Education and technology – doing the Monster Mash

Sep 7

Posted by Martin King in Technology | No Comments

Education and technology are necessary partners but the relationship can be far from comfortable or functional.

Technologists often have an almost obsessive addiction about “the next big thing” and a technology fetishism and determination about the power of technology to transform education.

Education is stressed by the need to balance a great many competing factors including finance, legal regulations, government requirements, market competition as well as learning needs – a stress that often results in organisational anxiety a conservative approach to new technology.

The conflux of educational anxiety and technology addiction has in many cases created an addicted, anxiety ridden institutionalised educational technology steampunk monster.

The Monster

Technology Monster

© Flickr: thwaak

The monster mash is depressive, agoraphobic, addictive, obsessive compulsive ritual dance.

Addictive:
Dead and decaying technology is toxic and harmful but the monster is addicted and craves increasing doses to sustain itself in an all consuming self destructive habit.

Technology pushers fool the monster to try ever toxic technologies to keep it and its “users” dependent.

Education has become dependent on technology and has to purchase, power, support and maintain more and more equipment, computers, servers, storage and software each year to satisfy an expanding desire for technology in education.

Education has to deploy ever more complex and expensive technology in order to cope – increasingly needing expensive external specialists.

Education’s dependency on technology is almost 24/7/365 – how long could a typical institution last without a technology fix.

Agoraphobic:
The monster seeks comfort from the familiar, private and closed places – it fears and avoids large, open, public and/or unfamiliar places where there are few places to hide.

Education perpetuates familiar first phase technologies and applications such as locally installed, local area network client and server products.

Obsessive Compulsive:
The monster comforts itself with repetitive self-reinforcing ritualistic behaviours.

Education seeks comfort in conforming to self-constructed norms of technology use – learner:computer ratios; e-boards installations, VLE/MLE and the use of technology in lessons. Ritualised technology becomes repetitive, rigid, self-reinforcing and difficult to change. Education becomes focused on preserving the rituals f technology rather than the function.

Depressed:
Despite all its hard work the monster cannot find love.

For technologists education doesn’t go far enough and for education the technology is too wild and risky.

The Monster Mash

The monster mash is a complex, expensive, rigid, and slow moving dance – increasingly ridiculous yet scary and increasingly damaging to education and learning.

Complex:
New technologies allow Education to provide increasing amounts of IT provisioned faster and more flexibly while also exerting traditional practices for availability, security, control and standardisation. However, there is a price – these new technologies are far more complex than before. Consider the complexity of load balanced server clustering, Storage area networking or a typical institutional email system.

Expensive:
The complexity of our systems is expensive – not only in terms of capital but also in terms of time, skills and increasingly in terms of external support and maintenance.

The scale of educational IT is expensive – the rise in quantity outweighs the fall in unit costs – while the cost of computer hardware has fallen we use many more and while the cost of software has fallen over the years we use more.

The scale of educational IT is expensive to support and maintain – we need increasing numbers of technical people to keep all this ticking over.

There is also a cost in terms of preparing and delivering education doing the monster mash – consider the amount of time spent preparing attractive powerpoint presentations or populating a VLE for classroom use. This is the old e-board and VLE debate where for me the “E” stands for expensive – consider the opportunity costs of these technologies alone.

Rigid:
To deploy, support and maintain on scale institutional IT is pretty standardised – new technologies such as virtualised clients may allow some variety around a standard theme but they are all generally predefined menu selections.

To protect and secure on scale institutional IT is pretty locked down – people often can’t install programs of their choice on educational computers.

Consider the effect of this standardised lock down on learning. A learner may not be familiar with tools you provide so must first learn your tools before they can apply them to their learning – the tools become a stumbling block and get in the way of learning.

Slow Moving:
Traditional institutional IT is designed for providing a fixed standardised and controlled provision on scale – it is not well suited to providing a personalised flexible provision on scope. New features appear in free public consumer IT regularly and often yet consider the process of upgrading an institutional application or email system for all your people.

Free the Monster of its deamons

However comforting the monster mash may be it now has an existential problem and risks harming everyone around it. The Monster mash is a big turn off for many people these days.

