Module 6: Addressing the Digital Divide

It is important that the debates continue on technology developments…that it touches on some fundamental issues and questions in learning practice. A central issue is the role of both the learner and their community in the development of knowledge and understanding of technology.  Many technology tools promote active, participatory and collaborative knowledge building. As educators of technology we need to understand how effective those approaches are and what the implications are for education, education professionals, and most importantly…the learner. 

The adoption of social software tools, techniques and ideas will be the most important and visible example of the use of emerging technology in education over the next few years; but it is the social affordances, not the technology itself that is really new and exciting.  Young people are often operating within entirely new online social contexts that provide alternative spaces in which to explore, interact and learn new skills, such as massively multiplayer online games, online social networking sites, blog networks, wikis and online groups. As Danah Boyd suggests, there are many positives to take from the way young people are using these spaces, and so it makes sense to engage with them and embrace online social networking and social tools within education. Wikis and online games are already being used as places in which new forms of learning and skill development can take place (http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts).

Through networked cultures young people are learning from peers in more direct ways. They are exposed to and challenged to think about, power and the importance of different cultural practices. Young people are using digital spaces to explore identity, their place in the world, and their understanding of how society and culture works. Yet adults do not fully understand the more deeply complex functions of these spaces, what they mean for young people’s sense of agency, what kinds of cultures they are consuming and learning through, and what impact this has on their life chances. Those who excel in a networked world are those who know how to use their networked communities and connections to get at knowledge, take action or communicate at any given moment and context (Jenkins, 2006).

To meet these challenges, certain conditions have to evolve. To Leadbeater(2006), it requires a cultural rather than physical rebuilding of schools to capture collaborative creativity.  He states:  “Schools are factories for learning in an age when we need agility and self-motivation. Learning beyond the school, using new technologies and tools, will become as important as learning at school. Imagine an education system for the generation that grew up with eBay and Google, MySpace and Wikipedia: participative, personalized, collaborative, and always available. (Leadbeater, 2006)

For this to happen, new media literacy should be social skills and part of a wider citizenship toolkit for a digital era.  The challenge that precedes that is how educators can be supported to approach new digital social contexts and cultures in a way that does not add extra pressure to an already challenging and under-resourced job.  Learning technology that promotes autonomy, encourages diversity, and enables interaction and supports openness will, in the main, be more effective than technology that does not. And thus we will see learning technology evolve from the approach defined by the learning management system to the idea that is the personal learning environment.  To use the twenty-first century’s rapidly emerging technology effectively for education, we must invent best practices together. In an era whose often unbelievable technological changes we are all struggling with, the mantra – for both educators and students -- must be this:  “We are all learners…We are all teachers”. Marc Prensky- 2006

Reference:

Boyd, D. (2010).  Zephoria Thoughts. (http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts).

Jenkins, H, (2006), Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press

Leadbeater, C, (2006), ‘The Ten Habits of Innovation’, Provocation paper 01, Nesta, 1 Plough Place, London EC4A 1DE

Prensky, M. (2006).  Don’t Bother Me, Mom, I’m Learning (Paragon House, 2006). More of his writings can be found at www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp