web 2.0 and the changing ways we are using computers for learning: what are the implications for...

8/14/2019 Web 2.0 and the changing ways we are using computers for learning: what are the implications for pedagogy an

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Web 2.0 and the changing ways we are using computers for learning: what are the

implications for pedagogy and curriculum?

1. Introduction

This paper is written as a basis for discussion and debate. It presents a series of hypotheses about

the development of education and training systems, institutions, pedagogy and curricula as the

basis for exploring how education may develop in the future. Central to these hypotheses is acultural understanding of education both as a reflection and part of wider societal organisation

and in individual terms as a reflection of the ways in which we learn and share knowledge.

Hypotheses

The first hypothesis is that education systems and institutions are developed to meet the needs of

society at particular stages of economic and social development. Education systems serve not

only to develop the skills and knowledge in the workforce required by industry but also to

develop social capital. Furthermore the organisational forms that education systems develop and

implement reflect particular organisational forms of capitalist production.

The second hypothesis is that industrial revolutions lead to profound and often paradigmatic

social change. However, such paradigm changes in the social arena tend to lag behind at times of

rapid technical development and change.

The present deep and prolonged industrial revolution, based on the development and

implementation of digital technologies, is leading to massive pressures on education and training

systems, both in terms of the changing demands from society especially from employers for

new skills and knowledge but also from the changing ways in which individuals are using Web

2.0 technology to create and share knowledge.

Paradigm Shift

The interaction of these pressures is likely to result in a longer-term paradigm shift in our

education systems including the organisation and form of educational institutions and curricula

and the pedagogic approaches to learning and knowledge development.

This paper will elaborate on these hypotheses. In the final, and perhaps speculative section of thepaper I will put forward some ideas what a new education system might look like. I believe that if

the hypotheses and scenarios I advance in this paper are accepted, it is important that we begin

now to discuss how we can shape an education system which meets the needs of learners and the

wider needs of society in the future.

Values, cultures and organisation

Of course one of the features of paradigms, particularly in social fields such as education, is that

they seem almost natural to participants. We fail to appreciate that there are radically different

alternatives and that systems are socially shaped. Even in education and training systems inEurope there are quite different base assumptions in values, cultures and organisation. I once

spent some time trying to explain to an incredulous head teacher in Spain that school heads in the

UK were appointed and not elected. He could not accept that an externally appointed head wouldhave the authority to run a school. And at the same time I found it hard to persuade a UK head

teacher that elected heads could have authority within their institution.

2. The industrial model of schooling

The present industrial model of schooling evolved to meet the needs and form of a particular

phase of capitalist industrial development. At least in the UK, prior to the industrial revolution of

the 1840s the schooling model was not the predominant form of education. Education was the

preserve of the privileged few, based on class and wealth. Parents hired tutors for home schooling


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for their sons and (less often) daughters. The church provided what schooling there was. Indeed

until as late as the nineteenth century, all university fellows and many schoolmasters were

expected or required to be in holy orders. Schoolmistresses typically taught "the three Rs"

(reading, writing and 'rithmatic) in dame schools, charity schools, or informal village schools

(Wikipedia, 2007). However, the majority of young people had little formal schooling. That is notto say they did not learn. But, learning was through what we would now call work based or

practice based learning. In a predominantly rural economy this took the form of helping in thefamily smallholdings from an early age. Apprenticeship was the main way of learning in the

mainly town based craft trades. Occupational choice was (as it still is often today) based on

parental occupation.

The industrial revolution imposed new requirements in terms of skills and knowledge in

particular the need to extend general education to much wider layers of society. But, in the UK, it

was not until 1893 that the Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act raised the schoolleaving age to 11 and 1902 that the state took over education, through the organisation of Local

Education Authorities and the provision of funding for schools from taxation. It is notable that

there was opposition to these reforms based variously on the idea that this would make the

labouring classes think and could lead to revolt and that handing children to a central authority

could lead to indoctrination. These reforms were based on a perceived need for Britain to remain

competitive in the world by being at the forefront of manufacture and improvement.1

Organisation and pedagogy

Figure 1: A traditional school building in the UK

The form of organisation of schooling and the predominant pedagogy were based on the forms of

production developed through the industrial revolution. Schools resembled large scale factories

for knowledge, organised into different departments with a foreman or woman in control of each

class and an overall manager in charge of the school (in older industrial cities in the UK it issometimes hard to distinguish between old schools and factories). Classroom monitors (or

prefects) acted as overseers. Students sat at desks organised in rows. Work was to take place with

set starting and finishing times each day. Bells would announce the start and end of rest periods

(or breaks).

