New Technology - The Threat To Our Information...

This is a great presentation from Norman Lamont, posted on SlideShare. It points out the threat of technology on our information and suggest a perfect way to counter that threat. This is important viewing for anyone who uses technology to manage their information flow, and particularly if you are a user of Web 2.0 technologies.

New technology - the threat to our information

View more presentations from normanlamont.

Enjoy!! (and a special thanks to Randommind for finding this)

Learning Technologies - The Cart Or The Horse?...

One of the projects that I am involved with at the College is a committee dealing with Learning Technologies, trying to determine just how we are going to implement and support learning technologies at the College and the faculty and staff that use them.

First off, what exactly is a learning technology? In my mind it is any tool or technology that supports or enhances a learning opportunity - a pencil and paper may be the perfect learning technologies - relatively simple to use, doesn't require a lot of training and support, or a lot of other resources.

Unfortunately in many cases "learning technologies" has become code for "let's do it with computers!". Now in all fairness, I am one of those people - I live and breathe bleeding edge technology and all things IT related - I've embraced Web 2.0 tools and technologies and firmly believe that online, distance, and blended learning are some of the key ways to deliver learning now and in the future. All demand a certain level of computer literacy. What it does not mean though is that everyone has to be out here on the edge (or ledge :-)) with me.

The most important thing to remember, and here is where the cart and horse analogy comes in, is that whatever technology gets used in a learning environment, the technology is only a tool that supports the learning and makes it easier for learners to learn. The learning technology can assist in the delivery of content, aid in assessment and evaluation, allow learners to access learning when, where, and how they want to and generally support and frame a learning environment whether that environment be brick, click, or a combination of the two.

So what are the implications for us as adult educators? First we have to determine what learning technologies to employ - they have to support the learners and their environment and not overwhelm them in having to learn how to use technology instead of focussing on the learning. Learning must be about meeting the learning outcomes, not spending a lot of time learning a tool or technology. Most learning environments are finite in nature and there is only so much time available for learning - don't spend anymore time than is necessary with learning technologies.

There are two ways to ensure that learning technologies support and not overwhelm learning - the first one is to know all your learners well, and use the "lowest common denominator" learning technologies to support the learning - the disadvantage of this is that this lowest common denominator technology will be different for every learner, and will engage some learners and unfortunately disengage many others.

The better way and the one that I have used successfully, is to let the learners themselves select the learning technologies that work for them, for their learning and their environment. This way learners are comfortable with the technologies they use and can concentrate on learning.

So there it is - learning technologies are tools used to support and augment learning, and who better to choose what technologies and tools get used to support learning than the learners themselves? Hmmm...




(Photo - "Lapices" - Juanjoseixas)

CIT 2007 - Strategies For Working With Technology Resistant Faculty

This session was presented by John O'Brien, PhD AVP and CAO of Century College and Ron Anderson PhD CFO and VP Administration/Technology, also of Century College.

Century College is a 9,000 learner comprehensive community college located in White Bear Lake MN. the college has had a lot of change in recent years with 50% new faculty in the last five years and 50% growth in the 2000-2005 time frame. They have spent a lot of money on emerging technologies and have the challenge of ensuring that faculty and learners can use these technologies and are in fact comfortable with them. What about faculty who are hindered, skeptical, disgruntled, or left behind in the rush to new technologies?

The college conducted a survey of faculty to determine their comfort levels with technology. here are their assumptions before the study:

• Enthusiastic - 20%
• Interested/Hindered - 45%
• Skeptical - 25%
• Opposed- 10%

And here are the actual survey results:

• Enthusiastic - 54%
• Interested/Hindered - 34%
• Skeptical - 11%
• Opposed - 1%

It was apparent that from the survey results that faculty wanted to use technology in their courses and also that there needed t be supports in place to allow the enthusiastic and interested to flourish and to provide support to teh skeptical and opposed (who might always be opposed but who should not be excluded).

There are some best practice implications here:

• Balanced offerings are ideal
• Don't define technology too narrowly (for some it is PowerPoint) as online only
• Recognize alternative technologies
• Don't assume that technology is unquestionably good (this point really strikes home with me - even as an avowed geek, for me technology should always just be a tool, and the best technology is transparent to both learners and faculty)

In order to support faculty in using technology there has to be an openness to dissent. Some of the tools used at Century College include:

• Teaching circles
• Recognizing and celebrating non-technology innovations
• Clarifying minimum "techspectations"
• Acknowledge academic freedom

Effects of Technology on Teaching:

Best practice implications:

• Positive experiences better than negative
• Learning more important than enrollments
• training focus - productivity and learning

Barriers:

A lack of technical knowledge and time to learn

Here is how we traditionally offer help to faculty when using new technologies:



There needs to be new support design elements:

• Entry level training
• Ongoing support and crisis support
• Decide when to offer it

Disconnects:

• Lack of visible institutional priorities
• Perceived differences in perspective between faculty and administration

Motivating Incentives:

• Main one was meerting learner expectations
• Questions assumptions
• Know the disconnects
• Change the culture - serve left behind faculty

As a new college administrator (I am an academic chair responsible to three schools, a campus and with almost 30 full and part-time fculty that report to me) I found this presentation very useful. As a geek I found it even more useful - it began a seed in my mind that by the end of CIT 2007 had firmly plated itself - not everyone embraces and uses technology like I do (you tend to forget that at times) and there have to be mechanisms in place to ensure that everyone gets access and support when dealing with technology so they do not become overwhelmed and ultimately discouraged and disillusioned about technology in education

My own college is wrestling with several issues surrounding the use of technology in learning and this presentation will provide me with the balance I need as I work with others to ensure that we get the fit of technology and learning right...

