Rethinking learning: Learning technologies in a

networked society

SAASTE 2013 – Keynote 4 July 2013Prof Geoffrey Lautenbach

Faculty of EducationUniversity of Johannesburg, South Africa

An expert opinion

Putting things into perspective

Science and technology

Learning BG (Before Google)

All this technology… all this ignorance

Good teaching?Good science?

So do we learn?

And what is science?

Adults were once kids too…

Learning technologies through the ages

End of 4th millenium BC

Cuneiform - Sumerians (between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers) - now

Iraq

Hieroglyphics

Cuneiform & Hieroglyphics

• Many logosyllabic characters• Depict both “things” and “speech sounds”• Necessitates linking areas of the brain

involved in sense making, hearing, spatial analysis & decision making

• Restricted to intelligent elite

Papyrus – 2500 BC

Parchment

• Greeks & Romans• Goat or sheep hide

750 BC

• Greek phonetic alphabet• Includes vowels & consonants• 24 characters• Less “brain activity”• Led to Roman alphabet• Oral to literary culture

Wax Tablet

End of 14th century

• End of scriptura continua• Paragraphs & chapters emerged• Silent reading• Word order• Sentences

1445 – The letter press

1st wave of electronic media

• Radio • Cinema• Phonograph • Television

Limited by inability to transmit the written word

Educational Technologies

• 1964 - Understanding media: The extensions of man (McLuhan, 1964)

– “the dissolution of the linear mind”– “electric media of the 20th century are breaking

the tyranny of text over our thoughts & senses”– “the medium is the message”– “the transformative power of new communication

technologies”

McLuhan – more ideas

• “The technology of the medium disappears behind whatever flows through it”

• “In the long run a medium’s content matters less than the medium itself in influencing how we act and think”

• “The medium may mold what we see & how we see it” (changes individuals & society)

• “Every new medium changes us”

Educational Radio & Film

SABC TV May 1976

Constant companion – the computer

• Desktop• Laptop• Handheld

…and don’t forget Bluetooth & Hands-free

The Internet

The Internet

• Differs from the mass media it replaces in that it is bi-directional

• Traditional media have been refashioned as they went through the shift to online distribution

• Hyperlinks alter our experience of media• Fragmentation of online works?• Is it “an ecosystem of disruptive technologies?”

After almost 600 years…

• Printing press & its products are pushed from the centre of our intellectual lives to the edges

• World of the screen vs. world of the page• Internet = medium of choice for storing,

processing & sharing

Timeline Communication Technology Date

11 minutes ago Gutenberg Printing Press 1445

3.4 minutes ago Morse Code 1838

2.7 minutes ago Telephone 1875

2.5 minutes ago Radio 1885

1.6 minutes ago Monochrome Television 1929

54 seconds ago Fax 1966

41 seconds ago Personal Computer 1977

38 seconds ago Analogue Mobile Telephone 1979

25 seconds ago World Wide Web 1990

22 seconds ago SMS Messaging 1993

13 seconds ago Broadband 2000

1 second ago 3-D Television 2010

Source : Ken Robinson (2011) Out of Our Minds

3000 years of time in 24 hours…

education & technology

Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

Learning Technologies: Changing Paradigms?

Has learning changed? Technologies as mediating artifacts?

time

visibility

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg/300px-Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg.png

hype cyclematurity, adoption and social application of specific technologies

technologytrigger

peak of inflatedexpectations

trough ofdisillusionment

slope ofenlightenment

plateau ofproductivity

programmedinstruction

1960s

computer-assisted

instruction

1970s

hypermedia

1980s

multimedia

1990s

onlinelearning

2000s

personallearning

2010s

Learning technology-hype

openlearning

2020s

Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

The same old story?

2013: MOOCs are catalyzing institutions to rethink the “rules” of higher education … large-scale online learning is reshaping pedagogy, delivery systems, business models, and credentialing, challenging what it means to be a university.

(Educause Webinars)

1983: Control Data PLATO is changing how the world learns … A new mainframe technology serving up to 1000 simultaneous learners … two decades before the World Wide Web, PLATO pioneered online forums, message boards, email, chat rooms, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, multiplayer games – the worlds first online community.

(www.science.uva.nl/museum/PLATO.php)(thinkofit.com/plato/dwplato.htm)Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

Education

Teaching

Teaching

Thinking

Are we restricted by a system and philosophy of education

that has long outlived its effectiveness?

Digital tools are changing our world and the lifestyles we

lead• Many teachers currently in schools were born

before most technologies were available• Students take technology for granted• I was born in the 1960’s and I was not very

excited about electricity… but my grandparents were!

• Some students are NOT very excited about the technologies available now

Learners have an aptitude for digital technologies

• It is right and proper that we build technologies into the heart of education

• Learners are connected… widely connected• Technological tools are creating cultural

change • Possibilities are endless• Technologies have changed the context of

education - We must transform education! (Robinson, 2012)

Have learning technologies changed mental habits?

• Lost the ability to read a longish article on the web or in print?

• Scan short passages from many sources?• Skim & scroll?• Want quick access to info?

