Keynote Address, 4 July 2013, South African Association for Science and Technology Education (SAASTE). Rethinking learning: Learning technologies in a networked society.

1. Rethinking learning: Learning
technologies in a networked
society
SAASTE 2013 – Keynote 4 July 2013
Prof Geoffrey Lautenbach
Faculty of Education
University of Johannesburg, South Africa

2. An expert opinion

3. Putting things into perspective

4. Science and technology

5. Learning BG (Before Google)

7. All this technology… all this ignorance

8. Good teaching?
Good science?

11. So do we learn?

12. And what is science?

15. Adults were once kids too…

16. Learning technologies through
the ages

17. End of 4th millenium BC

18. Cuneiform - Sumerians
(between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers) - now Iraq

19. Hieroglyphics

20. Cuneiform & Hieroglyphics
• Many logosyllabic characters
• Depict both “things” and “speech sounds”
• Necessitates linking areas of the brain
involved in sense making, hearing, spatial
analysis & decision making
• Restricted to intelligent elite

21. Papyrus – 2500 BC

22. Parchment
• Greeks & Romans
• Goat or sheep hide

23. 750 BC
• Greek phonetic alphabet
• Includes vowels & consonants
• 24 characters
• Less “brain activity”
• Led to Roman alphabet
• Oral to literary culture

24. Wax Tablet

25. End of 14th century
• End of scriptura continua
• Paragraphs & chapters emerged
• Silent reading
• Word order
• Sentences

26. 1445 – The letter press

27. 1st wave of electronic media
• Radio
• Cinema
• Phonograph
• Television
Limited by inability to transmit the written word

28. Educational Technologies
• 1964 - Understanding media: The extensions
of man (McLuhan, 1964)
– “the dissolution of the linear mind”
– “electric media of the 20th century are breaking
the tyranny of text over our thoughts & senses”
– “the medium is the message”
– “the transformative power of new communication
technologies”

29. McLuhan – more ideas
• “The technology of the medium disappears
behind whatever flows through it”
• “In the long run a medium’s content matters
less than the medium itself in influencing how
we act and think”
• “The medium may mold what we see & how
we see it” (changes individuals & society)
• “Every new medium changes us”

30. Educational Radio & Film

31. SABC TV May 1976

32. Constant companion –
the computer
• Desktop
• Laptop
• Handheld

33. …and don’t forget Bluetooth & Hands-
free

34. The Internet

35. The Internet
• Differs from the mass media it replaces in that it
is bi-directional
• Traditional media have been refashioned as they
went through the shift to online distribution
• Hyperlinks alter our experience of media
• Fragmentation of online works?
• Is it “an ecosystem of disruptive technologies?”

36. After almost 600 years…
• Printing press & its products are pushed from
the centre of our intellectual lives to the edges
• World of the screen vs. world of the page
• Internet = medium of choice for storing,
processing & sharing

37. Timeline Communication Technology Date
11 minutes ago Gutenberg Printing Press 1445
3.4 minutes ago Morse Code 1838
2.7 minutes ago Telephone 1875
2.5 minutes ago Radio 1885
1.6 minutes ago Monochrome Television 1929
54 seconds ago Fax 1966
41 seconds ago Personal Computer 1977
38 seconds ago Analogue Mobile Telephone 1979
25 seconds ago World Wide Web 1990
22 seconds ago SMS Messaging 1993
13 seconds ago Broadband 2000
1 second ago 3-D Television 2010
Source : Ken Robinson (2011) Out of Our Minds
3000 years of time in 24 hours…

38. education & technology
Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

39. Learning Technologies:
Changing Paradigms?
Has learning
changed?
Technologies as
mediating artifacts?

40. time
visibility
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg/300px-Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg.png
hype cycle
maturity, adoption and social application of specific technologies
technology
trigger
peak of inflated
expectations
trough of
disillusionment
slope of
enlightenment
plateau of
productivity

41. programmed
instruction
1960s
computer-
assisted
instruction
1970s
hypermedia
1980s
multimedia
1990s
online
learning
2000s
personal
learning
2010s
Learning technology-hype
open
learning
2020s
Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

42. The same old story?
2013: MOOCs are catalyzing institutions to rethink the “rules” of
higher education … large-scale online learning is reshaping
pedagogy, delivery systems, business models, and
credentialing, challenging what it means to be a university.
(Educause Webinars)
1983: Control Data PLATO is changing how the world learns …
A new mainframe technology serving up to 1000 simultaneous
learners … two decades before the World Wide Web, PLATO
pioneered online forums, message boards, email, chat
rooms, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, multiplayer
games – the worlds first online community.
(www.science.uva.nl/museum/PLATO.php)
(thinkofit.com/plato/dwplato.htm)
Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

43. Education

44. Teaching

45. Teaching

46. Thinking

47. Are we restricted by a system and
philosophy of education that has
long outlived its effectiveness?

48. Digital tools are changing our world
and the lifestyles we lead
• Many teachers currently in schools were born
before most technologies were available
• Students take technology for granted
• I was born in the 1960’s and I was not very
excited about electricity… but my
grandparents were!
• Some students are NOT very excited about the
technologies available now

49. Learners have an aptitude for
digital technologies
• It is right and proper that we build
technologies into the heart of education
• Learners are connected… widely connected
• Technological tools are creating cultural
change
• Possibilities are endless
• Technologies have changed the context of
education - We must transform education!
(Robinson, 2012)

50. Have learning technologies
changed mental habits?
• Lost the ability to read a longish article on the
web or in print?
• Scan short passages from many sources?
• Skim & scroll?
• Want quick access to info?