1 Some of the speeches and documents of the time bear an uncanny resemblance to debatesaround the European Unions Lisbon Declaration


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Figure 2: A 19th Century Classroom

Curriculum

The curriculum was closely tied to the needs of industry. In the early years of the 19 th century the

major emphasis was on basic skills and literacy. The following table shows the six Standards of

Education contained in the Revised code of Regulations, 1872

Table 1

STANDARD I

Reading One of the narratives next in order after monosyllables in an elementary reading

book used in the school.

Writing Copy in manuscript character a line of print, and write from dictation a fewcommon words.

Arithmetic Simple addition and subtraction of numbers of not more than four figures, and

the multiplication table to multiplication by six.

STANDARD II

Reading A short paragraph from an elementary reading book.

Writing A sentence from the same book, slowly read once, and then dictated in single

words.

Arithmetic The multiplication table, and any simple rule as far as short division (inclusive).

STANDARD III

Reading A short paragraph from a more advanced reading book.

Writing A sentence slowly dictated once by a few words at a time, from the same book.

Arithmetic Long division and compound rules (money).

STANDARD IV

Reading A few lines of poetry or prose, at the choice of the inspector.


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Writing A sentence slowly dictated once, by a few words at a time, from a reading book,

such as is used in the first class of the school.

Arithmetic Compound rules (common weights and measures).

STANDARD V

Reading A short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative.Writing Another short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative,

slowly dictated once by a few words at a time.

Arithmetic Practice and bills of parcels.

STANDARD VI

Reading To read with fluency and expression.

Writing A short theme or letter, or an easy paraphrase.

Arithmetic Proportion and fractions (vulgar and decimal).

The system evolved to provide a basic technical education for the majority (through Secondary

Modern Schools) and a more advanced academic education in grammar for a minorityprogressing to university. Selection of schooling route was heavily class based.

Mobility was relatively low. Most people worked and lived in the city, town or village in which

they were born. Socialising took place at a local level, based on networks formed at school and at

work.

Reforms and modernisation

Of course, there were continuing change and reforms in the education system throughout the 20 th

century. In the UK, perhaps the most notable were the move to end the 11 plus entrance

examination for grammar schools and the establishment of comprehensive schooling and the

move towards mass university education heralded in then Prime Minister James Callaghans 1976Ruskin speech which argued for society's right to have a say in what was taught in schools -

through establishing a "core curriculum of basic knowledge".2 Such reforms reflected the

changing needs of industry and the economy at the time.

Taylorist organisation

Despite the reforms, the paradigmatic forms of organisation and delivery of education, the

institutional form of schooling, the development of curriculum and approaches to pedagogy were

based on the Taylorist organisation of production stemming form the industrial revolution.

3. The challenge of the Digital revolution

It is this paradigm which is being challenged by the digital revolution. The challenge comes form

many different directions indeed it could be characterised as a perfect storm. In this shortpaper I will look at two aspects of the pressure: firstly, the demand for lifelong learning, andsecondly, the changing forms of knowledge production, and thirdly the different cultural

approaches to learning amongst young people. Theses pressures reflect the changing forms of

knowledge production within society, facilitated by the implementation of web 2.0 technologies

but also as a response to new demands for knowledge production within society3.

2 Interestingly, this speech is still quoted on Tony Blairs 10 Downing Street web site


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Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is hardly a new idea. Arguably, the idea of lifelong learning was originally

rooted in the workers movement. In the UK, the Mechanics Institutes, the Miners Halls and

organisations like the Workers Educational Association (WEA) organised classes and courses for

workers to improve their own education as well as providing access to learning resources and

social activities. Whilst this provision might aim at developing technical and labour marketrelated skills and knowledge, it was guided by a wider belief in the power of education for

emancipation. The more recent focus on life long learning, in say the last thirty years, has been

guided by a far narrower discourse. Driven by a shorter product life cycle, the increasing speed of

adoption and implementation of new technologies in the workplace and the increasing instability

of employment with the computer driven industrial revolution, it was reasoned that workers

would need continuous learning throughout their work-life to update their occupational skills and

knowledge or to learn new occupational competences. It was contestable as to who would beresponsible for this. Whilst previously continuing vocational training had been the responsibility

of employers, and the state was seen as playing a leading role in the provision of continuing

education and training, it was now often argued that individuals were responsible for maintaining

their own employability, albeit sometimes with the assistance of grants, vouchers and subsidised

courses.

