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Why just ticking over is no longer an option

13th July 2013

A number of metaphors have been used to describe the momentous change foreshadowed for the higher education sector. ‘Paradigm shift’ is quite conventional, but ‘disruptive innovation’has become quite fashionable as Clayton Christensen’s theory has been applied to higher education. ‘Tsunami’ is another firm favourite, but the recent report published by the British think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has introduced the word ‘avalanche’ which, according to Michael Barber, one of the lead authors of the report, was inspired by an interview with the renowned historian Norman Davies in the FT late last year:

Historical change is like an avalanche. The starting point is a snow-covered mountainside that looks solid. All the changes take place under the surface and are rather invisible. But something is coming. What is impossible is to say when. Norman Davies

The Report (uploaded to Scribd and embedded below) runs to 77 pages, but is easy-to-read and contains some important messages for institutions looking to insulate themselves from the turmoil.

How to promote digital literacies among faculty

7th May 2013

In the recently published NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis, Technology Outlook for Australian Tertiary Education 2013-18, it stated (p.3) that (shock, horror) there is a need for more faculty training to improve digital media literacy ‘before being asked to teach, and for more professional development opportunities once in the profession’. More significantly, though, the report points out that:

While a lack of adequate training opportunities is a part of the challenge, ultimately a change in the mind sets of disciplines and individual faculty will be required, along with cultural shifts within institutions, before emerging tools and technologies are routinely adopted and implemented as a matter of course.

The embedded biases within the LMS and the impact on learning

26th January 2013

After almost a decade away in the corporate world, I don’t think I could have picked a better time to return to mainstream academia. Universities are changing — largely because of external pressures it must be said — and I can sense an openness to new thinking about pedagogy that wasn’t in evidence before. A key driver, I think, is the ubiquity of technology.

Whether we are talking about desktops, laptops, tablets or hand-helds, access to ICTs is no longer strictly the realm of the geek. Walk into any classroom in a university these days and its like a technology park. The big question, of course, is the extent to which all this hardware is actually serving to enhance learning.

Digital Native: Fact or Fallacy?

28th October 2011

Image source: 4.bp.blogspot.com

Poor old Marc Prensky has come in for a bit of a bashing lately, and unjustifiably so in my opinion.

First of all, he first used the digital native-digital immigrant typology 10 years ago. If one were to consider the extent to which digital literacy has advanced in this time, it is perhaps a little unfair to criticise his original thinking. Indeed, Prensky himself stated in a 2009 article:

In 2001, I published “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” a two-part article that explained these terms as a way of understanding the deep differences between the young people of today and many of their elders (Prensky 2001a, 2001b). Although many have found the terms useful, as we move further into the 21st century when all will have grown up in the era of digital technology, the distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants will become less relevant. Clearly, as we work to create and improve the future, we need to imagine a new set of distinctions. …

Second, as White and Le Cornu (2011) have noted, Prensky is not the first to try and analyse perceived behaviours of learners using typologies like this and — while they have their drawbacks — they at least initiate a dialogue for us to refine our thinking.

Third, maybe I read too much into his original work, but at no stage did I ever assume that there was native and immigrant and never the twain shall meet. It was a useful generalisation at the time and nothing more. It may have less applicability a decade later, but it can be treated as a stepping stone to alternative typologies, or something theoretically more sophisticated.

In summary, I’m not sure the notion of a digital native was ever treated as ‘fact’, and thus, it might also be inappropriate to refer to its ‘fallacy’. Let’s give Prensky some credit for sticking his neck out in a highly dynamic domain and acknowledge his contribution to the debate if nothing else.

Cognitive surplus and participatory pedagogy

2nd September 2011

Clay Shirky’s notion of cognitive surplus holds a lot of appeal and I think it provides a solid theoretical rationale for educational models that embrace a participatory pedagogy.

We are told by the marketing gurus that in the connected, socially-mediated world, participation is the new consumption, and that consumers increasingly see themselves as stakeholders in, and co-creators and champions of brands. Shirky argues that this is so because people are allocating more of their time to creative acts (rather than consumptive ones) as a result of the increasing availability of online tools that facilitate new forms of collaboration. The most interesting aspect of this phenomenon is that those engaging in the creative acts are rarely motivated by any tangible or pecuniary gain, the incentive to participate appearing to be largely sociocultural in nature.

Applying this same logic to formal education, there is a very strong argument for maximising opportunities for learners to be co-contributors to the curriculum. Student engagement will be greater and — of course — so will the cognitive surplus for learners to tap into.

Why it makes sense to invest in girls’ education

24th March 2011

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg&feature=player_embedded]
There is a well established academic literature presenting the case for investing in adolescent girls as a vehicle for social and economic progress. Anyone who has read Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea or Stones into Schools will also need little convincing. What’s missing, I think, is a compelling and engaging ‘sales pitch’ to command the attention of policy makers. This video clip is a good start. Good on you girleffect.org!

