JISC Online Conference
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 4:32PM 
I'm delighted and honoured to have been invited to talk at the JISC Online Conference about e-Learning Innovation particularly as I've been included within such an impressive cohort of fellow speakers. I'm also slightly surprised given that I'm somewhat skeptical about the efficacy of e-learning and indeed m-learning which a fellow wag recently described to me as err-Learning and um-Learning - an expression I've enjoyed plagiarising ever since and will become a component of a soon to be released amusing viral campaign targetted at that dinosaur educational technology cum agricultural trade show called BETT but in the meantime you'll need to enjoy our sheep.
Don't get me wrong I haven't suddenly become anti-moble learning it's just that having promoted it since the mid-80's I really think that it's arrived, happened and is no longer a question anymore. I'd advise those still struggling with the concept to consider a new career. It was this realisation that lead me to consolidate the worlds largest conference about learning and mobile computing, i.e. Handheld Learning, into a more holistic festival about the positive impact of disruptive technologies and embark on a world tour to initiate a renewed debate about the role of technology in learning called, surprisingly enough, Learning Without Frontiers.
I hope you'll join me for a robust discussion during the JISC Online Conference - I don't profess to be an expert so I'll be easy to catch out but as long as I start a useful conversation that challenges existing sacred cows that should have been slaughtered ages ago I'll be happy.
You can sign up for the conference here.
This is my unedited abstract (I have no idea what my friends at JISC will make of it!).
Meanwhile I'll be trying to figure out how to make Elluminate (a solution for 21st century education & training that doesn't support mobile technology) do something vaguely useful beyond displaying Powerpoint slides).
Is the Future Mobile?
Almost 25 years of investment in ICT in schools has generated little, if any, evidence of improved learning outcomes.
This statement is a gift to those presently urging the newly seated UK administration to return to a "back to basics" approach to learning with an anti-technology sentiment.
Who can blame them when much of the technology found in formal educational establishments bears little resemblance or relevance to the outside world that learners inhabit or the world in which they are expected to compete?
A coalition of business interests between trade associations & soon to be defunct quango's has successfully ensured that technology suppliers & experts who otherwise could not survive market forces remain in force like the undead in a bad zombie movie. An obsession with technology for the chronologically displaced such as interactive white boards, learning platforms & the teaching of "office" products has created a generation of learners who are at best ill-equipped to enter the 21st century workforce. It is, in the opinion of the speaker, a national emergency deafened by silence & inaction. The speaker is vexed.
An absence of a manufacturing industry, the changing of working environments and the disruption caused by societies shift from the "push economy" of the 20th century to the "pull economy" of the 21st has lead to a massive global growth in the creative, digital & information technology sectors yet the UK is woefully slipping behind in the fostering & nurturing of future talent to compete in this sector.
The title of this talk given to the speaker, "Is the future mobile?", was fine when he spoke about it in the mid-80's at a conference called "Education 2010" but to ask this question today is frankly ridiculous.
On a planet supporting 6 billion people there are nearly 5.5 billion mobiles so surely the question is intended to be rhetorical. Or is it?
The fact that this online conference is delivered using an outdated platform without support for the mobile platforms that the majority of world's population owns is an irony not lost on the speaker & only serves as evidence of earlier assertions.
Disruption is not about supporting 19th century teaching practices with 20th century technology. It is about completely rebooting the way we approach learning.
Graham will argue for the acceptance of evidence of improved learning generated by the learners themselves who use mobile, video game, social media, open source & other disruptive technologies as part of their everyday life regardless of social or cultural background.
disruption, elearning, ipad, jisc, learning, mlearning, teaching in Handheld Learning, Mobile 
Reader Comments (15)
"or is it." indeed.......
A well put post which asks as many questions at it answers and which will raise a few eyebrows.
While I totally agree with you, the sad fact is that for a large majority of educators, the future is indeed mobile. In fact the future for some is social networking / YouTube / Internet!
The key to exploiting the use of any technology, and particularly that found in the homes / bedrooms across the land is developing capacity and sustainability in schools. There are some wonderful, inspiring practitioners in schools being held back by people who "know better" and have been around "long enough to know what works". These people need showing the way, or they should get out.
The people reading your post on here already know. Already understand. We need to empower them with the confidence to give evidence to those "in the know" to allow their ideas to flourish in schools.
Conferences like lwf11 are going some way to enable this. The 'future', wherever that may be, IS tangible..
As one of the online conference team who was keen to have you speaking this year I am really looking forward to the debate and dialogue that this session will stimulate. At the risk of diluting any discussion during the live Elluminate session and the asynchronous discussion area I couldn’t resist responding to one point you raise...
You ‘advise those still struggling with the concept’ that mobile tech has arrived, happened and is no longer a question ‘to consider a new career.’ Whilst it may be true for some individuals in a personal context (provided they have access to reliable mobile networks and are not my dad: )) my experience is that the impact of mobile techs on formal learning is still patchy, despite some great exemplars - http://bit.ly/9RTh3N
I suspect that teachers may struggle less with the concept and more with practicalities and challenges of transforming/disrupting existing pedagogical approaches. Institutional cultures, policies and practice and subject discipline cultures and practice present significant challenges and barriers. I don’t think people lack imagination of what could be possible (and not suggesting you are saying that), but they may lack the time and space to implement new approaches, whilst ensuring that existing students have an un-disrupted learning experience. Of course we could argue that a disruptive learning experience could be very positive – but it takes a brave teacher to risk this.
