📓 Technology Makes Learning More Doable

It is often argued that technology is about redefinition and substitution. However, Bill Ferriter makes the case that technology simply makes things more doable and easier for everyone.

Technology lowers barriers, making the kinds of higher order learning experiences that matter infinitely more doable than they were in previous decades.

Source: Do We REALLY Need to Do New Things in New Ways? by Bill Ferriter

This is contrast to those like Papert and Stager who make the case that technology is never neutral.

7 responses on “📓 Technology Makes Learning More Doable”

  1. Technology always has a focus, whether it be student, teacher or system. One of the interesting things to consider is when different perspectives compete within the one software package.

    Technology is never neutral. An incredibly clever teacher might be able to pull a technology a little bit between the vertices in the triangle, but that doesn’t change the equation. Educators need to decide upon whom they wish to bestow agency. I’m in Papert’s corner. It is best for learners and enjoys the greatest return on investment.source

    Doug Belshaw adds a different take on this, suggesting that it either supports or pushes against the status quo:

    There’s no such thing as a neutral system, so every time you design a new technology-based system, you’re designing to reinforce or subvert existing power structures.source

    He uses the example of Open Badges to illustrate this.
    Using the example of trowels used for masonry, Virginia Eubanks explains that the affordances impact the user’s experience:

    I can’t swap them out. If I forget my 1/4 inch trowel and the building I’m working on has 1/4 inch joints, I’m screwed. How you use a tool isn’t totally determined – you can use a hammer to paint a barn. But you’ll do a terrible job. (2/4)
    — Virginia Eubanks (@PopTechWorks) October 24, 2018

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Why are smart people so susceptible to a “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people” argument when we discuss tech? And what does it mean that tech critics so deeply misunderstand something as simple as a trowel? (4/4)
    — Virginia Eubanks (@PopTechWorks) October 24, 2018

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Technology makes learning more doable

    Also on:

  2. Bill Ferriter revisits his image of right and wrong use of technology.
    “Image – Technology is a Tool – V3” by William M Ferriter is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
    In support of this, he provides three reasons why he stands by his assertion of ‘wrong’:

    It provides a starting points for conversations about the use of technology
    If teachers aren’t looking beyond tools when making instructional choices their decision-making really is flawed
    Not buying the alienation argument

    This comes back to his argument that technology makes learning more ‘doable‘.

  3. I find this such an interesting topic David. As I have said previously, it is a topic that Kin Lane has recently been diving into. Personally, managing everything from my own space has made me more mindful of what I share. I think that being more informed about what sort of information and data we are both collecting and collating. Although I am not sure what this looks like for the future, I think that centralising my data and practices makes archiving more doable.

  4. David Greeves speaks with Matt Cox about the live setup of the Chemical Brothers. With all the different synthesisers, samplers, effects, midi clock and computers, he says the heart of it all is the mixing desk.

    The hardware mixer has always been central to the rig, but as more gear has been piled around it, Matt has had to contrive ever more involved means of keeping it all in sync. “Back then [in 1996] it was a 16-channel Mackie [mixer] with a couple of analogue keyboards and a [Roland SH]101, and an [Akai] MPC that was the kind of brain of the whole thing. That grew on the next tour to a few more samplers and a few more keyboards. After that, we started to use [Tascam] DA38 [digital multitrack tape] machines with a little bit of audio printed to them, plus timecode to run the MPC, so that kept the MIDI and audio in time with one another. And then from there it went to [Akai] DR16 hard-disk recorders for playback, again with some audio printed from the Logic file. That drove SMPTE, which drove an MPC, which drove the MIDI gear and held the MIDI and audio elements together.
    https://www.soundonsound.com/people/matt-cox-midi-tech-chemical-brothers

    What I find most interesting are the people behind the scenes who make it all possible. Although Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons make it all happen, this would not be possible without the work of those programming the machines and maintaining everything.

    There’s two of us that set the kit up. I do the programming side of it and Aaron [Cripps, the backline tech] looks after the maintenance side of it. On occasion there are components that need to be swapped out, so out comes the soldering iron.
    https://www.soundonsound.com/people/matt-cox-midi-tech-chemical-brothers

    This leaves me in even more awe of James Murphy doing both roles in the early days of LCD Soundsystem. I wonder if this was the same with The Chemical Brothers in their early days? It also leaves me thinking about artists like Autechre and how technology has made things ‘more doable‘.
    “Clive Thompson” in A Concrete Bicycle, Hacking Lululemon, and Beavers Considered As Sustainability Engineers | by Clive Thompson | Sep, 2022 | Medium (09/19/2022 21:43:10)

  5. Peter, I feel like I have tried critiquing you before and I am not sure how much hope there is even left:

    can you really find wisdom in one-line? The answer is probably no, but you can definitely find hope. Hope for a different world, hope for a different way of doing things, hope for a more critical viewer. And sometimes that hope is all that we have.

    Source: Can You Really Find Wisdom in One-line? by Aaron Davis
    I still like Bill Ferriter’s argument, that technology makes higher order learning ‘more doable’:

    Technology lowers barriers, making the kinds of higher order learning experiences that matter infinitely more doable than they were in previous decades.

    Source: Do We REALLY Need to Do New Things in New Ways?
    by Bill Ferriter
    However, I guess like all technology, it can also make lower order learning ‘more doable’ too.
    As always, food for thought I guess.

  6. This powerful convergence of experiential learning philosophy and AI technology promises to reshape education in the coming decades. As AI continues advancing, understanding its applications in creating immersive, data-driven experiential learning environments is crucial. However, a lot more discussion is necessary as we explore the profound implications this convergence could have for individuals, educational systems, and humanity at large.

    Source: Experiential Learning and AI: Redefining Education Through Immersive Experiences | Dr. Ian O’Byrne by Ian O’Byrne

    I remember being in a discussion about devices a few years ago (probably ten) and I asked the presenter about the pedagogy underpinning the technology. I was told that technology is pedagogically agnostic. This has always lingered with me. On the one hand, I can understand the point, that technology makes learning more doable, but there is also a part of me that feels like an application that actively promotes surveillance clearly says something about the type of learning occurring in the classroom. In regards to things such as chatbots, I can appreciate the argument that it makes the learning more doable, but, as people like Dan Meyer highlight, are we happy with this learning? For me, this is why the Modern Learning Canvas has really stayed with me as a way of thinking about technological change. Too often it feels like the conversation around technology is in isolation, whereas the canvas invites you to think about all the different facets.

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