It is encouraging to see the debate that started with a focus on one
piece of equipment widening out, first to issues of social versus
private computing then to academic issues.
I suggest there are certain elements of successful study - which hold
true at all stages of education (formal and informal), which merit
consideration in a debate on ICTs and things academic. I shall explain
what I mean and illustrate with examples from personal experience. They
are
- Assessment/Accreditation
- Study skills
- Motivation
- Access
- Content
# Assessment/Accreditation
~ I am starting with assessment/accreditation, because I am including
formal and informal study and the issue of assessment/accreditation
highlights the difference.
~ For informal study, there is no accreditation, the assessment is
informal and can simply be a personal decision regarding the question -
"Can I now do/understand what I set out to do/understand?"
~ For formal study there is probably formal accreditation. The process
of accreditation may or may not have an ICT based component.
~ Example - this DDN list. I would guess many people are here to learn,
and that some will have arrived here because it is a useful resource for
their formal studies. I would guess that others, like me, are here as
informal students. No one is guiding my study, or assessing it and it is
not directed to any accreditation. I see myself as an L3 student (Life
Long Learner) studying ICT4D (ICT for development). I am currently
involved in project based learning. I am finding out how to use ICTs on
"my side" of the digital divide (the bandwidth-rich side) to support
community development projects in rural Nigeria on "the other side" of
the digital divide. This list helps me to learn what I need to know.
# Study skills
~ An important area to consider and one which sometimes contributes to
confused discussion regarding the role of the teacher and the place of
ICTs. Study skills tie in with issues of discipline and management.
~ Classroom teachers are well aware of the issues of class-management -
and how good class management contributes to effective study. To
oversimplify - class management has to do with appropriate discipline
and with matching the work to be done with the skills and abilities of
the students.
~ Different students have different levels of self-discipline regarding
their studies
~ Where the set work is a poor match for the student's abilities more
support is needed.
~ Young or immature learners need more support in tackling their work
than is needed by mature experienced students.
~ ICTs may or may not be able to contribute in some way to these
elements of support.
~ Example - My own experience as an undergraduate was with the Open
University in the UK. The OU uses Distance Learning materials, including
ICTs, and also makes a point of teaching its new students study skills.
~ Example - Education includes a wide range of ages and abilities -
people learning in very different ways and needing different study
skills and levels of teacher intervention and support. Just running
through some of my own varied work experience illustrates this point -
from pre-school to adult and including mixed ability, Emotional and
Behavioural Disorders (EBD), severe physical disabilities, prisoners,
learning difficulties, teacher training, adult education, courses for
gas fitters, civil servants, senior management - all sorts. I say this
simply to illustrate that words like "teaching" and "learning" are wide
ranging - so that broad generalisations can be misleading and it is
helpful if statements are placed in context.
# Motivation
~ An important element in successful study. All teachers and students
know the difference that motivation plays in effective study.
~ Increased motivation is sometimes given as a reason for using ICTs. It
is always important to recognise why ICTs are having a motivating
effect. Some ICT applications motivate because they genuinely help or
inspire the students in their studies, and are likely to have long term
motivational value. Others rely more on the novelty of using the
technology and should be viewed with some caution regarding motivation
beyond the short term.
# Access
~ ICTs have a huge role to play as a delivery mechanism increasing access
~ They have the potential to overcome:problems of physical separation
between potential students and places where study opportunities are located.
~ They can offer flexibility regarding times of study so that people are
not excluded because of other demands on their time during "traditional
hours of face to face study".
~ They can offer all kinds of mix-and-match study opportunities made up
of wider ranges of smaller modules than is possible though traditional
F2F study programmes.
~ The technology can be shared
~ Increasingly we are seeing the development of ICTs - such as the
Simputer and the Solo- specially designed to make ICT use more
accessible in places where traditional PCs were never designed to function.
~ Personal example of access - I was a "second chance" undergraduate,
and my chance came through Open and Distance learning via the OU when I
was the mother of two children (primary school age) working full time,
living "in the middle of nowhere" in rural Cornwall. I could not have
accessed higher education through traditional channels. With hindsight
it was as if I had been intellectually starved and the OU ideas and
information were the intellectual food that I needed..
~ My personal vision with ICTs in education is to expand the
opportunities that I was offered - to share "second chance" and L3
opportunities with the communities that I know in rural Nigeria and with
other communities like them - especially for people who are in the
situation of "intellectual starvation" that I was in as a young mother.
But I am not only interested in undergraduate studies, we can deliver
practical life skills too, including adult literacy where relevant -
whatever people want and need. Technically its "not that difficult" and
in terms of investment its "not that expensive" especially if the
content is relevant to local capacity building rather than certification
leading to population drift. But it does require an integrated holistic
approach.
# Content
~ Obviously the whole thing is a complete waste of time if there is no
appropriate content. That is simply a matter of collaboration and
resources. That's not difficult either - if people really want it to
happen.
None of this is pie in the sky - I could illustrate all the different
elements from projects I know - but it needs resources to pull all the
pieces together. Although the elements need to be pulled together for
implementation, for discussion ti may be best to separate them out. To
explore the potential benefits of ICTs it helps to be clear which
elements we are considering -hence this list I offer:.
- Assessment/Accreditation
- Study skills
- Motivation
- Access
- Content
Pam
Pamela McLean
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