check if everything is OK

and when do we get our results

Ruth Johnstones comments
The types of learning enabled have fundamentally changed through connectivity facilitating organisational and informal learning through utilities such as instant messaging. The very nature of informal learning makes it difficult to plan for and structure often taking place around water coolers, in corridors etc in one physical location. How much more informal learning do those not collocated have access to with technologies such as IM (Nardi et al 2002). Use of these technologies has developed essential skills for tomorrow?s economy. They have enabled dialogue on a many to many basis and enabled continued dialogue over time.(Herbsleb et al 2001 )

The changes do not necessarily have to be positive simply fundamental however the social isolation held to evolve from increased connectivity is queried by Castell(2002) who cites Uslahers survey showing Internet users tend to have larger social networks than non users. Indeed Internet use strengthened both social relationships at a distance and at a local level for sharing. While technology will encourage dependency it can be a dependency on others to evaluate and filter the vast resources that connectivity gives us access to.

defintions
Learning = The acquisition of knowledge or skill; as, the learning of languages;The knowledge or skill received by instruction or study; acquired knowledge or ideas in any branch of science or literature; erudition; literature; science; as, he is a person of great learning.

Fundamental = Forming or serving as an essential component of a system or structure; central

Change = To cause to be different

The term "connectivity" in this context is used to describe the integration of different resources, necessary to reach an educational objective. These resources may include text and hypertext, graphics and animation and multimedia (audio and video).

And finally All aspects = every perpective both physical ,mental conceptual.

Using these defintions learning can change some aspects of learning however the staement proposed states fundamemtally changes ALL aspects of learning.I tend to feel that most of the threads have not answered the statment posed and I tend to agree with Jack who seems to be the only one to answer the question.Yes connectivity changes the medium we interact with.Connectivity in the future may have the potential to fundamentally change the way we learn (if we are able to intergrate the brain with the computer physiologically at an electronic biological level and even this may not fundamentally change the way we store and retreive data (This is all theoretical and without evidence though). I not sure that connectivity fundamentally changes the way we construct knowledge although it can facilitate knowledge construction with audio-visuals and social interaction with person of different experience.With todays technology I do not believe it fundamentally changes the way we learn physiologically.i.e take learning to it most basic decoding/encoding cognitive form i.e its fundamental process physiologically.I do not feel that it fundamentally changes this it may facilitate the natural process of learning that is already latent in the brain - but I am not sure it fundamentall changes this and hence all aspect of learning start from this cognitive process leading to behavioural changes.We know alot about how the brain works but we do not know everything about the workings of the brain, so the question posed may have a differnet answer with future evidence.But neurologically computers facilitate and aid learning but I disagree they fundamentally change learning in all aspects.May be some aspects for some people i.e behavioural changes that restore the brain to its natural condition i.e ability to learn.

individual learning
First, however, it is important to remember that all learning is brain-based. Through the process of education, we are trying literally to change the brain ? not the pancreas, spleen, or lungs. Indeed, education is practical neuroscience. That does not mean that every teacher needs to become a neuroscientist or memorize 100 neurotransmitters and 50 brain areas responsible for cognition. But it does mean that teachers can become more effective with some knowledge of how the brain senses, processes, stores, and retrieves information.

Human beings are storytelling primates. We are curious, and we love to learn. The challenge for each teacher is to find ways to engage the child and take advantage of the novelty-seeking property of the human brain to facilitate learning.
Information is easiest to digest when there is emotional "seasoning" ? humor, empathy, sadness, and fear all make "dry" facts easier to swallow. Give a fact or two; link these facts into related concepts. Move back to the narrative to help them make the connection between this concept and the story. Go back to another fact. Reinforce the concepts. Reconnect with the original story. In and out, bob and weave, among facts, concept, and narrative.

Learning requires attention. And attention is mediated by specific parts of the brain. Yet, neural systems fatigue quickly, actually within minutes. With three to five minutes of sustained activity, neurons become "less responsive"; they need a rest (not unlike your muscles when you lift weights). They can recover within minutes too, but when they are stimulated in a sustained way, they just are not as efficient

The young brain handles concrete concepts better than abstracts.