While slow moving, rigid, complex and expensive its addictive, depressed, agoraphobic obsessive compulsive nature make the monster parasitic and difficult to escape

Shock tactics and cold turkey could be fatal for both the monster and the host – we must treat the underlying problems of addiction and anxiety appropriately with exposure and response prevention. With support the monster must confront its fears and discontinue its escape and avoidance responses. The Monster must learn that it can be safe in open, public spaces and that it can reduce and maybe one day eliminate its dependence on tradition and ritual. Over time educational technology may once again lead a less complex, expensive, rigid and slow moving life – one day the monster may lead a happy and fulfilling life.

I hope to explore some technology and education for the monster in future blogs.

Tags: , , , ,

The Mobile University: last year’s model?

Sep 2

Posted by jspeller in FOTE10, Learning, Mobile, Speakers, Technology | 5 Comments




iPhone unpacking

So I’ve given my FOTE10 talk a rather argumentative title, but it’s certainly not to imply that I don’t believe in the use of mobile devices in universities which I do with passion – so let me explain…

The explosion in the use of smart-ish devices, over the past couple of years has produced a rash of conferences, workshops and resulting papers all delving into the dark art of enabling our institutions to be part of the in-crowd. And that’s all great.

But when are we going to get past the “thing”, the technology, and onto embedding what we use mobile devices for in education into the mainstream? My argument is that until we quit talking shop and get on with it we’ll move slowly in a fast moving world. This is also probably argumentative and unfair so please argue against me and tell me about all the wonderful things you’re doing at your place!

One thing many people are doing is providing information via smart-things. There are native apps, mobile Web sites, mobile stylesheets and all or none of these. It’s the technological wild west – nobody is quite sure whether there is a best way to do it so the techies debate endlessly. Providing information via mobile devices is a good thing of course and at UCL we’ve been providing the campusM service for students since the spring. I’m just urging people not to get too hung up on particular technologies. While there’s no money around we have to choose what we get into carefully and try to gaze into the smart-ball and avoid here today gone tomorrow technologies.

Predicting the future is a mug’s game, and the tendency of those of us in the technology game is to over-predict (”by 2020 everyone will have a tablet device” type of thing – reality usually replaces “everyone” with “some people”). Although device convergence was predicted at the phone / music player / PDA level, who would have predicted in 2006 that a phone from Cupertino would revolutionise the way phones are designed and used? I was fortunate enough to attend a pre-iOS Handheld Learning conference – it was a completely different world even four years ago. Then the devices were less endowed. So what were talks about and what were the devices being used for? Well…er…education in classrooms.

Whether by chance or intelligence some predictions are scary. In the summer of 1989 at the end of a conference in Bangor a group of participants was asked to write up some thoughts and scenarios for the future twenty years hence and produced a Education 2010. A lot of what they thought was pretty much on the mark including top prize for a child’s classroom visit scenario by Jonathon Briggs (from what was Kingston Poly in those days):

…the Professor…spends lots of time telling them things. I bet I would not remember all of it. The boys spent ages typing things he said into their pads.

Which is what I’m typing this post into right now! Last year’s model? Maybe, maybe not – but worth the debate…

Location:Foley St, London



Tags: ,

FOTE10 in Second Life

Aug 31

Posted by dbutler in Technology | 1 Comment



FOTE09 - Ondaatje Theatre

FOTE09 - Ondaatje Theatre

Virtually-Linked are delighted to be asked again to be a ULCC partner to bring FOTE10 live into virtual worlds. This is a complex process and if you bear with us and follow the threads I can take you through the journey with us.

Last year we recreated the Ondaatje Theatre at the Royal Geographical Society and provided 50 seats to a mirror of the event inside Second Life.

