The iPad and the essentialism of technology in education
Sep 8th
I was taken with Jane Searle’s paper at ALT-C yesterday on social inclusion and justice, in emerging work with disenfranchised traveller communities. She made several points that resonated for me.
- Individual technologies are not culturally neutral, but that it assumes a form, linked to social relationships and power, based on their enculturation. So the possibility exists for technology to be appropriated in different ways by separate communities. This connects into the work of Feenberg on techno-essentialism or determinism, where technology is seen to be an end in and of itself, or where it is seen to be neutral in mediating relationships and outcomes, rather than forming part of a socio-cultural environment that exudes power relationships and can be marginalising. Our language in negotiating with people around their use of technology is crucial in enabling them to make sense of the tools, rather than their being told what to do. A separate outcome is that we critique the immanence of technology.
- Engagement with technology for social or learning outcomes takes time rather than being a quick fix, or a desperate search for the next tool as a commodity fetishism. Engagement with the frameworks of participatory action research gives us a framework for using technology over-time More >
We should celebrate not denigrate teaching in higher education
Sep 7th
I’m blogging on the fly, so forgive the lack of links. But the key note at ALTC2010 was shocking and made me grumpy. So…
Set-up by Richard Noss’s techno-essentialism, a world in which technology apparently equates to radical pedagogy, and the lecture [whatever that is] is based on crude early modern, controlled and ineffective pedagogy, I was then faced with an unnecessary attack on lecturers and lecturing by Donald Clark.
In the face of the evidence of institutional learning and teaching awards, institutional analyses and critiques of NSS scores/student engagement – often in partnership with students, the work on pedagogic innovation that has been presented at a range of national and international conferences over the past 30 years, Clark set-out a world based on allegedly scientific principle, where lectures have no value, where lecturers do not innovate and are both poor and lacking in social skills, where higher education management is inefficient in comparison to the factory, and where universities do nothing for social inclusion.
My take is that:
1.institutions have been working tirelessly through teaching awards (often nominated/managed by students) to enhance learning and teaching in the face of massification and intensive cost reduction;
2.staff at institutions have been working tirelessly to engage and More >
The Politics of Technology in Higher Education: a Case for EdTech Activism
Sep 3rd
There is an urgent need to deconstruct and re-frame the dominant ideology surrounding the place, pace and use of technology within higher education. This hegemonic position is framed by a narrative that prioritises the use of technologies for personalisation, efficiency, effectiveness, value-for-money, transparency, openness and participation. However, critique of this narrative is limited. We believe that in order to engage meaningfully with the disruptions of political economy, those involved in innovations in the use of technology in higher education need to take a more critical stance.
In order to develop this position, Richard Hall, Dave White and Joss Winn will be offering a series of four, open workshops that will aim at a critical deconstruction of the place of technology within higher education in all its social forms, and the development of viable futures. These workshops will focus upon:
1. Deconstructing the neutrality of technology in higher education.
2. Social relations, mass intellectuality and a pedagogy of excess.
3. The cult of openness.
4. Technology and power in higher education.
Would you get on-board as part of a bid to take this forward? If so, email Richard Hall.
Turning Point, Audience Response System, initial thoughts
Aug 25th
Just back from a Turning Point demo. Basically Turning Point allows you to create live survey type questions to your audiences where they vote/choose in real time and have the poll results displayed in demographic, team or percentile. Here are some facts: Turning Point integrates with PowerPoint and looks easy to set up. It looks a good tool to get students engaged and retrieving feedback for further discussion based on poll results. These poll results can also be later analysed through reports as exported in MS Excel. You can also create questions on the ‘fly’ during the session (‘Time for Coffee break?) if needed. I can see how this tool works well for large groups as well keeping students attentive during the session. Having such a poll allows for lecture sessions to be tailored for more meaningful interactive discussion and participation by all. It’s useful to know that you can branch slides based on responses and I can see how this can be useful in so many ways. Having anonymity in responses allow for honest responses allowing the presenter to gain audience understanding and perspective.
Turning Point can also be utilised remotely for real time participation, as distance learning students may More >
Open education: the need for critique
Jul 27th
*This post is a set of personal reflections on open education, and the fetishised nature of Open Educational Resources [OERs], and arises from the JISC/HEA-hosted Open Educational Resources International Symposium. It is framed by posts about the Democratic University and the Political Economy of Openness.
Open education is a critique of our formal, institutionalised systems of education. Or it should be. It should help us to critique what we do as educators in a formal system and why. It reflects back to us how our work enables the people who experience our formal systems, to exist, to innovate, to succeed, to be(come). An engagement with the possibilities for open education enables us to examine our “power-to” change our social relations, rather than to exist in a state where some-one or some-thing has “power-over” our work and our selves.
The possibilities of open education include our ability to create spaces for reflecting upon our participation in the activity and labour of (self-) discovery and (self-) invention, and change. However, participation is an often co-opted word, which is de-based to a form of therapeutic engagement between individuals whose power-to govern and create in a situation/activity is markedly different. These differences impact how our work is constructed, and More >
How might current and future trends in technology affect leadership at DMU?
Jul 13th
At DMU’s Leadership and Management Conference, Mike Robinson [Director of ISAS] and I ran a workshop on “How might current and future trends in technology affect leadership at DMU?” The purpose of the session was to enable staff to share aspirations, revisit key trends in the strategic development of institutional IT, and to analyse the development of TEL at DMU as a case study, before identifying key short/medium-term priorities for their teams. The key outcomes raised by the mix of academic and support staff are noted below.
