what are we forgetting?

"learning, even in these individualistic terms, is very much a matter of being situated in a material, social, and cultural world" Gee, What videogames have to teach us, page 179

I'm very interested in online education. Today NCTE sent out an email to its members advertising a 3 part class that will teach you how to think about your assignments and make them accessible for online English instruction. I refer to this (what i consider cop out) technique as assignment translation. i just want to make my f2f assignments fit in the online classroom so i'm 21st century. I think Gee's quote above is one of my favorite's because it shows just how much we're missing when we buy into assignment translation, we're completely ignoring the context and all the situated meanings that come along with that context. some educators see the digital world as scary, new, dangerous, so translating assignments is the easy way to offer their class in the new way. they never consider how much effort it took them to figure out how to pay bills online, to talk to their friends, family and co-workers through email. all of these activities required the individual to become familiar with a particular interface and to use it a certain way with certain people to attain a certain goal. however, all of this is forgotten when we think of online education. but why?