The brain perceives patterns and generates rules about them.

Memory is enhanced by emotions

The brain develops fluency with practice. At first, learning is conscious and laborious, gradually becoming automatic. When the mechanics of writing or reading become unconscious, the cortex allocates more attention to the meaning of what is being written and read.

Motor memory is a separate, very enduring brain system. Once we learn to ride a bike, we don't forget.

The brain processes wholes AND parts simultaneously.

In the process of reading, the brain decodes the parts (letters and words) and decodes the meaning of the whole (sentences). In the process of writing, the meaning is already known, but the brain must now both encode AND decode: Children encode the meaning (their story) into the alphabetic code (letters and words), AND decode (read the words and sentence back to themselves.)

Change=yes ----- Fundamental change=Jury is still out
Changes to the learning environment(i.e connectivity) alters the relationships between teachers and learners, and between school and society.There are opportunities of course can be made more possible by access to communication technology.
Conceptions of learning have also shifted with a century of research on learning and teaching. The developmental, experiential, and philosophical notions of learning described by John Dewey and George Herbert Mead in the early years of the past century gave way to individual, behavioristically oriented conceptions of learning based on the early work of Edward Thorndike and extended by B. F. Skinner. Mid century, theories of knowledge construction by Jean Piaget contrasted sharply with those of Thorndike and Skinner. In the last two decades, beginning with theories of multiple intelligences by Howard Gardner in the 80's and followed by advances in cognitive science, educational research, and understandings of the neurological functioning of the brain, our understanding of learning continues to develop. The current conception is of a more constructivist process with a much stronger focus on the interactive processes.
And as learning can be :
Learner-Centered
Knowledge-Centered
Community-Centered
Assessment-Centered
The role of teachers also changes when there are significant shifts in the organisation of the learning environments, the orientation of learners, and availability of instructional tools and technology. These changes call for new roles for teachers.
There has been exponential growth in the amount of recorded knowledge so that memorization of factual information is no longer an effective approach to mastery of a field.

So depending on our learning goals this medium will chnage learning , whether it is a fundamental change? - I think the jury is still out.

blog linking OR my favourites
I think this blogging business - is becoming very useful.

I am having a tendancy to use it as my home page - use it more than my favourites

off to Paris - le nil blog !!
Off to Paris tomorrow for 1 week.

Looking forward to the sights of Paris, hopefully the weather will turn out to be pleasant .Have to catch up with my my ECA when I return.

Managaged to turn in the blogging report - took more time than I thought - seems to be the norm.

Lets see what we can learn from the French.

Fully functional Learning tool or still an early beta version
Blogging software all seem to vary , with some having just a basic set of tools and other with very sophiticated managment tools

found the movabletype blog more useful have to pay for it .But you pay for what you get and we need to finace long term improvement or thing may not change

Better tools in movabletype include global search and archiving by date and subject matter

A useful content mangement, webediting journal type software , a mix between social software and web publishing software and data mining.

Potential to be very useful for me.

Wheres the teacher or moderator - or is it me???
In the examples of sites provided (see Web logs in education), they are used by the teacher to give a daily report on where the course is going, useful links, etc. this would keep the students motivated and informed.

old fashioned journal or new web logs
In general, the learning journal is a way of documenting learning and collecting information for self-analysis and reflection.

In gerontology and other interdisciplinary health care teams, learning journals have been used to note observations (without interpretation), to make theoretical notes to interpret or explain observations and experiences, and to note methodological approaches to observations and experiences.

Nursing is another field where the reflective journal is commonly used. Here the student is able to make connections between their classroom and clinical experiences, and to clarify their attitudes towards patient care.

In teacher training, reflective journals have been used to include observation, self-awareness, speculation, doubt, problem solving, etc. The teacher trainer reads the journal and can act as a mentor in the learning relationship.

A journal's writing reflects natural speech - it is not generally inhibited or self-conscious. They make our thoughts visible and actual. We have to articulate and express those thoughts and considerations that are very personal. We therefore clarify our thought, ideas and concepts.