People who could not attend the live event took up these seats, including those who had booked and were too ill to attend. We got a lot of positive feedback that we are incorporating into our solution this year:

“I thought the FOTE09 was an interesting and thought provoking event and that the use of Second Life as a channel for delivery was highly appropriate.  I look forward to the next show! “ Indiana Nirvana

“I thought the event was enjoyable (I dipped in and out), and having an Second Life option added to it. Time and money constraints meant I couldn’t attend in person, but the Second Life addition meant I could chat to some of the ‘attendees’ about some of the presentations.” John Kirriemuir

“It’s been great to be here, thank you to the Virtually-Linked team who’ve organised everything. Second Life brings a little more of the social to the space, whereas Elluminate etc can be very dry. And if I was going to be at a RL conf, I’d see clothing etc and be able to talk about that. Which I can do here :) ” Bryony Inglewood: (Cambridge UK)

“Ty, FOTEfolk” Raz Ryba

FOTE09 - virtual delegates

FOTE09 - virtual delegates

This year, ULCC has raised the bar for us and given us a welcomed challenge to recreate the interior of Senate House  for FOTE10, as well as provide interaction between the participants in both worlds.

To re-create the location we will be taking pictures of the interior and then interpreting these into a 3D rendering inside the virtual world. Studies have shown that virtual experiences that mirror their real counterpart as exactly as possible are the most effective. To ensure the quality of the experience, we create as exact a replica as possible of the real venue.

Last year some people asked for training in Second Life before the event. We will be offering it this year and will share details as and when they become available

To join FOTE10 in the virtual world, all you need to do is follow a link to the virtual location from our web site.

On the day, we will have virtual assistants waiting to greet and seat you. They will also be there throughout the event to assist with interaction between the virtual and live conference at Senate House. We propose to have interaction between participants attending virtually and speakers / participants at the live event. This will require some careful planning and should provide some light entertainment as well as testing the effectiveness of two-way interface.

I look forward to seeing everyone at both the live and virtual events – as I hope to be attending both.


Tags: , , , , ,

What awaits today’s students in 2020?

Aug 27

Posted by Frank in FOTE10, Speakers | 2 Comments




Over the next decade, the world will continue to change at a phenomenal pace, pushed by individuals keen to explore the impossible. Supported, and driven by technology, today’s students are going to enter a workplace which will in many ways be unrecognisable from a decade ago. But beside an alarming pace of change, what else is waiting around the corner for students, and what do we need to do to prepare them?

This presentation uses work from Microsoft’s research and development teams to look at the technology, lifestyle and workplace of 2020, and then digs behind that vision to join the dots. We’ll look at some of the research work going on around the world to deliver the technology to support this world – some of which will appear shortly, and other parts of which are still in the research laboratories.




Tags: , , , , ,

The Future of Technology in Education – The Big Switch

Aug 25

Posted by Martin King in Learning, Technology | 3 Comments







Technology adoption often starts with big, rare and expensive institutional models that technologise existing practice – this is particularly the case with Information technology and has been the case with Information technology in education.

Initially, computers were rare and education provided a handful of computer terminals in specialist suites for relatively specialist access to mainframes. Over time, Mainframe terminals were replaced with desktop “personal” computers and the same model expanded and applied mainstream such that a typical school or college may have thousands of “terminals” and a great many IT suites. Such desktop models are supported and maintained on an institutional model – they are generally standardised and locked down – they really are more like mainframe terminals than personal computers.

Initially, education assimilated computers were a rare resource and teachers could book time in the IT suite for specialist sessions. Over time large machines (desktop computer “terminals”) have been placed on the desks in front of learners. Classrooms have attempted to accommodate these machines by providing benching and computer chairs and often arranging conveniently along and facing walls – in many cases, learners all have their backs to the teacher.

Education’s very long and expansive initial assimilation of IT while already problematic is now under real pressure from radical  technology and cultural changes. Where computers were once big, rare, expensive and institutional  they are now small, common, relatively cheap and personal. Where information was once relatively rare, expensive and institutional it is now abundant, free and personal. Learners are increasingly carrying around in their pockets or bags real personal computers with access to as much information as they need – the typical educational technology provision is an anachronistic steampunk concoction of IT rarity in an age of IT abundance.

The future of technology in education will be mobile and personal but is less about technology and more about education – Education must learn to accommodate new technology and culture with new practice.

The Future Of Technology in Education may be more about the Future Of Education in Technology FOET (or FOETUS) rather than FOTE. – I hope to explore some of these issues in future blogs.