51. Trading riches of the net for old
linear thought processes
• Reading lots of short, linked snippets online is
a more efficient way to expand the mind” (Karp,
2008)
• “We cannot recognise the superiority of the
networked thinking process because we are
measuring it against our old linear thought
processes” (Davis, 2008: Is Google making us stupid?
Nope!)

52. “Every technology is an
expression of human will” (Carr, 2010)
• 4 categories
– Extends physical strength, dexterity, resilience
• Plow, sewing machine, fighter jet…
– Extends range or sensitivity of our senses
• Microscope, amplifier, Geiger counter…
– Enables us to reshape nature to serve needs/desires
• Genetically manipulated corn, birth control pill…
– “intellectual technologies” extend/support mental powers
• Typewriter, abacus, slide rule, sextant, book, newspaper,
computer, internet…

53. Intellectual technologies
• have the greatest & most lasting power over
what & how we think
• are our most intimate tools for self expression,
for shaping personal & public identity, & for
cultivating relations with others

54. Language – the primary vessel
of conscious thought
• Intellectual technologies can change language more
directly, and deeply, by altering the way we speak,
listen read & write
• Technologies that restructure language exert the
strongest influence over our intellectual lives
• “Technologies are not mere exterior aids but also
interior transformations of consciousness, and never
more than when they affect the word. The history of
language is also a history of the mind” (Ong, 2002)

55. Writing in modern times?
Rome, Italy, 2011

56. Power of the written word?
Lisbon, Portugal 2011

57. The Future...?
• 1989: ‘The future is multi-media’
• 1999: ‘The future is the Web’
• 2009: ‘The future is smart mobile’
• 2019: ?

58. Modern learners are...
• more self-directed
• better equipped to capture information
• more reliant on feedback from peers
• more inclined to collaborate
• more oriented toward being their own
“nodes of production”.
Education Trends | Featured News
John K. Waters—13 December 2011

59. Modern Learners need
„digital literacies‟

60. Modern Learners…
Do they need skills or
Literacies?Literacy goes beyond skills.
It involves full immersion with the culture
Learning new things and
learning in new ways
= new literacies

61. Modern Learners will need
new „digital literacies‟
• Social networking
• Creating content
• Organising content
• Reusing and repurposing
• Filtering and selecting
• Self presenting
• Privacy maintenance
• Identity management

62. language
interaction
personal data
Managing identity
Digital shadow?
reputation
privacy
Modern Learners need to
manage their
digital footprint
(Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

63. Surface Learning
Deep Learning
Transformation of learning
(Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

64. Data
Information
Knowledge
Wisdom
Transformation
E
N
G
A
G
E
M
E
N
T
(Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

65. Knowledge
Wisdom
Transformation
Knowing that
Knowing how
Knowing why
Cognition
Application
Analysis
Evaluation
Declarative
Procedural
Critical
(Adapted from Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

66. http://www.flickr.com/photos/specialkrb/2772991999
Critical awareness is knowing why there is a
difference
(Adapted from Wheeler, 2012 Digital learning futures)

67. So what about pedagogy?
“the theory of teaching and learning”
“the art of teaching and learning”
and...
What about an online pedagogy?

68. learner-
centred
active
contextual
problem-
based
social
emergent
an [online?] pedagogy
(Sims, 2013)
Sims, R. (2012). Reappraising design practice, in Holt, D., Segrave, S. & Cybulski, J. (Eds.), Professional Education Using e-Simulations: Benefits of Blended Learning Design.
IGI Global.
Sims, R. (2009). From three-phase to proactive learning design: Creating effective online teaching and learning environments, in J. Willis (ed.) Constructivist Instructional
Design (C-ID): Foundations, Models, and Practical Examples. Information Age (pp. 379-391).

69. learner-
centred
active
contextual
problem-
based
social
emergent
LEARNER-CENTRED ACTIVITY
A recent OLT report has suggested that all courses with
online learning were “pedagogically deficient”.
Using your own workplace as a case study, what
interventions would you adopt to resolve this deficiency?
Ideas that challenge existing practice or propose contentious
solutions are encouraged.
Working collaboratively with one or two peers, develop a
substantiated, evidence-based response.
Your response should be [criteria].
LEARNER-CENTRED ACTIVITY FOR Sci and Tech
TEACHERS
A recent report has suggested that all Science &
Technology activities with online learning were
“pedagogically deficient”.
Using your own classroom as a case study, what
interventions would you adopt to resolve this deficiency?
Ideas that challenge existing practice or propose
contentious solutions are encouraged.
Working collaboratively with one or two peers, develop a
substantiated, evidence-based response.
Your response should be [criteria].
problem
based
contextual
emergent
social
an online pedagogy (adapted from
Sims, 2013)
active

70. learner-
centred
active
contextual
problem-
based
social
emergent
IF
we want to transform teaching and learning
THEN
we must adopt a pedagogy that is
active AND
contextual AND
problem-based AND
social AND
emergent
an online pedagogy
Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

71. Blurring roles
teacher as
designer
teacher as
learner
learner as
teacher
learner as
designer
designer as
teacher
designer as
learner
Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

72. pedagogy
teacher-centred learner-centred
content-based outcomes-
based
learning
consumption production
watching creating
teaching
presentation elaboration
master apprentice
Transforming teaching &
learning of science & technology
Sims, R. (2013). EDMEDIA 2013

73. A student teacher’s PLN

74. Possibilities?

75. Thank you
Email: geoffl@uj.ac.za
@sciteched_uj

76. Acknowledgements
Sims, R. (2013). Design Alchemy: Transforming the way we think
about teaching and learning. Invited talk, EDMEDIA 2013.
Available on Slideshare.
Wheeler, S. (2012). Digital learning futures. Available on
Slideshare.