Campbell Reading

Am a little bemused by the reading by Nola Campbell (2004) "The Vintage Years of e-learning in New Zealand Schools." While it is an interesting history of e-learning, it appears to have an emphasis on e-mail and electronic communication and how schools could use this in their classrooms. It does however demonstrate though, that with the use of the term e-learning by Nola in 2004, how advanced she was in the use of computers and internet within the realm of education.

I was lucky enough to work with Nola in 1999, 2000 in the University of Waikato Professional Studies Department and remember talking to her then about 'online learning'.

I did like the idea that the introduction of email and the internet did (and still does) give children an opportunity to be part of a global community and Campbell also comments that "a teacher who was prepared to fill the role of the facilitator and was not afraid of change would find [electronic mail] a powerful tool." This links back to the EDPROFST 714 discussion started by Pomate regarding "No man is an island" and the need for teachers to work alongside or learn from students, rather than direct the learning (Westerland, 2010).

From this article, I think a further investigation and clarification into what e-learning is (in general and to me) is in order.