If not continuous, learning is now seen as multi episodic, with individuals spending occasional

periods of formal education and training throughout their working life.

However, despite the rhetoric in most countries there is little evidence of real moves to support

Lifelong Learning. Indeed the discourse of lifelong learning has come to be dominated by the

idea of employability. Far from facilitating and supporting lifelong learning, the concept of

employability seeks to place responsibility for continuing learning and the updating of skills and

competences for the individual on the learner themselves, without requisite levels of support.

More liberal discourses have embraced the idea of social inclusion, yet all too often social

inclusion merely seeks to reintegrate individuals within the systems which have failed them in the

first place. Education systems have failed to extend opportunities for learning outside theinstitutions and into wider layers of society at a widespread level.

How we use computers for learning

The most compelling challenge to our present systems of education and training and the major driver of

change may be the changing ways learners (young people in particular but by no means just young people)

are using computers for learning.

Information navigation

John Seely Brown in a speech in 1999, looked at the new dimensions of learning, working and

playing in the digital age. One dimension he drew attention to was literacy and how it is

evolving. The new literacy, the one beyond text and knowledge, he said, is one of informationnavigation.

Linked to this was learning and how that is shifting. He pointed to the growth of discovery or

experiential learning. As kids work in the new digital media, he said, rather than abstract logic,

they deploy Bricolage. Bricolage relates to the concrete and has to do with the ability to find

3 See, for instance the European Union Lisbon declaration which declared the aim of Europe being themost advanced knowledge based economy in the world and also promoted the use of digital technologies

for learning and knowledge production.


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something an object or a tool, a piece of code, a document - and to use it in a new way and in a

new context. But to be a successful bricoleur of the virtual rather than the physical you have to be

able to decide whether or not to trust or believe these things. Therefore the need for making

judgements is greater than ever before.

Figure 3: Students involved in a robotics project in Germany

Navigation is being coupled to discovery and discovery being coupled to bricolage but you do not

dare build on whatever you discover unless you can make a judgement concerning its quality or

trustworthiness.

The final dimension Seely Brown addressed was that of action. He suggests new forms of

learning are based on trying things and action, rather than on more abstract knowledge. Learning

becomes as much social as cognitive, as much concrete as abstract, and becomes intertwined with

judgement and exploration.

Seely Browns early study has been reinforced by research by Lenhart and Madden for Pew

Research (2005). The study found that 56 per cent of young people in America were using

computers for creative activities, writing and posting of the internet, mixing and constructing

multimedia and developing their own content. 12 to 17-year-olds look to web tools to share what

they think and do online. One in five who use the net said they used other people's images, audio

or text to help make their own creations. Commenting on the study Lee Raine (BBC, 2005), said:

"These teens were born into a digital world where they expect to be able to create, consume,

remix, and share material with each other and lots of strangers."

Social networking

In recent years many young people have established accounts on social networking sites

including Bebo, Facebook and MySpace. Services such as Facebook are targeted particularly for

students. Such social networking services provide tools for content creation and sharing and for

developing networks of friends.


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A recent survey for Pew Research4(Lenhart and Madden, 2007) found that:

55% of online teens have created a personal profile online, and 55% have used social

networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.

66% of teens who have created a profile say that their profile is not visible to all internet

users.

48% of teens visit social networking websites daily or more often; 26% visit once a day,

22% visit several times a day.

Older girls ages 15-17 are more likely to have used social networking sites and created

online profiles; 70% of older girls have used an online social network compared with 54% of

older boys, and 70% of older girls have created an online profile, while only 57% of older

boys have done so.

Figure 4: My Space

Identity production

In a speech to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Danah Boyd, (2006)

said many teens access MySpace at least once a day or whenever computer access is possible.

Teens that have a computer at home keep MySpace opened while they are doing homework or

talking on instant messenger. In schools where it is not banned or blocked, teens check MySpaceduring passing period, lunch, study hall and before/after school. This is particularly important for

teens who don't have computer access at home.

Boyd went on to look at the issue of identity production in on line social networking

environments. The dynamics of identity production play out visibly on MySpace. Profiles are

4It is a shame that the surveys being undertaken by Pew Research are limited to the USA. Similar work inother countries and cultures would be extremely useful.


