למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

We are reckless jargon users in education. Just ask anyone coming out of your local supermarket what they think “effective pedagogies” or “student agency” means.

Jargon is used to: exclude; disguise; imply expertise; and to market product. No one benefits when words are used to divide and confuse.

I would argue that the addition of the ‘e’ to e-learning/e-learners is now unhelpful as it perpetuates a notion that there is an important difference between these words and the words learning/learners. We learn with or without the ‘e’, and to survive in and contribute to New Zealand society today without the ‘e’ would be a challenge.

So why was the ‘e’ added in the first place? Possibly to emphasise that a change had occurred in our ways of working, but as we know there is nothing new about change – rock, slate, blackboard, paper, screens, touch screens, voice activated screens, augmented glasses... – except that now the speed is phenomenal and requires a learner mind-set to keep up. We know today that learning might happen anywhere, any time, any place, with anyone, and that it is not just about ‘learning stuff’.

Digital Learning Tools and Modern learning technologies

I can tell you one fact and that is that learning does not happen just because you’re holding a device or connected to the internet. In fact the reasons why successful deeper learning takes place have never changed, regardless of our rush to be excited about the web, social media and iPads. Young people don’t want to do everything on devices but do have experiences or witness examples daily of their effectiveness for communication, active learning and creativity output. Young people understand digital tools as a constant option on a Smörgåsbord of numerous tools to carry out all sorts of tasks both in life and for learning. All tools offer potential, the trick is to keep an open mind and not treat one tool differently based on one’s own skill set or experience.