{"id":452,"date":"2010-05-17T11:19:08","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T11:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/?p=452"},"modified":"2010-07-02T12:17:55","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T12:17:55","slug":"does-the-technology-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/2010\/05\/17\/does-the-technology-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Technology Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently I have given keynotes at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.plymouth.ac.uk\/e-learning\/\">Plymouth e-Learning Conference<\/a> (<a href=\"http:\/\/video.plymouth.ac.uk\/tvb\/20-04-10_5thPlymoutheLearningConf09-04-10.wmv\">video here<\/a> .wmv format) and the\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.learnex.dmu.ac.uk\/?p=2007\">Technology Enhanced Learning Symposium<\/a> at DeMontfort University (<a href=\"http:\/\/u.nu\/5qn4a\">slides here<\/a>), both of which explored the flow of technology from shiny innovation through to\u00a0 embedded use within an institutional environment. I did this from the perspective of the individuals\/groups involved rather than by describing the evolving affordances of digital platforms. This approach being an attempt to avoid the \u2018what\u2019 of technological determinism, concentrating instead on the \u2018why\u2019 of institutional\/individual motivations.<\/p>\n<p>A few of the things I covered included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Drawing out the similarities and differences between the geeks gate keeping the BBC Micro in 1982 with the beautiful people (in expensive jeans) \u2018life-styling\u2019 the iPad in 2010.<\/li>\n<li>Highlighting the daunting breath of activity and motivations that now come under the increasingly useless banner of \u2018digital\u2019 by contrasting the excellent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.informationisbeautiful.net\/visualizations\/the-hierarchy-of-digital-distractions\/\">Hierarchy of Digital Distractions<\/a> with the contents of the 2009 GCSE in Information Communications Technology.<\/li>\n<li>Asking the audience to reflect on their own personal motivations and positions relative to my \u2018Six Very Simple Diagrams\u2019: Role, Desire, Pedagogy, Technology, Motivation and Bickering.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of these \u2018Role\u2019 seems to cause the most discussion:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/role.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-455 aligncenter\" title=\"Role\" src=\"http:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/role.jpg\" alt=\"Role\" width=\"449\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/role.jpg 449w, https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/role-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do you see your role as one of successfully embedding technology\u00a0 until it becomes \u2018transparent\u2019 or is it more about challenging current practices using the tech as a driver for change? It could of course be a combination but my experience within the Higher Education sector is that groups coalesce around either &#8216;disappear&#8217; or &#8216;disrupt&#8217;. This, in my opinion, is why individuals who can facilitate communication between these groups are crucial to the ongoing innovation-embedding flow within any institution.<\/p>\n<p>The apparent opposition within the disappear-disrupt paradigm was brought back to mind when I was invited to take part in a \u2018Does the Technology Matter?\u2019 debate for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alt.ac.uk\/altc2010\/\">ALT-C conference<\/a> later this year. Inspired by some slightly belligerent Tweeting around the concept by myself, <a href=\"http:\/\/fraser.typepad.com\/\">@josiefraser<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk\/\">@mweller<\/a> Dave Cormier hung the tensions embodied in the statement very elegantly on Smartboards (although he could have chosen any number of technologies) in his \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/davecormier.com\/edblog\/2010\/05\/15\/smartboards-its-about-the-technology-and-it-isnt\/\">It\u2019s about the technology and it isn\u2019t<\/a>\u2019 post. In the post he neatly balances the push-pull nature of the introduction of new tech into a classroom situation, highlighting what the effects of a new technology can be and what is simply foregrounded by the presence of that technology.<\/p>\n<p>For me this aligns well with the disappear-disrupt concept in that your position on this continuum will underpin your reaction to the \u2018Does it Matter?\u2019 statement. This brings me to extend the question into a more useful form: \u2018Does the Technology Matter for What?\u2019 which does not have an objective answer as it is inextricably linked with \u2018What do you Think you are Trying to Achieve?\u2019 Oddly the latter question is often passed over when \u2018new\u2019 technologies are being introduced with vague allusions to \u2018efficiency\u2019 or \u2018it\u2019s what the students want\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Again it\u2019s the \u2018what\u2019 not the \u2018why\u2019 which tends to get focused on. As an example I would cite the \u2018digital literacy\u2019 debate in which motivations to engage frequently go unexplored leading to a focus on how to develop and maintain a successful digital identity as if this is the only way to live and learn. This in turn inevitably moves onto interminable discussions around facebook privacy options that ultimately spiral into the nature of society as a whole until lunch brings the whole thing to an inconclusive finish. Too much \u2018what\u2019 morphs into a woolly \u2018why\u2019 just as people start to get really hungry.<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019m lobbying for here is a properly balanced conversation around \u2018Does the Technology Matter\u2019 in which we avoid simplistic posturing by making it clear what our assumptions and motivations are. In this way the discussion will help us to reflect on our own positions and how we can successfully collaborate with those around us who hold differing views but might well be trying to achive similar things. I\u2019m not saying that I\u2019d-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing I just think that our underlying approach to technology is still a little 1982 and it\u2019s time to accept that the picture is a bit more complex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Laying the groundwork for a useful debate around &#8216;Does the Technology Matter?&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/2010\/05\/17\/does-the-technology-matter\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,56,7,22,43,38,59,30],"tags":[94],"class_list":["post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-digital-literacy","category-presentations","category-professional","category-society","category-society-online","category-teaching-and-learning","category-tech","tag-linkedin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}