Pre-service teachers and e-learning

I have just picked up a new book Digital literacies: Social Learning and classroom practices (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) which seems to highlight a problem that has been sloshing around in my head for a while, especially as I have just been conducting user groups with our students in relation to a new Library web presence. One of the things that has struck me is the larger number of mature students we have in education. These are the teachers which are going to be going into classrooms in the next few years. A number of them have made it clear that they are uncomfortable with computer technology, although many are willing enough to "give it a go."

Still, I have a feeling that this is probably not enough to bring about the kinds of changes that the e-learning environment will require. Robinson and Mackey (as cited in Carrington & Robinson, 2009) concluded that "somewhat worryingly, in the UK at least, we found that many pre-service teachers have a very functional view of the place of new media and the way that such media might play a part in education." (p. 132). Since Krumsvik (as cited in Carrington & Robinson, 2009) suggests that what knowledge is, how it is accessed and constructed, is fundamentally altered within digital environments (p.132) then a big problem is highlighted. It seems as if the mindset of many pre-service teachers has not changed to allow them to utilise new technologies in a pedagogically sound and effective way. I am sure there are factors other than minset which impinge on this, but this is a pretty important one and maybe this helps to account for the fact that the use of new technologies has not gained as much traction in education as expected.

Kerin (Carrington & Robinson, 2009) also examines the concept of multiliteracies pedagogy, which was used as the analytical framework for her study. Having been occupied for quite a while with information literacy, it makes me wonder now whether we should be thinking more globally around multiliteracies, of which information literacy might be just one aspect. I think that I will investigate this link a little further and try and track down more readings in the area. This might provide a good theoretical framework for my report.

Kerin, R. (2009). Digital portraits: Teacher education and multiliteracies pedsgogy. In V. Carrington & M. Robinson (Eds.) Digital literacies: Social learning and classroom practices. London: Sage Publications.

Libraries of the future

While I was working on some other work-related issues, I found this video from JISC about "The libraries of the future." It is clear that technology is having a mjor impact on the way libraries deliver services to their patrons - academic libraries are not immune from this. This clip gives a good idea of the issues around emerging technologies which will impact on libraries.

Some thoughts on government e-learning policy

I got a bit interested in this as I was researching for my first assignment. As I was reading the policy documents for e-learning in the tertiary sector, it struck me that they sounded all fine and dandy, but I wasn't sure how they were translated into practice. It seemed like there was a huge amount of work and thinking that needed to be done between the rhetoric and what was happening at the IWB-face. I am interested in the fact that despite a large number of government initiatives and a huge amount of dollars spent by schools, that there is still a relatively limited approach by classroom teachers to the use of e-learning. It was with great interest that I then read the article by Selwyn (2008). The links he makes between e-learning policy and economic imperatives is clear even when reading the latest government offering Digital strategy 2.0 (2008). The Minister for Communications and Information Technology notes " This Strategy goes beyond looking at the factors that enable digital development. Our vision of the future is that New Zealanders should be leaders in the digital world and use digital technologies, skills and opportunities to contribute to a prosperous, sustainable and vibrant society. No country has more to gain from the ‘death of distance’ than New Zealand. Digital Strategy 2.0 maps out the steps towards this vision." It is notable that the document is sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Development. It all sounds a lot like the initiatives that have gone before and with the same flawed rationale.
Selwyn contends that there are 3 options for making grass-roots action reflect policy - the development of "directive, disruptive and even punitive e-learning policies"; changing the goals of e-learning policy from economic considerations to educational ones (now there's a thought!); allow the development of policy to come from the grass-roots rather than top-down. It is clear that while educational policy comes so heavily laden with political and economic agendas no real progress will be made in educational terms.


Selwyn, D. (2008). Business as usual? Exploring the continuing (in)significance of e-learning policy drive. Computers in New Zealand Schools, 20(3), 22-34

Ministry of Economic Development. (2008). Digital strategy 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/upload/Documents/Digital%20Strategy%202.0%20FINAL.pdf

Cross-overs

I have just been reflecting how pervasive all this e-learning stuff is. I am currently involved in a project through my work to re-examine our library website. One of the first things we have sat down and looked at is new learning technologies and how that might impact on some of the decisions we make regarding the website and the philosophy behind it. I was delighted to find the Becta website (through this course) with its multitude of reports. One of the areas I found most interesting was their key trends. There were close alignments with the Horizon report 2009. So far it seems like mobile computing, web 2.0 and social software (or the personal web), consumerisation of IT, green IT, and cloud computing seem to be leading the way. The speed with which technology is moving certainly make it interesting when trying to design web-based systems with users in mind. One of the questions that has come up for us is how can we ensure that some of the data that we want students to access, is surfaced in places like Google? Is this giving in (given that we spend so much time trying to drive students away from Google), or simply being realistic?
My view is that it is time for us librarians to move away from trying to get students to access information the way we want them to, and to move to a philosophy which puts us where students can find us best - whether it is via our own home page, or something else. It is interesting times and there are plenty of big discussions to be had.