Technology is a key component of Digital Learning. Does that seem like a patently obvious statement? Yes, but this simple statement has deep ramifications. For some individuals technology comes easy. Often these are the individuals who adopt the latest and greatest, are excited about changes and shift between screens, software, hardware and mobile apps like expert skiers navigating moguls. Assumptions, there is a generational divide in the adoption of technology and soon we will “age out” of our technological hurdle, are misplaced. In my Community college classes, I find the digital hurdles include: access, poverty, class, mental processing and perspectives. I have also found that “tech users” are often, not the best instructors, because they do not understand why or how a hurdle exists.
As I have watched the expanding usage of technology, I realized that there was something I was just “not “getting”. For me the “skills” were not transferable. Every change in platform, software, hardware, & upgrade became a hurdle. Another technology I had to learn, which I knew would last only until the next upgrade. I resented the time spent learning the technology to ‘display history’ as opposed to “doing history”. Techies argued, “there are great tools that “do everything for you” – just drop in your data!” But if I “dropped my data”, do I really understand the results? As we have learned in this certificate program, decisions are made at every step and they shape the outcome of the digital processing. Manoff
Constructing the “Finding Women in Cleveland” project has been an adventure in digital teaching and learning. How hard could it be to ‘transform the tour…to place images on a platform and ‘plug in’ images, video and audio? I was thinking analogically. I have been challenged to think digitally, to weave technology, historical ideas, urban artifacts and educational goals into the project. Digital thinking transforms the product; the goal of education transforms the technology, the technology is transformed by the nature of the materials and artifacts, the use of the digital platform transforms the engagement and the process of integration transforms the educational goals.
Just as learning systems were developed to prepare workforces for the industrial age, learning systems must be transformed for the digital age. Large machines and large organizations were built to last. Authorities told us what was important, and keeping “the line” was important. But if the goal is creativity, flexibility and responsiveness to diverse populations and demands…teaching and learning must be adapted to promote these skills, even in understanding and presenting our past.
Thus, digital learning is incremental, flexible and engaged: “teach me what you are doing, so I can learn by doing, so I can not only participate but evolve.” The human skill of teaching and learning becomes a collaborative endeavor. Humanity and individuality is recognized and really, isn’t the goal of education to get people to live together peacefully and prosperously? We can be lured by the Apple (pun intended); we can focus on the wrong things, mindfulness of what is gained and lost from our traditions and understanding of the past is critical. We cannot halt the future, nor would we want to, but engagement can be the bridge between generations and the glue that holds the puzzle together.
Notes:
Manoff, Marlene. ”The Materiality of Digital Collections: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives.” Portal: Libraries and the Academy 6, no. 3 (07, 2006): 311-25.