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digital bodies, public displays of identity where people can explore impression management.

Because the digital world requires people to write themselves into being, profiles provide an

opportunity to craft the intended expression through language, imagery and media.

As Boyd point out public spaces on the internet are critical to the coming-of-age narrative

because they provide the framework for building cultural knowledge.

Learning?

Of course, there is an issue as to how much learning takes place through participation and

engagement in social networking sites. However, the failure of the education providers to engage

with this activity risks schools and other educational institutions becoming irrelevant to the

culture of discourse for young people and to the way in which young people interact and

exchange ideas.

Figure 5: Relations in a social network

There are a number of studies which examine (informal) learning through social networks and

on-line discussion. In a recent study, (Creer, 2007) socio-economically disadvantaged teens were

given computers and access to a database that offered reminders for care, information, and

discussion boards.

A study of the use of the site found the teenagers used the online resources, particularly the

discussion boards. The community offered was particularly important to teens.

In her bookI Found It on the Internet: Coming of Age Online, librarian Francis Jacobson

Harris (2007) explores environments in which people use communication technology to accessinformation, manipulate it, transform it, and exchange it. Harris focuses on the idea that

technologies can help teens do their job, which is to develop a sense of identity and of

community. Our professional literature is replete with how-to manuals for teaching with

technology and running technology-based libraries. But we still must come to terms with the way

kids perceive the world as a result of growing up with digital technology.

It is interesting to note that new teachers have grown up themselves with social networking tools.

However Christopher Sessums (2007) says: Most of our conventional f2f students are young and


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new to teaching. A majority have MySpace and Facebook accounts so they are familiar with

social media/social networking technologies, yet often keep these technologies separate from

their professional practice. Many of these student teachers see no connection between their

personal use of the Read/Write Web (pdf) and their professional use.

The use of computers for learning in Small and Medium Enterprises

Lest it be thought that the use of technology for social networking and informal learning islimited to the so-called net generation, a study of the use of ICT for learning in Small and

Medium Enterprises (Attwell, 2007) found that whilst there was little evidence of formal e-

learning computers were being widely used for informal learning through amongst other things

participation in networks and distributed communities of practice. Furthermore, there was some

evidence that older workers were more likely to participate in such activities (probably because of

more autonomy in how they undertook their work). It was also noteworthy that in addition to

being motivated by the need to solve work based problems, much of the participation was driven

by personal interest.

3. How are education systems reacting to the challenge?

In the last section I outlined two key challenges to education and training systems: the need to

facilitate and support life long learning and the changing cultural and pedagogic ways in whichyoung people are using technology for learning.

How are education systems reacting to the challenge? At the level of primary education the

record seems reasonable. Primary education in most countries fulfils the role of providing basic

skills in reading and writing and, increasingly, digital literacy, and in providing a social

environment for children to interact. Pedagogic approaches include story telling, group work, pay

and project based learning all of which support Seely Browns concept of bricolage. Despite

various pressures (including that of finance) universities appear reasonably functional in terms of

societal demands. At the lifelong learning level we have already noted the limited discourses and

failure to support the broadening of support for learning to wider sections of the population.

However it is at the level of post primary or secondary education that the systems seem to be

particularly challenged. It is notable that at least in Europe almost every system is in the processof reforming post 10 or post 11-year-old education systems and provision. The problem is that

these reforms are not working. Despite the relatively high investment in education, the proportion

on non achievers remains persistently high, teachers are often disillusioned, employers complainabout the low levels of skills and competence form school graduates and many young people,

when questioned, are less than enthusiastic about school. At best, it is just a hurdle which has to

be jumped in order to progress on in their lives. Continued reform avoids the issue that post-

primary education systems and institutions are dysfunctional within todays culture and society.

Dysfunctional systems

I want to draw attention to three particular aspects of such dysfunction of secondary education

schooling systems.

Educational Technology

The first is in the development an implementation of educational technology. The previous

section has detailed the ways in which young people are using technology for creating and

sharing and for social networking. However, the major implementations of educational

technology have been not to encourage such networking and creativity but to manage learning

and to isolate networks. Learning management Systems are WSYWYG they do what they say,

manage learning. Systems have been developed as a walled garden, to perpetuate the isolationof the school form the wider outside community.