What are your aspirations for your use of technology as a leader?
- Demands effective leadership that is proactive rather than reactive.
- Enhanced processes/controls [automation and infrastructure].
- Integrated management information to inform and support decisions, including finance.
- Enhanced administration/efficiency of teaching tasks, including distance learning.
- Improve communication of information, document management.
- Mobility and remote working.
- Meeting staff/student expectations.
- Interest in short-term innovation within a long-term view.
Can you define a short and medium-term priority for your team in utilising technology?
- Aspirational strategy for DMU, which is suitable and sustainable.
- Having a typology of technology allows for flexibility/innovation and security/comfort factor for some staff.
- Culture change away from paper towards the use of data repositories, recorded webinars etc..
- Joined-up systems/thinking – synergy/seamless..
- Planning; communications; identify support.
- Engagement with what is currently available More >
Educational futures, educational technology and digital social media
Jul 7th
The application of Futures’ planning and thinking in the development of higher education is receiving more attention, and in particular is catalysing researchers and practitioners to discuss frames of reference, methods, and ethics for thinking about futures’ planning. The work of FutureLab on Beyond Current Horizons, was synthesised by Facer and Sandford in addressing technology futures. They critiqued much that was taken-for-granted in the use of educational technology, noting that (p. 75): “the ‘imaginary’ upon which future-oriented projects are premised often takes for granted the contemporary existence of and continued progress towards a universal, technologically-rich, global ‘knowledge economy’, the so-called ‘flat world’ of neo-liberal rhetoric”. As I noted elsewhere in challenging positivist views of technology, Facer and Sandford ‘ask much more critical questions of “the chronological imperialism of accounts of inevitable and universal futures”. This accepts the complexity of the use of technology, of societal development, and of political economy, and asks us to consider some of the ethical imperatives. In addressing these we have a chance to re-think our values.’
Our humane values are critical in defining the theory, methods and ethics of futures-oriented research in education. In the introduction to his latest e-book, The Biggest Wake-Up Call in History, Richard Slaughter More >
Learning Technology as Tax or Enabler? Reflections on an ALT Policy Board meeting
Jun 19th
I went to the Association for Learning Technology Policy Board meeting at the LSE yesterday. The event was tagged with a focus on “Technology in Learning and Teaching. An Enabler or a Tax”, which was a pragmatic focus given our current fiscal concerns. It was also relevant given the current ideological attack on the public sector. This attack has been fore grounded elsewhere in relation to, for instance, pensions. It can also be seen in the general tenor of the current Administration’s approach to education through privatisation, and the increasing and uncontested role of private business in the delivery of learning opportunities.
The meeting itself left me equally frustrated and hopeful. Frustrated in that the discourse of the presentations was wholly uncritical and techno-determinist, presenting a world in which we could do more-for-less without evidencing how or why, or what the consequences would be for social or economic relations, or for those who are vulnerable. Hopeful in that the discussion at the close of the meeting offered some space for rejection of these deterministic positions.
Professor Dame Wendy Hall kicked off with a focus on the development of the web, and the move towards the semantic web, and she highlighted the profound changes More >
Assessment is for learning seminar, Birmingham, June 15
Jun 17th
Having attended the seminar on Assessment for learning at Birmingham, I am left with a number of general thoughts and some specific ones: Firstly, isn’t Birmingham run down? Away from the shiny new replacement Bullring the train out to Longbridge brought back memories of visiting Stirchley and Bournville when I was a student. Despite trying hard to see the picturesque and to concentrate on the narrow boats chugging down the canal, what I really saw was the deprivation. Despite witnessing the jolly good humour of the uniformed public school children coming home, what really struck me was the small group of brummie kids sitting opposite me who were never going to have any real chances… At the workshop itself I was struck by two further things: the confidence of those operating within research-intensive red brick university’s to state things with utter confidence that were either blindingly obvious or far more complex than they were suggesting. Alongside that was the seemingly unassailable status of “scientific” (in this case social science) research. It appeared as though things only existed if they had been proven by research, never mind common sense telling us the same thing a long time ago. This seems to More >
Inclusion, social relations and theory: issues in mobile learning
Jun 16th
I had a great day on Tuesday at Mark Power’s Jisc CETIS mobile learning symposium. Mark has uploaded the presentations from the day to the wiki via a slideshare link, including Tim Linsey and mine on our Mobilising Remote Student Engagement project. There is also an overview of issues posted by Paul Richardson from RSC Wales.
Thinking about our presentation I raised 4 matters arising.
- The importance of transitional engagements and activities, in managing students’ migration into remote working, either in fieldwork or placements, from the academic environment. These remote spaces might be group-based or individual, and as such transitional moments need to address socialisation, engagement with technology, and the nature of doing, being and becoming at a distance. The role of students as more experienced others or mentors, in leading and framing transitional activities is critical, as is the role of employers and supervisors. Crucial here is the way in which mobile technology, coupled to social media can enhance respectful partnerships.
- The importance of recognising that not everyone is working at the leading-edge of the technology curve, and that many students do not have cutting-edge technology. Clearly where they have such kit, learners need support in making academic/practice-based sense of it. However, there is More >
