I'd like to comment on what Seb has started with his posting "Do we have a content problem?"
In the South we start with a nice complement like, "God bless Patty, she is the sweetest person," and then are able to go in for the kill with something like, What ever possessed her to dye her hair red?" The comment below follows a similar format.
I am coming to the same point Seb did in his introduction. I don't need any more information sources. I'm not interested in scouring repositories for the perfect learning object. I agree with Folksonomies folks, repositories are filled with really useful information categorized by people who are, well, not me. I'm not as interested in what others think belongs in the behemoth repositories as I am about making my own.
I've got my very own personal learning repository: it's my blog called the Friday Report. When information comes my way I post it on that blog, categorize it the way I want it to be categorized, and find the information at any time. I collect information like a sheller on the beach, picking up random objects and deciding whether to keep them or see how far out in the ocean I can throw them. I have this luxury because I use an aggregator. It brings information to me in waves.
Where I might differ from Seb, is that being an instructional developer, I do want quality content, and I realize the importance of such content to providing the foundation for academic discourse. Discourse is not created without the building of community. Initial community within the course is built by the instructor, and an important method is the presentation of knowledge. This takes all learners to a common level of understanding about the topic, and prepares them to discuss. The tone and tenor of the instructor is extremely important in the process as they also need to build commonalities between the learner.
What we must remember, is we are talking about for most of higher education is a community of learners who are young adults. Additionally, the learners may not know each other, may not want to be in the class and may not be learners who like to talk, but learners who like to read. We must allow them time and opportunity to learn, absorb, reflect on the contnet to be discussed before they are able to discuss. It is impossible for instructors to cordon off one sector of their course and crown that section king. Unless of course, the other "subjects" are attended to also.
[If you have read Seb's work, at this point you might just be saying, well, she didn't really get the point, and the point is that interaction is vital. I agree whole heartily with that concept, but not to it's exclusivity. This blog is dedicated to the promotion of interactions in higher education, and will be discussing the topic ad nauseam in the future.]
