Q: Should we continue to teach & learn in 'traditional' ways (whatever they may be) or should we bring the latest internet technology into our teaching, utilising the very skills & techniques that our pupils and many adults use in their private lives? In a recent NAACE report it was suggested that, to present-day pupils, learning in 'traditional' ways may be less effective*. This begs a lot of questions but there may be something in it...
Neurophysiology is shaped by the media we use and the brains of young people are under a sustained assault from "interruption", "non-linear" and "social" technologies that provide abundant but fragmented information in a manner that impairs reading in a sustained and cognitively effective manner. Their youthful brains are being wired in a specific way through the use of this technology and it is a struggle for 'traditional' education, with its emphasis on deep reading and understanding, to compete. This presents problems but, as we shall see below, problem solving is one of the skills that our pupils should learn and we must set a good example.
The future world will present different challenges to those that faced generations of 10 or more years ago. Pupils must continue to navigate the individual paths of learning to examinations; indeed, part of the argument here is that examination results, especially at AS Level, might be improved by the adoption of the techniqueslisted below; it may at least be worth a try.
Educationalists in the US have defined a curriculum (Route21) that includes skills relevant to all subjects: media, learning, innovation, life & career skills; specific skills include: communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. Many of these will be mediated by net technologies, as will the processes of teaching and learning. These skills sit above the old cores of traditional subjects, which have not gone away and which must still be acquired for success in a wide range of careers. The skills are important for the way they capitalise on the knowledge and techniques that young people already have and which they can use for their own ends.
Skills and technologies include:
Q: how, if we are to use these techniques, should we proceed? Do we simply start learning the techniques and applying them as we think fit? (I can't see any reason why not! I personally do not want to be held back by some bureaucratic procedure. And we won't know if they are any good until we try them.) But should we also draw up policies and plan their deployment in a more circumspect manner?
The picture presented here is that of teachers and pupils using a range of internet-based tools, with the individual teacher or learner blending them into an integrated set according to his or her own practices and priorities. This does not make a VLE or anything like it and should be seen as an additional rather than as an alternative. These applications have the advantages of being practically free of charge and of having proved themselves by surviving within a niche in the internet ecosystem.
Recommended film: Networked Student
* Research into neurology is showing that children and adult learning approaches, and how they interact with other people, are changing as the use of technology in our lives becomes ever more ubiquitous. There is even some research indicating the possibility that existing educational approaches may become less effective as a result. This implies that continuing with existing good teaching approaches is not sufficient and that schools need to explore how technology can maintain the excellence of teaching and extend it.
This may be based on research suggesting that young people's brains are being 'wired' by net technologies and becoming something very differnt to those who grew up in an era of books. The net is non-linear and deliberately distracting so works against sustained concentration, sequential thought and deep understanding; use of the net improves decision making and evaluation but reduces other valuable skills. We will want to retain concentration and deep thinking so must proceed with some caution and use net technologies with care and attention to the details of presentation. For example, learning materials should be presented in an environment that is free from distraction (e.g. videos in full-screen) and in sequence rather than in the net's everything-at-once fashion.
What do others think?