Imagine a world where every second European adult is over fifty years old. And where two-thirds of disposable consumer income is held by this age-group. By 2020 this will be a reality. There will be huge demand for services that enable older people to live independently in their own communities as they age. But although it is potentially huge – health care alone represents nearly eight per cent of Europe’s GDP – few people or companies understand this emerging market. There is no category in the DOW index for services in which elderly people communicate and care for each other using new information tools and services; investors and entrepreneurs seem blind to the potential of new markets fuelled by the changing lifestyles and considerable financial resources of many elderly people. (I wrote this chapter for an American Centre for Design book, but I do not recall ever seeing a copy).
Second menu
Experimental school environments
Slides used in my lecture to an expert meeting at the European Commission in Brussels in 1999.
BE CRITICAL, BE HUMBLE (1)
* ICT is not content – it is a tool
* teachers are extremely suspicious of machines
* they are right to be so (radio, film, tv, VCRs, PCs)
* not to mention, “teacher-proof technology”
* our legacy: “ecstasy, disappointment, blame”
BE CRITICAL, BE HUMBLE (2)
* delivering content is not teaching
* teaching does not lead, per se, to learning
* connecitivity does not always foster collaboration
* schools resist – but schools also deliver
BUT BE POSITIVE
= helping to teach,helping to learn:
– basic skills: numeracy, literacy
– abstract concepts
– systems thinking
– social skills (collaboration)
– enhance personal experience
– connect “school” with real world
EFFECT vs AFFECT
* “interaction” vs learning
* sustained engagement
* self-initiated
* self-sustaining
* self-structuring
DO NOT BEATIFY BANDWIDTH
* telephone
* television
* camcorders & VCR s
* fax
* two tin cans and a piece of string
CLASSROOMS ARE NOT CAGES.
They are also:
– spaces
– places
– communities
– experiences
– processes
CONTEXT IS KING: EVALUATE THE LEARNING PROCESS
* when did technology add value?
* what exactly did it add?
* under what circumstances?
* what was the teacher / student’s role?
* how many of them were there?
* what resources were used?
* how much time was needed?
LEARNING MEANS…
* being told
* being shown
* seeking
* finding
* evaluating
* organising
* communicating, explaining
TOOLS FOR LEARNING (1)
* memory
* curiosity
* imagination
* collaboration
TOOLS FOR LEARNING (2)
* space (for reflection)
* time (for reflection)
TEACHERS ARE LEARNERS, TOO
* Teachers are isolated, so….
* Foster communication with other teachers
* Not just about tools, but also curriculum, pedagogy
* Enable informal techniques to be visualised
* Enable “lessons learned” to be shared
THE SELF, THE SENSES, AND THE WORLD
* taste
* touch
* smell
* sound
* sight