Tags: , ,

Some thoughts on E-Books

Aug 19

Posted by tbush in FOTE10, Uncategorized, eBook | 7 Comments

Much like the music stores on our high street which are closing in their droves, I can’t help but think that the book store will soon follow. That’s not to say that the shelve life of the book (excuse the pun) is over, quite the opposite, but that devices such as the Kindle and the iPad will lead to a fundamental shift in what we actually classifying as a ‘book’ and have a significant impact on how we purchase and consume the written word. With online stores such as Amazon, and the recent advancements in e-book technology, challenging the business models of many of the established book resellers on the high street, without significant effort to add value to the book buying experience, book stores risk going the same way as Tower Records et al: out of business…

But what does this mean to the everyday book lover, such as me? As both a student and an avid reader of business and travel books, I am actually finding that I am reading more in the last 12 months than ever before. Taking the fact that I am a student aside (which obviously requires me to read a lot of content), the core reason that I have been reading more in recent months is down to one thing: my Kindle device and, in particular, the emerging Kindle ecosystem.

As a major early adopter of new technologies, I was quick to jump on the Kindle when the international version became available late last year and haven’t looked back since. Taking the price of the books out of the equation (Kindle books are often cheaper than their physical cousins) I probably read twice as much as I did previously. After a couple of minutes of use, the fact that you are reading a book on an electronic device soon fades away and you just focus on the content itself. I have literally spent hours at a time reading on my Kindle. The e-ink technology (that’s the one thing that the kindle has over the iPad) obviously makes this easier.

In addition to being a joy to read content on the kindle device itself, which means that I pick it up more often, the Kindle ecosystem has also acted as a catalyst to me reading more than ever before. With the Kindle app now available on the PC/Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android, even when you don’t have the Kindle device with you it is possible to access your content and pick up where you left off. Tube journeys and waiting in line etc can now be easily filled with catching up on a few pages of a book that I am reading. While you could easily carry a book with you, its heavy/bulky form factor means that it’s unlikely you would bother dipping into it during those couple of minutes of downtime.

Furthermore, the ability to have access to my entire book collection through the Kindle ecosystem (from the Kindle itself or my iPhone and iPad) is a significant benefit. As someone who is studying for a Diploma in B2B marketing in my spare time, I often have more than one book on the go at any one time. If these were physical books, this would be a back breaking inconvenience (I would be pretty fit, though). With the Kindle, however, I just carry one device and have access to everything. This is also ideal when I go on holiday. No more backpacks full of reading material. Perfect!

With these devices also coming significantly coming down in price. The Sony Reader, for example, is now just £99 in Waterstones, the whole cost argument is starting to go away. These are only going to get cheaper, I am sure…

With regard to the iPad, and its multimedia capabilities, I am looking forward to seeing more rich content such as video and social networking (virtual book clubs/study groups etc) incorporated into the book reading experience and challenging what we even consider to be a ‘book’.

Exciting times ahead!

Tim Bush (@tbush)

Tags: , , , ,

Adopting new technology

Aug 17

Posted by Miles Metcalfe in FOTE10, Geolocation, Speakers, Technology | 4 Comments

New social software services come, many go, some stay. Do those that stay, those that are sticky, fill a pre-existing gap in our social experience?

Most of us know that, like the British, the Chinese talk of losing face. Maybe the language geeks amongst us know that “to lose face” was only recently introduced into English from Chinese. Unlike most other loans from Chinese where English borrowed the actual word, so including a sense of exoticness and remoteness (chopsticks, coolie, lychee), losing face we imported the concept because it expressed succinctly a meaning that, before the British heard it from the Chinese, we had no concise expression for in English.

So much of a need did it fill that English speakers used “losing face” as a building block for concepts – like “face-saving” – that have no exact analogue in Chinese. Although we can’t agree on how to spell it, email (e-mail, eMail?) similarly filled a pre-existing hole in our working lives. How our ancestors BCE (before the computer era) did work, flamed one another, circulated dirty jokes, virus scares, and “corporate communications” is lost in the mists of diminishing productivity.

