There is no doubt that IT can be a massive waste of time and money. It can
also be, as the research suggests, an actual barrier to learning. As I see
it, one of the main problems is that of INSET. When a school proudly
unveils its latest hardware or software acquisition, staff are given INSET
on how to operate the new system. Very rarely is the question raised as to
how the new system, however expertly operated, actually contributes to
learning, and therefore how it should be used as a teaching tool.
This is a subtle and difficult question. There is one range of issues as to
which kinds of topics/lessons a particular piece of apparatus or an
application is best suited. As Duncan points out, there is a range of
business topics which seem well handled by spread-sheets.
But there is a further range of issues which is even more rarely discussed.
Information, and therefore learning is mediated by the means of
communication. We all use language a lot, and are therefore familiar with
the ways in which language mediates the learning in question. For example,
students with weak language skills find that so much of their cognitive
processing is given over to the task of decoding the language that there is
very little left for learning the lesson in question. Similarly, IT
mediates the information in different ways that I for one don't fully
understand, and I would only claim to be a step ahead insofar as I am aware
that there is a question in need of an answer. The affective is prior to
the cognitive, and we are all aware how the feelings about IT experienced
by the technophobic student can form a barrier to learning. But that is
only one of a possible range of affective responses to the use of IT. But
what the cognitive consequences are is a further question. For example, for
all that many web-pages look like book pages, the web 'packages' information
in very different ways to books and libraries. How does this affect
learning? Does it make it easier, or more difficult, or just different? If
so, what are the differences, and how are they best catered for?
I welcome any thoughts on this matter.
Richard Bowett
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