Just reviewing Hooks’ Teaching to Transgress and Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, both of which focus on the humanity of teaching. I think most of us involved with technology and teaching get the importance of “keeping the humanity” alive. I’m concerned that the folks who are a bit skeptical about technology, or a design approach to teaching and learning will do more harm than good when they get their hands on new tools. I’m seeing in the Second Life educational community a lot of projects and approaches which mean well, but really aren’t effective because of a lack of understanding about the technology, the context, how people learn and how to design learning. These are more important than in a Hooks’ kind of classroom because when things don’t go right, the humanity can only go so far at appeasing the frustration, boredom, confusion, etc.
Only the most highly motivated learners will slog on through. DE (distance ed) is a case in point. Lot’s of miserably designed DE programs have given the approach a bad rap. The unfortunate thing in the case of DE, is that it can be a viable option for many learners, not just those who’ll slog through poor designs.