We early adopters, abandoning last year’s iPhone for an Android even as we swipe through the day’s feeds on our iPads, bemoan the benighted mundanes – those users who “don’t get it”: the hapless, clueless academics who didn’t take to the VLE as quickly as they annoyed the PVC with caustic all staff emails, the benighted commentators who sneer at the vapidity of the Twitterati, the people who buy iPads because they want an easy to use computer rather than score earlier adopter points. These poor mundanes might not be able to use Outlook if their lives depended on it, but they sure “get” email.

Me, I got Twitter right after it came out of private beta, and I stuck with it, even though I had almost no one to talk to, because, as well as having precious little evidence of a business model (and let’s face it, watching VCs burn cash never gets old), it had the look of a general purpose communication tool – something that asked little (or, rather, 140 characters) of me, and yet offered so much pregnant possibility. Possibility was all it offered until the day Twitter became the 21st century’s upgrade to passing notes in the back of the class.

I attended a conference one day, and, wow! I was on the “backchannel”. Your mum and dad’s bad manners all of a sudden got a hip name and became the reason you lugged your laptop to conference in the first place. You’ve forgotten those oldskool pre-Twitter conferences now, haven’t you, where you actually listened to the presenter? Twitter, pointless, vapid, I’m not interested in what you had for breakfast Twitter filled a hole we never knew we had. And like email, one day the mundanes will get that too.

Last year, my Twitter stream filled up with people announcing themselves mayors of local Prêt-à-Mangers. Should I un-follow these deranged megalomaniacs with expensive tastes in sarnies? There was an odd, repetitive quality to their tweets that’s the signature of a machine. So I discovered Foursquare: the most transparent attempt I’d seen so far to induce you to give up your location so advertisers could monetise you. Meh. I didn’t get it – perhaps because the “mayor” business didn’t sit so well with my instinctive anarchist tendencies. Maybe I’d want people – friends – to know where I am, but I don’t need points and titles (or free cups of coffee with a catch).

Do you care about the location-based web? Do you get it? This is the beginning of realtime metadata about you. Technology has put into the hands of the private sector information about you that was formerly only available to the police – with a warrant. Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt talk, insouciantly, about the end of privacy. Using their services is a bargain from which we can extract many benefits. For their respective corporations, though, we are all money-spinners now. When we ask “what can this technology do for me?”, we should also ask, “and what do I have to lose?”

Tags: , , , ,

Looking forward to FOTE 2010

Aug 11

Posted by hhodges in FOTE10 | No Comments

by Helen Hodges and Justin Spooner from JISC RSC Wales





FOTE09 website

FOTE09 website

FOTE 2009 was one of the best events I attended last year, not least because as a result I wrote 2 blog posts (one about the event and one about about iTunesU) and Justin (my colleague who also attended wrote a blog about digital identity) AND the keynote speaker for our main JISC RSC Wales cross sector event in June, ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymru Digdol‘, was Dougald Hine, who we heard speak at FOTE 2009 and who inspired us both because of his challenging ideas about the future of education.

oMbiel on iPad

oMbiel on iPad

FOTE 2010 is less than 2 months away now and I am already looking forward (being lucky enough to have got another ticket) to this years event. Although much of the programme is of interest, 2 things that stick out for me are the iPad session and the as yet untitled session led by oMbiel. oMbiel is an organisation that I came across recently, when asked by a  post 16 learning provider in Wales about the availability of mobile apps for helping orientate new students to a new campus and via a Google search I came across campusM … so I am looking forward to hearing more first hand. And then there’s the iPad … I admit that (having a tech mad husband too) I have had my own iPad since day one and that I have used it a bit for work, mostly for leisure but also as an Open University learner. The least successful/most gripes have come for me as a learner … I can view course resources and even download them to GoodReader to view offline but I can’t post to the Moodle forum or my course blog easily and making notes on the numerous pdfs we have to read is not a straighforward experience. That said, for all its faults I love the iPad and am hoping that ‘The iPad is the future of reading’ will convince me of its place in a learners’ hands.


