The e-pioneer fights apathy.
Flocci non facio.
This is Latin for: “I can’t care a thread of wool”. In Roman times this phrase was used to express a total lack of concern in a certain matter, even if it was an important one.
E-pioneers know that technology plays an important role in teaching and learning and want all teachers to share in its benefits. They are skilled in overcoming obstacles and fighting enemies that stand in the way of adopting e-learning.
A difficult enemy to fight is a flocci non facio mind-set. Today we call this attitude apathy. The e-pioneer knows that this non-caring state is dangerous – it lulls teachers into inactivity and makes them believe that e-learning is just a fad and is not important at all.
Apathy is a challenging enemy to meet in combat – it is so insidious. Other enemies make a frontal attack, but apathy works from inside a person – it weakens the desire to act.
The only way to fight apathy is through involvement. Persuade those who are indifferent to discuss the reasons for their lack of interest in pursuing e-learning; encourage them to engage with the equipment and learning material; let your own enthusiasm be infectious. And persevere – apathy can’t be neutralized during one session.
Apathy kills e-learning initiatives – an e-pioneer never stops fighting against it.
Click here for more food for thought for e-pioneers.
A = A
P = Person’
A = Attitude
T = That is
H = Hindered by his own
Y = Yoke !!
Get rid of that feeling of not being interested in e.g. EIAWB. Create a-path-y can follow !!!
Albie e-path-I-follow
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We all suffer of apathy to a greater or lesser degree, depending on how a situation affects us. In our job we encounter apathy towards:
(a) the use of ICT in both teaching and learning. I cannot always understand this as the people who need it the most are still getting the rough end of the stick.
(b) burglaries and crime. They are not always reported. Very few take responsibility for going through the motions, shepherding the process to its conclusion. This seems to be the case in the wider community too.
(c) working together to make things work.
My biggest gripe which I feel that all of us are not addressing enough is apathy towards learning by learners-the next e-learning pioneers. Not enough is being done to get the learner involved in his/her learning. I’m not advocating that learners must sit 24/7 with their learning material but that a concerted effort must be made to get learners engaged in what they MUST do. Many years ago while teaching I read an article on why good teachers fail to produce results. Learner involvement was the problem. I read another follow-up article I read on why Asians were doing so well in a foreign country despite being illiterate. A reason for this phenomena was the socialization aspect in learning. Families sat together at night doing homework after supper despite having heavy workloads.
As an e-learning advocate (in some respect) I feel we must tackle the socialization aspects that the electronic media can provide so that the next e-learning pioneers can do better than we are currently doing.
[…] • lack of departmental support • lack of support and guidance from the principal • lack of training opportunities • no time given to learn the skills • overloaded with too many administrative burdens • having to attend too many training sessions on curriculum matters • unreliable technology • too little (or no) technical support • no time slots available to get into the computer room • flocci non facio attitude […]