"Teleportation is a term that refers to a number of theories and notions concerning the transfer of matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them" (Wikipedia, 2011).
28 years ago I stood in the office of Turin Imports (an Italian car parts and accessory business) with my uncle Paul who owned the business. He wanted to show me his new fax machine. I remember him saying to me as though it was yesterday: "Danny boy, with this machine I can send a picture from one side of the world to another in the matter of just a few minutes". He proceeded to send a comical article from a news paper clipping to one of his suppliers in Turin, Italy. I have often wondered why this particular experience has stayed as a vivid memory in my mind. I remember at the time being fascinated trying to think about how the fax machine actually worked.
Last Sunday I was stuck in Brisbane airport for hours due to a cancelled flight. As I often observe surroundings I looked around and noted how many people were using digital devices. Phones, laptops, MP3 players, tablets - it was busy and there I was standing out like a sore thumb with my yellow Spirax lecture book trying to read and write. I couldn't help but think during my observation that we've nearly conquered teleporation! If you think about it I could have a meeting in my lounge room with whomever I choose to from anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes on the big screen (if I had one). The fact that we can talk and see each other from pretty much any position on the globe is really a wonder when you stop to think about it.
I then thought about the learners of today - how, with effective use of e learning in the classroom, their learning is absolutely accelerated. Our learners now step into a 'well manured greenhouse' of information and communication via advances in technology to grow at rapid rates - faster than ever before... but...are they growing or experiencing too quickly? Is there enough time to process and digest properly? Years ago a professor would travel the world for years to acquire information and construct knowledge where nowadays we can access all of this and more from a comfy chair! This is a good thing right? I can see it being a good thing but I also get concerned at times with the appreciation factor of our situation.
With information and communication being so easily accessible are we able to truly appreciate it? When we have moments of enlightenment today does it have a significant affect upon us for long enough to remember and actually digest our learning experience or have we been numbed by the daily 'floods' of information and knowledge available to us? Putting it simply, are we now just brain banks? Are we able to appreciate what we have? Do our younger learners comprehend what we have?
A month ago I was at a friend's house where my interest was turned to a book titled "It's a book" by Author - Lane Smith. I searched YouTube and found a book trailer which I would like to share...
It gets you thinking doesn't it! It got me thinking and I have thought about it a lot since. What a fantastic book! I have to be honest and say that I am concerned, concerned that one day as the world becomes faster, lazier and more noisy that our children's grandchildren won't know what it's like to sit down under a tree and hold a book in their hands. To touch and feel the pages, turning them one by one, appreciating the print and the process and 'living' the moment. I get concerned that sooner that later we won't know anymore what it's like to be alive, to stand with our face towards the driving rain and know what that feels like. Will the world actually become like the Disney Pixar hit WALL-E, where we travel sitting in chairs, drinking meals through a straw whilst talking to each other on screens?
I view managing e learning as finding a healthy balance. Using digital technology where it's appropriate and when it actually going to 'aid' learning - not just because it's 'easier' or more 'convenient' - when has 'easier' or 'convenient' ever been in a good learning manager's vocabulary? We need to use digital technology where we know that it will be the 'most effective' means of learning and where we see it being 'most beneficial' to our learners. By doing so I believe that we will be most effective in managing the learning of others.
I once heard a quote in a conference that goes something like this... "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing". I think this relates well to learning management. The 'main thing' for us is the learning of others by the most effective and beneficial means. If it's playdough then it's playdough. If it's a wiki then it's a wiki. Digital technology is merely another tool for the tool kit of teaching, it's no more and no less than this.
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