I have read two blog posts this week which came to me through Twitter. Both posts talk about the impact that technology is currently having on education and the possible future of education that now that we have such amazing tools at our disposal.  Including the question: ’if every student had a computer’ (can’t find tweet and lost the link – but it was a very good read).  Plus the ever-present impact that social media is having on education.  Both have potentially far reaching and deeply profound impacts on learning and as such, have piqued my interest.

I believe that learning is very much a socially constructed activity which is strongly centered around the way the individual responds to the stimulus and learns from and with others – I could extend that to ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ worlds.  I also believe, that for the teaching profession to survive these incredible developments we must adapt our own learning and the learning of others with the support of these incredible ‘virtual’ tools.  We are not at a ‘teaching’ crossroads… we are reaching a ’societal’ cataclysm, a series of events and developments within our control which could be disastrous if we do not: a) move with it, understand it and use it effectively; and b) make some serious ethical decisions regarding how to use this in a way which progresses humanity and doesn’t see us become a world of people locked in isolated rooms interacting with avatars at screens.  Many of us may have seen the future for humanity predicted in Wall-E?  For the record however, Hollywood has a horribly poor record of getting things anywhere close to accurate when it attempts to predict the future!

The point I am getting to is the ethical decision that e-learning must be balanced, I am sure we all understand that it is equally important that our learners learn to interact with each other in the real world! I would have grave concerns if our vision is that all children had a laptop in front of them (the only difference between the classrooms of the 19th and 20th Centuries is that in the 21st Century there is now a laptops on every desk and an interactive whiteboard at the front of the room!).  This has significant impact on the environment, our health and our future as society.  My assumptions are based on a belief that if you are engaged with a community on the computer, you are often disengaged with the others physically in your presence.

This post is not about being ‘anti’ social networks and eLearning (please don’t read that as anti-social!), as I am a proponent of both… it is about ensuring a balance to protect our future and understanding that our vision for our children’s future should not be one of ‘virtual connectedness’ and ‘real-world isolation’.  I am sure we all realise this, but I just wanted to say it because, as educators, we have a moral responsibility to ensure ‘real-world connectedness’ maintains its importance.  :-)

Great teachers are great teachers, with or without technology, but really great teachers are those who can infuse all of the skills which make them effective while supporting student learning with the use of technologies.  Let me explain…

I was working with a teacher a number years back on his appraisal.  This teacher (for the purposes of comprehension, let’s call this one Teacher A, and he is real) was awesome!  He communicated his messages brilliantly, worked so well with students individually and in groups, knew the needs of his students in the curriculum areas, knew most parents on a first name basis and really motivated his class to learn so well.  These students reciprocated and this classroom was a real ‘place of learning’.  There were two quite new computers in the classroom and the teacher had a laptop he ‘used sometimes’, but eLearning or web 2.0. didn’t feature on his pedagogical landscape  While this resource was present and the teacher new about some of the potential, he didn’t make effective use of ICT in his classroom… however, no one could question Teacher A’s reflective approach, his relationships with the learners, their parents and other staff, his effective communication, his support for school-wide initiatives, his constructivist classroom and strong learning focus.  In short this joker was a very effective, or a ‘great’, teacher.  None of his students missed out.

Contrast this with this fictitious appraisal of Teacher B (who doesn’t exist!).  This teacher was a leader in ICT and also learning.  Teacher B was rarely seen without a laptop or around a computer, a real proponent of IWBs and computer ’suites’ for skill learning.  This teacher claimed to base classroom programmes around strong pedagogies, perhaps mistaking the word ‘pedagogies’ for ‘opinions’.  The word ‘reflection’ was used often by this teacher, but the evidence of it was sparse, and it certainly did not inform this individual’s practise.  There was no outward support for School-wide initiatives, and a prevalent ‘I know better than you’ attitude… clearly not an easy appraisal to do!  Teacher B had some interesting class blogs and websites, focussed largely around ‘knowledge-type’ work or ‘busy’ learning tasks… a website on bees was informative and creative, but largely designed and created by the teacher and only certain kids had the right to contribute.  While this teacher used the tools well, (although one could argue not in a constructivist manner) the grounding in quality practise and focus on quality teaching and learning was less evident… I certainly don’t get the feeling of a ‘learning classroom’… despite being surrounded by computers, cameras and an interactive whiteboard.

The point to these two short parables is a simple one… as stated above, with or without technology, a great teacher is a great teacher.

However, imagine Teacher A with the vision to use the best tools available through technology and develop a real eLearning element to their practice.  What sort of learning environment could be possible?  Imagine also the traditional classroom barriers being ‘blown away’ through such tools as those available through web2.0 and the use of transformational learning and teaching?

Anything’s possible…

I will leave you with these two quotes that I found on Twitter

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read & write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, & relearn.  Alvin Toffler

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.  John Cotton Dana