaker knowledge or where questions are more complex are taken into consideration. 

Tomlinson, C. A. (2014). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Which of the learning theories u think is closer to what learning means personally to you? What are its strong points and its possible weaknesses?

Forum post 2

Having read Mattar (2018) and especially McLeod (2019), I realised constructivism is closer to me. It focuses on authentic tasks which are extremely important for teaching English as a foreign language and its focus on constructing meaning is crucial for teaching Critical thinking; I teach both these two subjects, so I am certainly interested in exploring learning theories which are more relevant to what I do.
As for its strong points, McLeod (2019) mentions that it is student-centered, and pursuit of student questions and interests is valued. With respect to its weaknesses, McLeod (2019) identified a contradiction in this theory. On one hand, it assumes that learning is socially constructed, and on the other hand, learning is personal. Next, this theory is mostly related to face-to-face education, but now times have changed, and perhaps this learning theory needs reconsideration regarding online learning. As Siemens (2008, quoted in Mattar 2018), claims that technological development and social software considerably change how learners get access to information and knowledge and collaborate with their teachers and peers.

Mattar, J. (2018). Constructivism and connectivism in education technology: Active, situated, authentic, experiential, and anchored learning. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 21(2), 201-217.

In your home community how prominent you think are ageist stereotypes about older adults’ capacity to learn how to use computers?

Forum Post 1

Ageist stereotypes about older adults’ capacity to learn how to use computers exist to some extent in Tajikistan. There were no special computer courses for the elderly before Coronovirus. Only recently a new course on using a mobile phone has been offered to the retired people. I think that with age the ability to earn money by elderly people plummets, and society views elderly people as burden. There are no projects in my country which would invest into computer literacy of elderly people. If for example, a family has a choice to invest into a computer course for a child/student or a grandparent, the younger generations will get this opportunity by all means. Additionally, sellers of mobile phones or computers do not target their production specifically for aging population. With age people see poorly, their hearing gets weaker, and fingers have arthritis. However, retired people are not profitable for such companies; they cannot afford an expensive smartphone.

Nevertheless, I must say that in most cases people in Tajikistan would be willing to help their retired relatives with the phone, Viber app (instant messager) or an email.

What is your point of view on this somehow opposing and contradicting ideas? And how would you use this approach in your classroom?

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I would recommend students using free online courses to complement their knowledge and to prepare for their studies abroad. As it is mentioned in Knox’s article, “The OER movement proposes extensive free access to information in the form of web-based digital resources for teaching, learning and research, and is associated with a wide range of projects including MITs ‘Open-CourseWare’, and the ‘OER University’” (Macintosh, McGreal, and Taylor 2011, 822). The fact that OER provides free resources is especially important for vulnerable groups of people. Further, it is confirmed in the article that its mission is to give opportunities to study for those individuals who cannot get them in any other way. For example, Coursera offers an excellent course “Social Pedagogy Across Europe” https://www.coursera.org/learn/social-pedagogy-europe for free, which would otherwise cost 1,125 dollars for one credit hour (average American university course is usually worth 3 credits, so 3,375 dollars per course). Teachers or students who are going to become teachers cannot afford such extortionate fees, so OER can promote educational equity.

Jeremy Knox (2013) Five critiques of the open educational resources movement, Teaching in Higher Education, 18:8, 821-832