Justin will also be attending again this year and I asked him what he is looking forward to. He said:

” I’m looking forward to the Computer Games in Education session. Gaming as an educational tool is almost always a contoversial subject when it is mentioned at our RSC events. I recently heard a programme on Radio 4 which was talking about gaming in the classroom; the effects sounded amazing, pupils were engaged, having fun, were actively interested in the subject and apparently even their grades improved. The programme presenter posed an interesting question though, as the games involved points being won and lost does this encourage gambling? Hopefully this talk will help to lay some of these perceived issues to rest and arm me with some answers when I get asked about gaming next time.”

FOTE09 Lunch

FOTE09 Lunch

Justin also said, ” I am looking forward to the drinks reception” but he made me promise not to actually put it in this blog …oops! Here’s to another great FOTE :-)

(P.S. If you would like to follow either of us on Twitter I’m @HelenHRSC and Justin is @JustinRSC)















Tags: , , , , , ,

Books

Aug 10

Posted by jclay in FOTE10, Speakers | 16 Comments

There is something very beautiful and sensual about a new book. Anyone who has ever bought a new book will know what I mean. Whether you open the parcel from Amazon, or remove the book from a bag of a high street bookseller, there is something about the smell of a new book, the feel of the roughness of the paper between your fingers as you slowly flick from page to page. As you open it for the first time you can feel the stiffness of the spine of a book that has never been read. The smoothness of the dust jacket, the rough texture of the cover, combine to produce a tingling feeling of excitement as you realise you are about to open the book and start to read.

Books are extremely portable, they can be easily carried to any location and used. They fit into a multitude of bags and can be used whether you are a passenger in a car, on a train or flying in a plane. You can use books at home, in a coffee shop, on the beach, in a library, a classroom or in the park.

Books have an unique user interface that has never been adequately duplicated on any electronic device. You can flick from section to section, page to page. You can highlight and annotate. Put sticky notes on specific pages. Use bookmarks to identify sections.

Books are wonderful things, but still, the iPad is the future of reading…

Tags: , ,

Beyond Technology

Aug 4

Posted by Matt Lingard in FOTE10, Speakers, Technology | 4 Comments

Thinking beyond the technology; what’s required for a successful future for technology in education?

In my FOTE10 presentation, ‘We have the technology, we have the capability… all we need is love’,  I’ll be ignoring the shiny new technologies discussed earlier in the day to focus on the importance of educators in the FOTE. That’s not to say that technology isn’t key, I whole-heartedly agree with Niall Sclater:

Technology often leads the way and can make new forms of learning possible. The key is to apply the lessons we already know about learning to new technologies as they arise, and to evaluate continuously whether the new applications are having a positive impact on learning.

For now I’d like to broaden the focus beyond my talk and consider all the factors that are necessary for the successful implementation of technology, while conveniently side-stepping annoying questions such as ‘what counts as successful’!

Leadership & Strategy – There needs to be enthusiasm, support & funding. It requires local leadership too, e-learning champions for example, and departmental approaches, not just tick-the-HEFCE-box T&L strategies.

Teachers - Their existing knowledge, their beliefs about teaching, their interest in technology all matter, as does time. I don’t think most teaching staff are really time-poor but like everyone they have competing demands on that time and enhancing their teaching with technology is not always a high priority. Teachers are critical in the development of appropriate pedagogies that capitalise on available technologies.

Support - Staff & students need support with both the technologies and the pedagogies. A collaborative editing exercise using a wiki is as foreign to many students as it is to many teachers. I don’t think this can be under-estimated and not just because it keeps me in a job.

Students - Let’s not forget them! Students’ willingness and ability to engage with technologies incorporated into formal teaching is also important. Students can drive implementation. Students can also shop elsewhere if their needs are not being met!

"Don't Stop Innovation"

"Don't Stop Innovation"

Technology – Last in this list, but certainly not least. Whether it’s a case of selecting the right tool for the job or devising new educational activities for new innovative tools, appropriate technology is at the heart of successful technology-enhanced learning.

One more thing to add, that’s less tangible but crucial. Success will depend on the process of implementation and in turn on the local context. How does all of the above link together, which drives the other and so on.

That’s my take, but I’d be interested to hear yours.  Is this list complete? How are you fairing at your own institutions? Are you addressing all these areas?

Tags: , , , , ,