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Metaphors for Learning
Author: Gail Smith
Metaphors
Hi my name is Gail Smith from NSW, Australia. In this brief presentation I will take you on a journey of educational metaphors that are commonly used to describe technology and e-learning.
This artefact has been created as my final activity for the Edingburgh University MOOC - E-Learning and Digital Cultures. It is in no way futuristic as many of the artefacts and readings in the course have been. This doesn't mean the future has been ignored instead the artefact is more a reflective journal that attempts to consider the past and the future while linking it to the present.
I hope you enjoy the journey.
So what is a Metaphor?
Metaphors are a way of explaining or describing something in a way that gives extra meaning to a difficult concept by using known words to describe a concept that might be difficult for you to grasp ... we call this a metaphor.
This is a graphical metaphor for a global meeting
Metaphors are used in our everyday lives. You have probably already seen or heard them in poetry and in advertising. The great news is you can use metaphors in your own writing and even in your classroom to make your lessons and resources come to life.
Climbing the ladder of success
Metaphors are an excellent way of taking something known and comparing it to something unknown. If you use your words in this way you could make difficult concepts clearer to those who might be struggling to understand.
So what is a Metaphor?
The image on this page represents a metaphor. Can you guess what it is?
So what is a Metaphor?
Have you heard the term 'you've got the whole world in your hands'? Well that's a metaphor, you haven't really got the world in your hands.
Understanding our humanness
In the second part of EDCMOOC our quest was to understand our humanness and what it means to be human in a digital culture as well as exploring what this might mean for education. Many have attempted to define our humanness but as we try to it is revealed that our humanness is in a constant state of change or evolution. Could the scholars be right, does technology alter our humanness?
Understanding our humanness
What about the concept of 'Digital humanity'? What does this mean? Does 'Digital humanity' change or evolve as technology infiltrates and embeds itself into our everyday life? It's true technology causes boundaries to change, cultural contexts to change but is our humanity changed? This is not an easy question to answer. Technology offers us a world where possibilities are endless and globalisation is revolutionary ..... but does it have the power to conquer us, unite us or divide us?
Understanding our humanness
Charlie Chaplin thought 'more than machinery we need humanity' he believed people 'had the power to create machines, the power to create happiness... and make this life free and beautiful'. He challenged us to fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress leads to all men's happiness.
Understanding our humanness
No matter what you think of technology we all want a world like Charlie Chaplin describes. Through the use of technology in education it might just be possible to achieve this but the question still remains is this a utopian world or it is a dystopian world?
Technology has long been considered a means to revolutionise education, provide greater connectivity and give power to the masses through the information age.
As you read through the literature and research available you can't help but notice the play on words through the use of metaphors. Metaphors themselves are part of our digital culture, they shape our thinking.
Metaphors help us to frame meaning and they are an important part of a teacher's toolkit but before we explore how we use them in our classroom it is helpful to see how they help professionally and culturally.
Metaphors can also help us frame our own identity not just our individual identity but also our professional identity. Lynne Thomas and Catherine Beachamp from the School of Education, Bishop's University, Quebec explain that developing a strong sense of a professional identity for a new teacher could be crucial to their personal development and well-being in the profession. They explain that metaphors assist the teacher to frame and define experiences in order to create meaning in one's life.
Metaphors of the computer and Internet era
Metaphors are not a new thing. Over the years you have probably heard many metaphors used to describe computers.
These metaphors attempt to provide a way for the computer user to understand complex terms and processes.
Can you guess the metaphor – it has something to do with a computer?
Have you ever had an error message that said 'must have cookies enabled' when you have tried to access a certain website? Did this leave you totally confused? Funny enough this message does not mean that you must have cookies by or even on your computer ..... even though many of you were probably hoping it did.
According to wikipedia a cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in the user's web browser while they are browsing a website. Next time the user comes back to the same website the data stored in the cookie is retrieved by the website to provide information to the website of the user's past activity.
Can you guess the metaphor – it has something to do with the internet?
When you are asked to bookmark something on your computer it means you should save the link (page address) to your bookmarks (or favourites) so you can easily retrieve it later.
Can you guess the metaphor – it has something to do with the internet?
Have you heard the term 'Surf the Web'?
'Surf the Web' is a term that is used to describe how an Internet user moves through (or browses) websites. About.com describe the practice as 'jumping from one link to the other, following items of interest, watching videos, and consuming all sorts of content; all on a variety of different sites. Since the Web is essentially a series of links, surfing the Web has become a very popular activity with millions of people across the world.".
Can you guess the metaphor – it has something to do with a computer?
To protect computer users from unwanted intruders we use the metaphor 'firewall' to describe the level of protection we can expect for our computers.
There are so many other metaphors used to describe the use and functionality of a computer, for example:
My computer is down - used to indicate the computer is not working or functioning at the moment
An electronic filing cabinet - builds on the capability of a physical filing cabinet. The term is used to describe the area files are stored in.
What about cut, copy and paste - are you actually cutting anything?
The web is a city
Social media introduces us to even more metaphors for marketing and education - but what does this have to do with a city?
The web is a cityYou will soon be invited to watch a short YouTube by David Meerman Scott to discover how the world wide web can be understood by the metaphor of a city.
In this video David uses this metaphor to help his audience to understand how they can participate successfully using social media.
David uses this metaphor to help his audience to understand how they can participate successfully using social media.
David explains that when you assign important aspects of the web to parts of a virtual city you begin to see how you can function in this virtual city and how you can be successful in your use of social networking sites. The key of course is .... You have to be a participant!
#EDCMOOC encouraged us to explore common theories of humanism, post humanism and transhumanism to gain a deeper understanding of digital cultures.
From this journey it is clear that educational culture as we know it have and will continue to evolve through the use and application of technology in the learning environment.
Using simple metaphors like the' world wide web is a city' can assist today's educator to understand their role in interpreting digital culture and help their learners to navigate and engage successfully with technology in education.
Credits
Reading
Understanding new teacher's identities through metaphors
Websites
Wikipedia
About
Videos
Business TV show: Explained - Social Media in terms of the tortured metaphor
A message for all humanity: Charlie Chaplin
