Mobile learning in formal education or: How to train a trojan horse
Dr. Benjamin Jörissen
http://joerissen.name
benjamin@joerissen.name
Mobile learning in
formal education
or: How to train a trojan horse
Comenius-Regio-Tag
Nürnberg, 12.3.2013
good reasons:
shelter (safe environment)
focusing and synchronising attention
enabling various forms of communication
achieving a learning community and culture
(Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Archäologischen Instituts, Berlin 1892, Taf. 2)
http://archive.org/stream/jahrbuchdeskaise07kaisrich#page/n431/mode/2up
promise of power
seemingly serving traditional purposes
carrying forces that disrupt the traditional order
promise of power
seemingly serving traditional purposes
carrying forces that disrupt the traditional order
„Smartboards are more powerful/
versatile than chalkboards.“
„Beamers are more powerful/versatile
than overhead projectors.“
„Smartpad s are more powerful/
versatile than paper books
and exercise books.“
etc. …
But in fact, dig ital, networked med ia
are not merely powerful new too ls.
They demand and enforce a change
in the way that schools organise …
learning
learning culture
school culture
and, particularly,
scho o l‘s organisational culture.
School as a
„typographic educational culture“,
normatively bound to literality,
thus structurally excluding
non-linear media.
Böhme, Jeanette: Schule am Ende der Buchkultur. Bad Heilbrunn 2006.
Linearisation is a main
property of text
letter after letter
word after word
sentence after sentence
paragraph after paragraph
chapter after chapter
book after book
Linearisation is also a main pattern
of complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
files
lists
reports
protocolls
documented processes
(i.e. scripts for routines and
decision making)
…
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
organisation of space organisation of time
differentiation of differentiation of
school classes school subjects
governance of the governance of the
order of communication order of knowledge
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
organisation of space
hierarchically divided
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
organisation of space
hierarchically divided
demand for a complete
spatial separation
(i.e., walls)
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
organisation of time
divided and normalised
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
organisation of time
divided and normalised
demand for a
synchronised time
management
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
differentiation of spatial separation +
school classes age separation
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
differentiation of
temporal separation
school subjects
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
pre-defined types of
social settings
governance of the
order of communication
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
demand for
social boundaries
pre-defined types of
social settings
governance of the
order of communication
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
preselection/
hierarchisation of fields of
knowledge/competencies
governance of the
order of knowledge
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
demand for
controllable media
preselection/
hierarchisation of fields of
knowledge/competencies
governance of the
order of knowledge
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
demand for demand for
controllable media social boundaries
demand for a demand for a complete
synchronised time spatial separation
management (i.e., walls)
Linearisation is a main pattern of
complexity reduction in literal
educational institutions
demand for demand for
controllable media social boundaries
naturalisation of linearisation
demand for a demand for a complete
synchronised time spatial separation
management (i.e., walls)
control of sources
social boundaries
and content
synchronisation spatial separation
control of sources
social boundaries
and content
asynchronous &
polychronous
structures
synchronisation spatial separation
control of sources
social boundaries
and content
no control
(but individual
filters)
asynchronous &
polychronous
structures
synchronisation spatial separation
control of sources
social boundaries
and content
no control networks
(but individual without defined
filters) boundaries
asynchronous &
polychronous
structures
synchronisation spatial separation
control of sources
social boundaries
and content
no control networks
(but individual without defined
filters) boundaries
asynchronous & unified spaces,
polychronous ubiquity,
structures mobility
synchronisation spatial separation
deliberate control
deliberate social
of sources
boundaries
and content
no control networks
(but individual without defined
filters) boundaries
asynchronous & unified spaces,
polychronous ubiquity,
structures mobility
deliberate deliberate spatial
synchronisation separation
no control networks
(but individual without defined
filters) boundaries
asynchronous & unified spaces,
polychronous ubiquity,
structures mobility
ne
cu ed
no control networks
ltiv fo
(but individual without defined
filters) boundaries
ati r
asynchronous & unified spaces,
on
polychronous ubiquity,
structures mobility
(But you‘ll probably learn how to ride it.)
