Becta’s recently published ‘Emerging technologies for learning Volume 3 (2008)’ provides a number of excellent articles on the themes we explored during our seminar in January. These articles are particularly valuable in documenting current thinking and proposing benefits and imperatives whilst also indicating the challenges, which we have all been considering. This publication contributes to our thinking on how we adapt to harness the potential of these technologies to improve learning. It is important, particularly with the increasingly challenging capital funding situation, that as key LA facilitators, we input into strategic plans the imperative and capacity to accommodate emerging technologies.

The articles are:

• Growing up with Google:
  Examining the characteristics of ‘net generation’ learners, the possibilities offered by new technologies and the implications for learning and teaching.
• Mobile, wireless, connected:
  Mark van’t Hooft describes some examples of how these technologies are being used to transform learning and discusses the barriers and issues to their effective use.
• Location-based and context-aware education:
  Exploration of the issues and potential of these technologies which could mean ‘nothing less than a reappraisal of what we mean when we say ‘education’.’
• Emerging trends in serious games and virtual worlds:
  Exploring the potential of these technologies and the implications for education more widely.
• ‘If it quacks like a duck…’:
  Exploring some potential solutions to the problem of finding and searching digital content on the web but also indicating a clear role for educators and a need for better information literacy.
• Interactive displays and next-generation interfaces:
  Exploring the potential benefits of some emerging display and interface technologies.

I unashamedly pick out an extract from Mark van’t Hooft’s article on mobile connectivity as it articulates an issue I’ve been raising with LA colleagues at every opportunity;

“The key for education is that these technologies are providing opportunities for learning that don’t really exist without them. Instead of banning these tools and punishing those who try to use them for learning in formal settings, schools should take a serious look at learning more about the digital technologies so prevalent in many areas of our society today.

……. institutions of education should be ready to at least consider using mobile, wireless and connected tools as supplements to what’s happening in the classroom, in an effort to make learning both more personal and connected to the real world. Wireless mobile devices could provide the bridge to make that happen, as long as schools provide the networks and the access, because in the long run, the learners will provide the devices to access their applications and information stored online.

Photo Credit: Becta copyright ©

I was really encouraged by a recent TES article by my West Lothian colleague, Sean McPartlin where he articulated wonderfully the ‘positive and disciplined option for learning and teaching’ and the ‘opportunity to encourage responsibility and awareness in our students’ which the increased availability and appropriate use of ICD’s will bring . Sean’s comments reinforce my belief that most colleagues are engaged by the benefits that integrating technology tools into learning can achieve, and they also have a pragmatic approach which appreciates that associated risks are also an opportunity to extend learning.