…”At the Bett show we heard from two Ministers, who each shared their vision for the future of technology in education. In my work for the Association I have been involved in Education Technology Action Group (ETAG), as well as the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG), and I listened with interest to find out which ideas and recommendations would be included in their speeches.
Both Ministers duly acknowledged the role of Learning Technology, its potential and its impact. They both spoke about the future, about preparing learners for it, and how technology could help. Ministers were followed by senior speakers from Google and Wikipedia on the first day, and Apple on the second day, who in different ways also spoke about the future and the role that technology has, does, or will play in education. Meanwhile, across the exhibition at the Technology in Higher Education Summit, I also listened to Dave Cormier from the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada, who spoke about a different way of learning. Rhizomatic is the term he used (and if you are interested in challenging your concept of learning and teaching I certainly recommend you seek out his work). But he started his talk with a backwards glance to the late 19th century and the role of school education in preparing young people for work – life in the factories that were fuelling the industrial revolution.”…
You can assess my full article via FE News here. Published 5 February 2015.