1.
Author: Gail Smith
Metaphors
for
Learning

2.
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.

3.
So what is a Metaphor?
This is a
graphical
metaphor for a
global meeting
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.

4.
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

5.
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.

6.
So what is a
Metaphor?
The image on this page
represents a metaphor. Can
you guess what it is?

7.
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.

8.
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?

9.
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?

10.
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.

11.
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?

12.
Technology has long been
considered a means to
revolutionise education, provide
greater connectivity and give
power to the masses through the
information age.

13.
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.

14.
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.

15.
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.

16.
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.

17.
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.

18.
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.

19.
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."
.

20.
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.

21.
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?

22.
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?

23.
The web is a city
You 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.

24.
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!

25.
Click the image to play the video

26.
#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.

27.
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