Time to dispense with the ‘fast food’ model of education

26th May 2010

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I]

Compelling viewing ( … and thankfully no reference to the Paul McCartney example which is wearing a little thin). Do what you love to do, says Robinson, as education has to feed the spirit. A standardised model of education that makes students do things they do not want to do, by implication, impoverishes the spirit just as the standard fare served up at fast food restaurants is depleting physical well being. Personalising education, he argues, by customising a curriculum to cater for individual interests, will foster the diversity of talents that communities need.

Stirring stuff, and feasible with the appropriate harnessing of technology, but not before a radical rethink about what it means to go to school. This requires disruptive innovation to take hold.

The Facebookese: citizens of the 3rd largest ‘nation’ in the world

8th May 2010

Socialnomics author, Erik Qualman, has updated his original social media stats video from last year. One of the changes is that if Facebook was a country, it would now be the third largest country in the world, having passed the US earlier this year. Another amazing statistic is that Facebook beats Google for weekly US Internet traffic which says a lot about the exponential growth of social media in the last year or so.

Other stats that stand our for me in terms of the implications for the education industry include the following:

• More than half of the world’s population is under 30;
• 96% of ‘digital natives’ are members of a social network;
• 50% of mobile Internet traffic in the UK is on Facebook;
• More than 100 hours’ worth of video is uploaded to YouTube during the 4:25 minutes it takes to watch the video; and
• Amazon sold more electronic books for the Kindle than physical books at Christmas … and this is before the arrival of the iPad!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

The Future of the Internet IV

9th March 2010

Image source: puppetgov.com

I finally found time to browse The Future of the Internet study (downloadable here) released last month by the highly respected Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. This latest survey (the fourth in a series of Internet expert studies) gathered opinions from 895 prominent scientists, business leaders, consultants, writers and technology developers on several questions, including ‘Will Google make us stupid?’ (with obvious reference to the famous Atlantic Monthly article by Nicholas Carr: Is Google Making us Stupid?). Apparently, 76 per cent of the Internet experts believe it hasn’t which is a relief given I use this site a squillion times a day.

Of more interest to me was the question: ‘Will the Internet enhance or detract from reading, writing, and rendering of knowledge?’ In this instance, a less resounding 65 per cent were of the opinion that the Internet is enhancing the way we read, write and render knowledge. Reading some of the selected responses, it is pretty clear that those answering in the negative tend to hold a fairly traditional view of reading, writing and presentation. As a self-confessed spelling and grammar nazi, I do have empathy for this view, but I believe there is a time and place for it. For example, you can’t write a dissertation in SMS abbreviations, and a Steinbeck novel shouldn’t be read in a series of Tweets. However, modes of communication will continue to evolve and, ultimately, if it is possible to convey meaning in an efficient and effective manner, then this should be the real test. This does not imply a dumbing down, but a reconceptualisation of what it means to be literate. Putting it another way, if you read lots of books and write beautifully does it matter if you are a ‘digital illiterate’? In an increasingly digital world, I think it probably does.

Thinking Differently About Teacher Education

14th October 2009

In a recent paper, Steven Barnett makes reference to a substantial body of research that establishes early childhood education (ECE) can improve the learning and development of young children; the effects varying in size and persistence by type of programme. ‘Well-designed’ preschool education programs, he says, produce long-term improvements in school success, including higher achievement test scores, lower rates of grade repetition and special education, and higher educational attainment. Some preschool programs are also associated with reduced delinquency and crime in childhood and adulthood. Significantly, the strongest evidence suggests that economically disadvantaged children reap long-term benefits from preschool.

The ramifications of this for economic development are enormous, which is why the Millennium Development Goal #2 aims at ‘Education for All’ by 2015. The problem is that an estimated 18 million extra teachers will be required to meet this goal, and to achieve that kind of scale within this time frame requires a paradigm shift in thinking as far as the process of educating prospective teachers is concerned.

In India alone, an extra two million teachers will need to be recruited. Given existing public policy settings, the chances of this happening are slim. There is also the problem of getting existing teachers to turn up. It is estimated that in any given day, teacher absenteeism is of the order of 25%.

Radical solutions are called for, and public-private partnerships may be one option. A model based on that used by Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Sustainable Social Development Institute is worth contemplating, which brings together private and public organisations to serve low-income communities, through its Virtual University and 1400+ Community Learning Centres.

Is it possible, for example, that a young Indian woman, having matriculated from junior high school, could pursue a foundation degree in ECE teacher education and learn while she is on the job? This is far from the ideal, but it is infinitely preferable to the alternative. With a satellite dish, a solar panel and an interactive whiteboard, it is technically possible to ‘beam in’ an international standard ECE curriculum (appropriately modified to be culturally inclusive), for the ‘apprentice teacher’ to deliver to children in an isolated rural community. The same technology would enable her to network with others in her situation, studying online to work towards a formal teacher qualification.

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Category: Academic literature