Making Learning a Part of Life-Beyond the 'Gift-Wrapping' Approach of Technology

Fischer, G. (1998)

 

1. What did you find:

    a. Interesting about the article

        One of the most powerful
ideas explored in this paper was that of integrating education with technology
rather than merely placing technology atop the existing educational framework.
By simply presenting the learner with an automated way of using the old
framework of education, almost no advance is made in changing the education
culture. It is only by solidly integrating the new technology to reflect
the changing needs of the "learner society" that we can catalyze learning
and devise new ways to advance the learning process. Figure 4. (Beyond
Skinner and Taylor) which elucidates the demands placed on learning technology
today, reinforces the need for a richer contextualized framework.

    b. Not interesting about the article

        I did not find anything
in the article that failed to spark my interest.

 

2. What do you consider the main message of the article?

        This position paper
had a deep analysis of why and how continuous learning through school and
work is important. In terms of both acquiring and applying knowledge, learning
does not cease once a person has crossed the boundaries of his/her educational
system. The author presents investigative inquiry into the current educational
and technological factors that warrant the adapting of learning as a continuous
growth curve throughout a person's life (school and work).

 

3. Click on one of the words in blue and see what happens?

    On clicking a blue word, a jargon file is
displayed in a new window that clearly defines that word. The jargon file
itself is a repository of words and phrases connected to the vision of
lifelong learning and the research being done at the L3D center.

    a. Is this feature useful?

        I believe this feature
is very useful in any environment. Specially, in this case, not everyone reading this paper
is associated with the L3D or has more-than-minimal background on the issues
being tackled at the L3D center; this poses reading and understanding problems
when it comes to dealing with concepts like knowledge construction, learning-on-demand,
framing, etc. (For some terms, I had pre-conceived notions of what they meant. These notions, unfortunately, were unrelated to the context of this paper). If the reader has the motivation to investigate these concepts
on his/her own, without the help of the jargon file, these concepts would
be hard to come-by through a general search in a web engine. By providing
this comprehensive listing of words commonly used in such an environment,
one can make sure that the reader has a complete understanding of the material
being presented.

    b. In which other situations have you encountered
this feature?

        I have never previously
encountered a comprehensive listing like this one. Whenever I have come
across a term or a concept that I do not understand, I have had to either
look it up in a dictionary (which, many times, does not have subject appropriate
listings) or search for it on the web (which could take many page browses
to pin-point the contextual meaning).

 

4. Global learning theories and approaches:

    a. Do you know any of the people mentioned in
the diagrams:

        i. Skinner

        ii. Piaget

        iii. Papert

        iv. Illich

        v. Vygotsky

        vi. Dewey

        I have had some exposure
to the research work of Jean Piaget and Seymour Papert. As for the other
philosophers/scientists mentioned in the paper, this is the first time
I have come across their names.

    b. Select one of the six and write a paragraph
what she/he has contributed to a deeper understanding of learning?

        Prof. Seymour Papert is
an expert on using technology to develop new ways to learn. While at MIT,
he proposed that children should use computers to enhance their creativity
and thus their learning. Even though owning a personal computer was an
anomaly at the time, he brought children into his research lab to give
them a chance to write and make graphics using a computer. His research
led to the development of the LOGO programming language which has been
successfully used to teach children to draw and paint using a computer.
With very simple commands like FD 50, RT 50 etc. children are able to draw
geometric shapes (like squares, circles and triangles) and use these shapes
to construct 2D views of a house, a bicycle, a landscape, etc.

        Prof. Papert's research is
an excellent example of integrating technology with education. Prof. Gerhard's
WLF position paper stresses that new learning cannot be created by only
wrapping technology around an old framework of education, but by merging
the technology with existing knowledge such that a new creative knowledge
is created through this merger. By using LOGO as a programming tool, children
are able to visualize how geometric shapes come together to form the various
architectural patterns around them. As a third grader, I was exposed to
programming in LOGO and believe the experience promoted my understanding
of the graphical nature of mathematics. Not only were the resulting diagrams
fun to create and see, but the actual process of writing simple code to
make the turtle (cursor) draw each figure step-by-step worked towards answering
questions like "How is a square different from a rectangle?", "What do
I have to change to make a circle bigger?", or "How many different types
of triangles can I draw?". This type of learning promoted a higher level
of inquiry than just the knowledge of how to program a computer.