The technology clock...

For the past few days I have been reflecting quite heavily on what I have read regarding learning theorists, learning theories and the learning requirements of today's learners. I feel greatly overwhelmed by what I have have studied and am puzzled mainly in relation to the future of technology. It is true that we don't really know what is lying ahead of us or what information and communication technology will be made available in the next 5 years, let alone the next 10 or 20 (Can't the Steve Jobs' of the world fill us in?)


In my short life of 37 years I have watched the world change rapidly in the way we share information and communicate and in technology in general. Maybe I was deprived or I'm 'old' enough to remember when colour television first landed in our lounge room - what an exciting day that was, something that is now just a given. I can remember the release of the first mass produced family computers - the Commodore 64, the Atari, the Apple and let's not forget the IBM. In all of my primary school years I can only remember two friends that actually had a computer at home, everyone wanted to go to their house to have a look. It wasn't really all that long ago that I was watching a friend load a program using a cassette tape loader - Pacman seemed to take forever to load before you could play it!


I can recall when mobile phones were released commercially. From what I remember they had a price ticket of around $1000 and were transported in a carry case (quite heavy). The handset was very basic and attached by a cord to the receiver/transmitter box. It wasn't something that you would carry down the street just to look the part unless you were feeling strong!


The method of communication during my growing years was mostly: hardwired telephone, television, radio, walkie talkies, face to face or postal mail and I had better not forget the fun we had on the intercom! Emailing, SMSing, MMSing, blogging, websites, twitter, wiki pages, myspace, chat rooms, facebook, avatars or any other form of electronic information, communication or interaction were not an option. Yes, they were the quiet days, much quieter than now.


How could I ever forget my first mobile phone? It was a brick, had poor reception, bruised your leg if you ran with it in your pocket and seemed like it had to be recharged every few hours and that's without using it! I was reluctant to make calls because it cost too much and if it rang I didn't know what to do with it!


Change has come at such a rapid pace and is accelerating daily. It's no wonder that the older generations are dazzled, overwhelmed and reluctant to come on board! The information and communication technology that is for sale today is already outdated and I absolutely hate it when I'm told, a year after purchasing a new lap top, that it's too old to do anything with! Grrrr!


There's no denying our increasing reliance upon new information and communication technology. In following paragraph I have provided some factual, statistical information as to just how much things have changed within Australian households over a recent 10 year period...


From 1999 to 2009 homes with internet access have quadrupled from a mere 16% to 72%, furthermore 78% of all households in Australia have access to computers. 91% of households with children under the age of 15yrs have computer/internet access - yes, 91% and of the 2.0 million children accessing the internet at home in 2009, 85% of children accessed educational activities. (Australian Bureau of statistics, 2009). What does this mean for today's learning manager? I will attempt to explain this further on but for now we can comfortably draw a conclusion that digital natives are hungry for more...


In 2009, 31% of children aged between 5 and 14yrs had access to their own mobile phones. (Australian Bureau of statistics, 2009). Since 2009 all of the percentages mentioned have increased significantly in correlation with the advancement of technology. If you told someone in 1990 that within 20 years 'live' communication and information access to and from the world would be carried around in a young person's pocket you would have been laughed out of town; but really it's no laughing matter.


As learning managers we are in trouble aren't we! Many of us are not digital natives, in fact I would go as far as saying that most are not. My own children are - they are are not intimidated in the least by new technology, in fact they thrive on it. One of my sons in particular (9 years of age) offers to help me when I get stuck! How can that be? They just seem get it and it amazes me that they do. Embarrassingly I must confess that it wasn't until last week that I personally learned not only what a wiki was but the value of wiki pages to learners  localised and globalised. How many times have I visited wikipedia without ever knowing that the information therein comes from and belongs to the world. A worldwide, living, breathing encyclopedia, constantly updated - huh, who would have thought? What a way to learn and grow together. I also learned that the word wiki means 'quick' or 'fast' and wikis are a fast way of learning if you think about it...


A class of 30 students are broken into 6 groups of 5. They are assigned the task of collaboratively researching different aspects of a chosen topic. Each group has access to a wiki page that has been created specifically for the topic. As information is collaboratively researched and collated the wiki is continually updated 'live' with the latest information from the learners' research. It can be done from school, home, a friend's place or basically anywhere with a computer and internet connection. In a short period of time the students have created a living document collaboratively. Together they are exposed to the pluses, minuses and implications of team work and that of researching and gathering information. They are given the opportunity to express themselves, to form opinions and establish conclusions. They also have chance to practice and explore grammar and the English language. The six groups are placed in a situation where they also have to collaborate. In doing so every learner learns from one another. If the experience is debriefed properly and discussed openly further learning will occur.  


Wiki pages are not without their challenges though - they can be less effective or even damaging if left unsupervised or incorrectly managed. An example being that incorrect information could be researched and then posted. Some learners in this environment if left un-managed may not contribute enough. This is where I as a learning manager start to feel more comfortable about the whole technology thing...


I will most likely never be as technologically savvy as the digital native generations, in fact I know as much as I would like to be I wont! What I do know however is how to create and manage a learning environment. Albert Einstein stated the following... "I never try to teach my students anything, I only try to create an environment in which they can learn". Isn't this the nuts and bolts of our job, even with e learning? We establish the environment, we collectively set a challenge, a research topic or a goal, we resolve concerns, we assist the learner in seeing the value, we instruct, we help explore the curiosity, we assist in gathering information, we guide, we suggest, we help problem solve, we counsel, we prompt, we encourage and the learning is ultimately achieved by the learners.


The biggest challenge facing us however is to suitably prepare our learners for an unknown technological future and how on earth do we go about doing this? It is my suggestion that as the technology clock ticks on we welcome the advances and embrace the changes rather than ignore them. We research and learn about the latest electronic learning mediums and look for opportunities to implement them. We may need to outsource help at times, we may need to continually educate and stretch ourselves. Colleague networking is a great way to keep up to speed with the latest advancements. We may use or create wiki pages, we may choose to use blogging. Podcasts may come in handy. We may establish an online question and answers forum. Creating a homework web page or a live interaction activity might be necessary (if you don't know how ask and involve the digital natives, maybe this could be a very valuable learning experience for them). We can create the most modern and effective learning environments for our learners. Our learners and their development for the future must be foremost in our minds. Some e learning avenues that we explore may be less effective or not even work at all whilst others may be extremely successful and very suitable to learning requirements.


The trap that can easily catch the learning manager and even seal a learning manager's fate is to ignore the technology clock - be assured it will keep ticking and as it does valuable learning opportunities and more effective ways of learning will just pass on by...