As a person who supports disruptive learning every day by adopting home learning as the most appropriate approach for my son, and as someone who supports the broader vision of Learning Without Frontiers I often find it hard to balance that vision with the reality that people working within the context of educational institutions face every day. I have just been involved, in a synthesis role, with two JISC programmes that have invested significant resource into engaging a wide range of stakeholders in supporting transformative practice. For some institutions in the UK FE and HE sectors just talking across the institution about the possibilities offered by relatively simple technologies and services is a major challenge. The challenge, as I see it, lies in opening the discourse across faculty and departments – not in the technologies themselves, although any technology platform brings with it issues around security, compliance, accessibility, reliability, etc.
I think this session is going to be highly engaging (sans powerpoint) and thought provoking and I’m looking forward to the debate that this will stimulate.
It would be rather sad if this did cause anyone offence. I agree that mobile learning has arrived and isn't a question any more, and I say that as a fellow techno-sceptic who runs a conference (Learning Technologies in my case). I would also agree that vigorous debate and good-mannered argument are necessary in the fields of both education and workplace learning to ensure that we don't suffer from group-think. Echo chambers work fine until something outside cracks them open and we all stumble blinking into the light.
My only point of disagreement with you Graham is on PowerPoint. I don't care what tools any speaker uses. It's what they say that's important.
Hi Graham,
We'll certainly be looking forward to your session, and I'm hoping that the (probably purposefully provocative) title you were given will stimulate not only you but delegates.
Nice to see you've got your disruptive hat on without going all Donald Clark at ALT-C on us... :-)
Doug
HEFCE recently published a student survey which indicates that a large % of students are concerned about the ICT competence of their lectureres....http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2010/rd18_10/rd18_10.pdf
Hope Doug manages to hang in there this time :)
Ah yes...a world in which the word "app" is thrown around all over the place and lots of retweets and blog posts about consultancy articles that simply repeat each other over and over about how 85% of web usage will be through mobile devices by 2013...
...and it gives us another Buzzword Bandwagon for folks to jump on, fingers, as ever, firmly on the pulse of what's happening with technology in the real world.
No worries though, a Moodle App and a Blackboard App will be all they need. "The VLE, you say? On a phone?? The future is truly mobile!!...all we need now is a mobile ePortfolio tool..."
As for Elluminate...well....quite.
That should be a good session.
My own view is mobile is already here. It is in many different forms which possibly makes it difficult for some people to see it.
We need sustainable initiatives with real use and less "projects"
On the downside, I think some mLearning projects are just an excuse to buy technology or are just a front for some publicity. ie yet another free plug on the BBC pages "College X is giving out ipads,iphones" . (The hardware equivalent of giving honorary degrees to famous people :-)
In real use I think schools are ahead of HE and those mobile savvy users will expect decent support when they reach HE, especially if its gonna cost them 10 grand. So watch out Innovation Prevention Departments your paying customers will demand action not restrictions.
Graham
Thanks for articulating so clearly and concisely a message that I've been trying to share with many school headteachers and teachers for the past 4/5 years. A frighteningly large number are still planning to spend £ks on interactive white boards, desk tops etc. The main problem is that they are, in most cases, being advised by IT technicians who, as you so rightly point out have a vested interest in the already obsolete technology - not much really to support and maintain on an iPad is there!!!!
Question is - how can we most effectively move thinking on? I'm currently collecting together case studies of significant use of iPads in schools, but I feel that the issue is much wider than this. Even with the challenge and impact of future visioning workshops carried out during past BSF and Academy projects, I have still struggled to move mind sets away from the persistent 'talking teacher' to the concept of learners taking ownership and control of their learning. Too many attempts to introduce ideas around practice that uses mobile technology to 'free the learner to learn' are immediately met with plans to tie the learning back to the teachers' desk/control.
Any suggestions about approaches and methodologies that will help make these changes in mind set and practice might beneficially be shared.
Nice abstract Graham. I'm taking a similar line at Berlin debate.
PS
Sorry Doug, when he talks of "trade associations & soon to be defunct quango's", he's talking about JISC!
Is that the sum total of your comment, Donald? Seriously?
"Nice to see you've got your disruptive hat on without going all Donald Clark at ALT-C on us... :-)"
Is that the sum of yours?
*removes JISC hat*
Looking forward to discussing things with Graham and others in the session - and with you in the bar at OEB. :-p
Slides for my talk are here (4Mb PDF)
They are iBook and mobile device compatible.
They also demonstrate how the slides were originally designed & were intended to function in contrast to how they now will appear in Elluminate which I believe supports my canard about poor technology supporting outdated teaching & communication practices rather than disrupting them and make them better.
When the conference feature from Facebook is released next year we will begin to see the kind of disruptions I'm talking about. :)
A recording of my online JISC talk can be found here
Graham - you have totally succeeded. I am loving the knock-on effect of your stirring (and claim a front row seat at the bar in Berlin with Doug and Donald - see you all there!)