Trading riches of the net for old linear thought processes• Reading lots of short, linked snippets online is

a more efficient way to expand the mind” (Karp, 2008)

• “We cannot recognise the superiority of the networked thinking process because we are measuring it against our old linear thought processes” (Davis, 2008: Is Google making us stupid? Nope!)

“Every technology is an expression of human will” (Carr,

2010)• 4 categories

– Extends physical strength, dexterity, resilience• Plow, sewing machine, fighter jet…

– Extends range or sensitivity of our senses• Microscope, amplifier, Geiger counter…

– Enables us to reshape nature to serve needs/desires• Genetically manipulated corn, birth control pill…

– “intellectual technologies” extend/support mental powers• Typewriter, abacus, slide rule, sextant, book, newspaper,

computer, internet…

Intellectual technologies

• have the greatest & most lasting power over what & how we think

• are our most intimate tools for self expression, for shaping personal & public identity, & for cultivating relations with others

Language – the primary vessel of conscious thought

• Intellectual technologies can change language more directly, and deeply, by altering the way we speak, listen read & write

• Technologies that restructure language exert the strongest influence over our intellectual lives

• “Technologies are not mere exterior aids but also interior transformations of consciousness, and never more than when they affect the word. The history of language is also a history of the mind” (Ong, 2002)

Writing in modern times?

Rome, Italy, 2011

Power of the written word?Lisbon, Portugal 2011

The Future...?• 1989: ‘The future is multi-media’• 1999: ‘The future is the Web’• 2009: ‘The future is smart mobile’• 2019: ?

Modern learners are...

• more self-directed• better equipped to capture information• more reliant on feedback from peers• more inclined to collaborate• more oriented toward being their own “nodes of production”.

Education Trends | Featured NewsJohn K. Waters—13 December 2011

But they need

much more...

Modern Learners need ‘digital literacies’

Modern Learners…Do they need skills or Literacies? Literacy goes beyond skills. It involves full immersion with the culture

Learning new things and learning in new ways

= new literacies

Modern Learners will need new ‘digital literacies’

• Social networking• Creating content• Organising content• Reusing and repurposing• Filtering and selecting• Self presenting• Privacy maintenance• Identity management

language

interaction

personal dataManaging identity

Digital shadow?

reputation

privacy

Modern Learners need to manage theirdigital footprint

http://i.dailymail.co.uk(Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

Surface Learning

Deep Learning

Transformation of learning

(Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom

Transformation

ENGAGEMENT

(Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

Knowledge

Wisdom

Transformation

Knowing that

Knowing how

Knowing why

Cognition

Application

Analysis

Evaluation

Declarative

Procedural

Critical

(Adapted from Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/specialkrb/2772991999

Critical awareness is knowing why there is a difference

(Adapted from Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

So what about pedagogy?

“the theory of teaching and learning”“the art of teaching and learning”

and...

What about an online pedagogy?

learner-

centred

active

contextual

problem-based

social

emergent

an [online?] pedagogy (Sims, 2013)

Sims, R. (2012). Reappraising design practice, in Holt, D., Segrave, S. & Cybulski, J. (Eds.), Professional Education Using e-Simulations: Benefits of Blended Learning Design. IGI Global.

Sims, R. (2009). From three-phase to proactive learning design: Creating effective online teaching and learning environments, in J. Willis (ed.) Constructivist Instructional Design (C-ID): Foundations, Models, and Practical Examples. Information Age (pp. 379-391).

learner-

centred

active

contextual

problem-based

social

emergent

LEARNER-CENTRED ACTIVITY

A recent OLT report has suggested that all courses with online learning were “pedagogically deficient”.

Using your own workplace as a case study, what interventions would you adopt to resolve this deficiency? Ideas that challenge existing practice or propose contentious solutions are encouraged.

Working collaboratively with one or two peers, develop a substantiated, evidence-based response.

Your response should be [criteria].

LEARNER-CENTRED ACTIVITY FOR Sci and Tech TEACHERS

A recent report has suggested that all Science & Technology activities with online learning were “pedagogically deficient”.

Using your own classroom as a case study, what interventions would you adopt to resolve this deficiency? Ideas that challenge existing practice or propose contentious solutions are encouraged.

Working collaboratively with one or two peers, develop a substantiated, evidence-based response.

Your response should be [criteria].

problembased

contextual

emergent

social

an online pedagogy (adapted from Sims, 2013)

active

learner-

centred

active

contextual

problem-based

social

emergent

IFwe want to transform teaching and learning

THENwe must adopt a pedagogy that is

active ANDcontextual ANDproblem-based ANDsocial ANDemergent

an online pedagogy

Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

Blurring roles

teacher as designer

teacher as learner

learner as teacher

learner as designer

designer as teacher

designer as learner

Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

pedagogy

teacher-centred

learner-centred

content-based outcomes-basedlearning

consumption production

watching creating

teaching

presentation elaboration

master apprentice

Transforming teaching & learning of science &

technology

Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

A student teacher’s PLN

Possibilities?

Thank you

Email: geoffl@uj.ac.za

@sciteched_uj

Acknowledgements

Sims, R. (2013). Design Alchemy: Transforming the way we think about teaching and learning. Invited talk, EDMEDIA 2013. Available on Slideshare.

Wheeler, S. (2012). Digital learning futures. Available on Slideshare.