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We tend to recreate with new technologies older social forms of organisation. Thus we talk of the

virtual classroom or the virtual university, attempting to recreate and preserve the old paradigm of

education with new technical forms. Even in SecondLife, a multi player 3D virtual world,

universities have been investing heavily in buying islands to recreate in 3D form their building

and classrooms.

figure 6: Sign in a computer classroom in the USA

And most education systems have acted with at best suspicion and often downright hostility tosocial networking systems and technologies. In the USA a bill is proceeding through Congress to

ban access to social networking sites form public institutions. In Europe we insist that young

people turn off their mobile phones to prevent them texting friends in school. Yet these are the

very systems and tools which businesses are increasingly seeing as central to future knowledge

creation and distribution!

Particularly notable is the continuing moral panics over young peoples use of technology. There

would appear to be more studies of sexual predators on sites like MySpace than actual proven

instances. Danah Boyd (2007) notes: Moral panics are a common reaction to teenagers when

they engage in practices not understood by adult culture. There were moral panics over rock and

roll, television, jazz and even reading novels in the early 1800s.

Networking, sharing and collaborationThe second aspect of the dysfunction of secondary education is in relation to the culture of

networking, sharing and collaboration. Web 2.0 applications and social software are increasingly

being used for knowledge development and sharing and for cultural interchange and networking.

Research in economic development advances the idea of the learning region based oncollaboration between enterprises and between enterprises and other social institutions. The

theory of connectivism states that learners are actively attempting to create meaning through

engagement in networks (Siemens, 2005)

Yet the schooling model remains rigidly tied to the idea of developing and assessing individualattainment. Of course, the idea that we should enable each individual to develop to their full

potential is laudable as asocial goal. But if knowledge and creativity is dependent on engagement

within wider social networks then how can this be developed within education systems based onindividual attainment (I will talk more about the issue of assessment later in this paper).

Curriculum

The third illustration of how education and schooling systems are dysfunctional relates to

curriculum. Most learning does not take place in formal educational programmes. Jay Cross

(2006) argues that only 10 -15 per cent of learning is formal, that 85 per cent of our learning takes

place outside of formal settings. Learning is taking place through engagement in social networks,

both learning by young people of school age and learning from older people in work.


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Furthermore learning takes place in multiple contexts, in work, in the community and in the home

as well as in school. Yet our schooling systems remain wedded to attainment against a narrow

curriculum of formal knowledge. Informal learning is hardly acknowledged, less still fostered and

facilitated.

4. Reschooling society - engaging with learners

We face the danger that school may become irrelevant for the very day lives (and learning) ofmany young people. How can we overcome such dysfunction?

Josie Fraser (2007) has looked at how Web2 tools and applications are currently being used to

supplement the limitations of Learning Management Systems (or Virtual Learning

Environments). In common with many educational technology researchers she is interested in the

concept of a Personal Learning environment (PLE). A PLE has been seen as a concept of what wewant learners to be able to do in directing their own learning, in terms of self empowerment. It

recognises that learners exist in an ecosystem, and in that ecosystem they have some

computational tools, the PLE. The PLE is the system (or multiple systems) that enable and

support the growth of and behaviour of self-directed or self motivated learners. Josie Fraser sees

such a development as a move from Adaptive Personalisation to Dynamic personalisation.

Figure 7: from Adaptive Personalisation to Dynamic personalisation (Josie Fraser, 2007)

Learning Management Systems, as they currently stand, she says, can deliver two elements of

personalisation they deal well with delivering, monitoring and recording institutional provision

and procedure, although youd have to argue out on the ground how well they cope with the


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customisation. Web2 applications offer a quick solution to the far more difficult issue of how

institutions might engage with and support student-led participation.

Critical to such an understanding is a basic paradigm shift from learners engaging with

institutional provision and procedures to the institution engaging with the learner. This would

imply that institutions have to recognise the new cultures of learning and networking and engage

with those cultures.Yet that involves profound change in institutional practice and procedures and institutional

organisation and in curriculum organisation and pedagogic approach. It is those changes that are

the subject of the penultimate section of the paper.

A new role and new forms of organisation for education

Critical to engagement (or re-engagement) and support of institutions with learner-led

participation is to end the schooling culture whereby schools have been isolated from wider forms

of community and social discourse, knowledge development and sharing. The present

organisation of schools and education institutions cannot achieve this. Instead we have to rethink

the role of educational provision and support or learning within communities and wider society.

The following ideas for how this could be done are advanced as initial thing in order to promote

such a debate.