(Scottish writer Marty Ross mounted on a Trojan Rocking Horse, London Architecture Biennial 2004)
http://bit.ly/trojanhorseride
Dr. Benjamin Jörissen
http://joerissen.name
benjamin@joerissen.name
Mobile learning in
formal education
or: How to train a trojan horse
Slides are online via slideshare.com
(or ask me for the keynote file)
Notas do Editor
promise of power seemingly serving traditional purposes carrying forces that disrupt the traditional order
For good reasons
For good reasons
(Trojan horse on corintian aryballos) What are the structural properties of a trojan horse? - it seems to be a gift – beautiful, attractive, powerful, „for the gods“ – but as a fake gift for the gods, it only seems to serve the ancient powers – in opposite, it has forces inside that disrupt the old order.
Some views on new media eventually follow this patterns. …
Which is true. But: The usual approach to understand something unknown and new is to try to subsume it by means of the well-known old. This implies to miss (underestimate or misunderstand) the emergent qualities of media innovations.
… and it has to be so, because literality is not only an education goal and ideal, but also the basis of organisational practices such as organising the conveyance of knowledge.
Files, lists, reports, protocolls are at the heart of classical organisations.
As sociologist Niklas Luhmann pointed out, systems, such as educational organizations, can only process their operations one step after another, that is: linearly. (While of course there is a kind of multitasking and pluralisation of time through establishing subsystems such as school classes).Linearisation strategies are key to handling the multiple complexities organizations (such as schools) have to deal with.
Project-based learning means to partially override the temporal separation of aspects of the everyday world.
class community – workgroups – individual (as good as) no networks, neither within the school community nor with other schools. classroom boundary as paradigm for learning community
class community – workgroups – individual (as good as) no networks, neither within the school community nor with other schools. classroom boundary as paradigm for learning community
curricula,
(media which are able to perpetuate given curricula)
Governing an educational organisation by means of the administrative tools of the 18th and 19th century (basically) is not only bound to linearise non-linear complexities, but moreover, to naturalise linearisation.
Non-linear, complex media such as digital networked media are a challenge to the demands of nowadays schools in terms of control and boundaries.
A tool? An e-book „plus“? A thing to work with your moodle-course? and more lightweight than books, too!
Or is it something which, in the end, will bring the plethora of chances and challenges of digital networked environments right into the classroom?
These are some of he major transformations caused by digital, networked media: - asynchronous and polychronous structures are enabled by the persistence of information, which stretches the boundaries of „presence“.
- source and content control transforms into an individual task of choosing and building up filter mechanisms in order to separate valuable from less valuable, reliable from less reliable information, and to avoid the distraction of informational abundance as well as the redundance of an informational echo chamber.
- traditional social forms like communities and groups transform into the multitude of shapes that social networks can take (not talking about social networking platforms, but about networks of acquaintances as personal, i.e. knowledge resources).
- all this happens ubiquitously and mobile within the unified spaces and locations of the social web, pluralising our common notions of „space“ as one unity.
The „old“ order has not vanished: it now becomes an option of deliberate choice. Controlled, closed, synchronised learning environments are a subset among many other options.
Deliberation implicates freedom of choice. Freedom of choice, though, implicates power of judgement, a competence in making „good“ decisions.
This means, the multiplicity of options ubiquitously brought by digital networked media still demand the development and cultivation of good, helpful, efficient ways to use those options. This is a central task and educational challenge of our time. Institutions of formal education, such as schools and universities, have a special obligation in this regard. Mobile learning media may serve as trojan horses, allowing schools to adapt to nonlinear structures in the long run, because they allow for both: relatively traditional use of controlled content in linear modes and innovative networked use.
Trojan horses can‘t be trained (but people can be trained to ride them).
The open, uncontrolled structure of new media will not be changed to fit school‘s demands.
Not only teachers as professionals and students as learners, but educational organisations have to change in order to integrate the non-linear structures of new media, and to seek and cultivate good uses.