The Touch Table...

I'm always on the outlook or new technologies and what their impact could be on adult education. Sometime ago (February 2006) the following video appeared on TED.com, an amazing site that you must go to. The speaker is Jeff Han:



Pay attention to the audience reaction - it's quite interesting...

Well here we are about 18 months later and the technology has now gone commercial. Northrop Grumann has released what they are calling the "Touch Table". The FAA has just bought some for use as an "integrated collaboration environment" (sounds purpose built for education...). While not as technologically advanced as Jeff Han's multi-dimensional technology, it is the next step away from the traditional computer interface to a touch-based interface displaying 3-D maps etc., it is very cool to see a technology go from ooh and ahh at a convention ( a very impressive convention mind you) to a production technology. Here is a video of the touch table:



It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this technology to enter the classroom. Hmmm...

Does The School of The Future Have Walls?

As technology and education come together and as more and more educational institutions look at online, blended,distance, and other forms of delivery to augment their brick classrooms, are we at the cusp of an educational revolution? Will there be a paradigm shift away from "traditional" classroom-based learning environments to ones designed and dictated by learners that are highly customizable, mobile ad distinctly non-traditional? My answer to that question is yes, but...

As adult educators we need to get out of our current focus on the space (classroom), method (delivery), and content and focus completely on the learners and their learning. This means developing strong, measurable, authentic outcomes and the competency-based assessment systems to evaluate learners competencies against these outcomes. It has to be about the learning and what works for the learner.

So let's look at how learners learn, where they want to learn and what they want to use in order for their learning to happen. It will mean a lot more work and planning for educators (particularly at the front-end), but will result in a much better experience for the learners.

The reason I said yes, but.. earlier is that I think there will always be "classroom" learners and we need to continue to offer those learners an environment that works for them. We will also need to offer learning environments for the distance learner, blended learner, mobile learner, and learners we have not even thought of yet. We will need to include all learning styles when we develop these learning environments and their supporting learning resources. The learners must be included in that development too. I do it now, and once they get over the initial shock of being asked to engage in the development of their own learning, most learners really appreciate it and take an active role.

So, will the classroom of the future have walls? Well, yes, but I think they will be much softer, portable, and porous than now and hopefully a lot more inclusive...

(Photo "final exam" by dcJohn)

What Came First? The Chicken or the Computer?

I've been involved in a lot of conversations lately about technology and people. These conversations have revolved around the topics of technology, education and people, and more importantly for me, technology education. As an IT faculty member do I teach technology or do I teach people to use technology, or do I in fact teach something completely different?


I have also been reading Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton and Company New York and London, 1999 ISBN: 0-393-31755-2) He comes to the conclusion that "technology develops cumulatively... and that it finds most of its uses after it has been invented, rather than being invented to meet a foreseen need." (pp245-246). So technology develops as it is used, by the people who use it.

To add fuel to the fire I have been talking a lot to people about online course development and the use of Web 2.0 technologies in traditional (brick), blended, and online learning environments. One of my wise friends has clearly stated that "instructional computing is about people, not technology". He has been preaching this for over 30 years and I believe what he says. I have forgotten more technology than I know, and still believe that I am a good technology instructor. I believe that I am a good technology instructor because, in fact, I do not teach technology, I teach people how to learn and how to use technology. Technology supports learning and learning allows people to not only use technology but to think up those uses of technology that have not even been thought of yet. Many of the jobs my graduates will be doing 10 years from now have not even been created yet, let alone the technology that they will use. So as a technology instructor it is my obligation to give them the skills and knowledge to learn, to use technology, and to push its boundaries, but it is NOT my place to simply teach technology.

What does this mean? Well for one thing it means that I should never focus on a particular piece of technology as the be all and end all of my teaching practice. I teach programming and right now I happen to be using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 to do it with. What I am doing (or I hope that is what I am doing) is teaching programming principles, skills, and knowledge that are transferable to any programing environment - the learning of Visual Studio is a happy by-product. The same applies to the use of Web 2.0 technologies - the emphasis must be on the people, the social aspects of the tools, the change in how information is gathered and shared, not the tools. So as I go forward and explore new technologies and tools I remind you that at the end of it all - it is the people, not the technology that we are here to support.

So it WAS the Chicken that came first...

(Chicken photo from Mark Lorch) (@ photo from borabora)