Figure 8: Informal Learning Spaces in a new school building (Source: JISC)

Community learning Centres

Instead of the present schools we could envisage the idea of Community Learning Centres. These

would be support centres open to all ages of learners - at least form the age of 11 or 12 upwards -


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although there is a case for maintaining separate primary learning provision. Critically such

centres would be networked allowing access support for learning presently only available in

specialist schools or in Higher Education Institutions, within the community.

Project based learning

Learners would work on projects combining elements from different subjects. Individual learning

plans would be developed through a Personal Learning Environment with the support of what isnow called teachers. Such projects would be undertaken in teams with teachers facilitating

learning. Teams could be geographically based but might well include participants from other

Community Learning Centres and from other countries participating through networked

communication. Although this might seem far-fetched, many young people participate in on-line

communities involving participants form different countries in their leisure time.

Projects would include the wider community including community based organisations and

enterprises.

Figure 9: Drama and computers project in Germany

Open Educational Resources

Learners would be able to access federated (or central) repositories of Open EducationalResources. New resources, created by teachers to meet the particular need of a learning task

would be added to such a repository.

Personal Learning Environments

Progress and attainment would be recorded in the group and individual Personal Learning

Environment. Learners a-would be encouraged to produce regular presentations of their work,

which would be shared on line and also provide a resource both for other learners and for the

broader community.

Mixed age learning

Community Learning Centres would support wider community resources including provision for

adult learners and support for single parents. Parents and retired people would be encouraged to

assist with the learning provision. The local community, with regular and open meetings to

discuss management and future development, would control centres.


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Buildings would be designed to facilitate interaction between small groups of learners, providing

privacy and quiet for intense activities but also encouraging transparency and communication. It

goes without saying that they would also provide access to bandwidth and to Information and

Communication Technologies.

Higher Education

Higher Education providers would be given a new role in supporting networked CommunityLearning Centres. But with more learning occurring at local level, and learners participating in

the network of centres as a whole, not an individual institution, they would also be able to return

to their core role as centres of research (with that research shared under Creative Commons and

Science Commons licences).

Whilst negotiated learning plans would recognise the need for breadth of learning, they wouldalso take into account the particular interests of individual learners.

Motivation

Hopefully over a period of time the motivation for learning would cease to be compulsion, but

rather the opportunity for participation in learning activities. However, it may be that we have

advanced the leaving age for full time education too far young people form say 14 or 15 should

be offered the opportunity to undertake paid work whilst learning.

Assessment

Present assessment is usually based on individual achievement. This is a substantial barrier to

collaboration, reflection and feedback and to project based group work. Rick Stiggins (2004)

distinguishes between the assessment of learning and assessment for learning. The assessment oflearning seeks to discover how much have students learned as of a particular point in time.

Assessment for learning asks how can we use assessment to help students learn more. Moving to

assessment for learning would allow the introduction of wider forms of assessment including

group, peer and self assessment.

5. End notes

Are the ideas in this paper utopian? I do not think so. The development of Personal LearningEnvironments is not a major impossibility - indeed we already have prototype applications -

although more work needs to be done in the area of provision of services. There are many

examples of innovative projects operating in similar ways to what I have described (including

projects working with socially disadvantaged learners). The problem is that such projects operate

where they can find space in the curriculum and institutional organisation, often with external

project funding, and where there are enthusiastic and skilled teachers. Of course generalising such

an approach will require Professional Development to enable teachers to play a very new role. It

will require reducing the control of institutions and the reshaping of learning provision. However,

the kind of scenarios I have described above can be found every day in kindergartens. If we can

do it for 3 and 4 year olds, why not for older learners?


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Figure 10: The 100 Dollar computer

Finally, I wish to take up the argument that it is fine to talk about such ideas in rich western

societies but that in many countries learners lack access to basic even education. According to the

Theory of Uneven and Combined Development (Trostky, 1980) The privilege of historic

backwardness permits, or rather compels, the adoption of whatever is ready in advance of any

specified date, skipping a whole series of intermediate stages. For those countries without an

advanced schooling organisation it may be possible to jump such a stage of development and

directly implement Personal Learning Environments integrated within the community. Indeed,

the implementation of the One Computer per Pupil programme is a step towards using advanced

computers and social networking for learning. Further, it could be suggested that oral traditions of

story telling to be found in many African cultures offer a potentially strong pedagogic approach

to knowledge sharing and learning through social networks and one that we may have to

rediscover in the technologically advanced western countries.

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