McLuhan on "The Future of Education: The Class of 1989"

Posted on May 1, 2009 by friesenn

This vintage McLuhan article was originally published in the now-defunct magazine, LOOK (sort of like Life magazine). With predictions of the end of the school and the university still being widely circulated today, it is well worth a (re)read. There are many startling statements and predictions that can be read in different ways. But one of the most astonishing things is the similarity of many arguments made by McLuhan in 1967 to those still made today, 42 years later:

  • that schools are as outmoded as the mass production model on which they are based; and that forms of “mass customization” promise a radically different educational approach
  • that “the demands, the very nature of this age of new technology and pervasive electric circuitry… will [unavoidably] shape education’s future”
  • that “the walls between school and world will continue to blur”
  • that “Future educators will value, not fear, fresh approaches, new solutions.”

Are McLuhan’s statements prescient, premature, preposterous, or all of the above? What does this say about current predictions? Decide for yourself. Being a part of the (BA[hons]) class of 1989 myself, I found it fascinating.

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Updates on ISO Standardization of E-Learning Technology

Posted on March 25, 2009 by friesenn

The meetings of the ISO Sub-Committee that is responsible for technical standardization of e-Learning technology (full name ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36, Information Technology for Learning, Education and Training) in Wellington New Zealand are currently winding up. In this posting, I try to summarize some interesting developments with a minimum of standards jargon!

  • An important development or piece of news actually relates to something outside of ISO: this is that the future of SCORM, the Sharable Content Object Reference Model developed by the US Department of Defense, will remain with the Department of Defense, and will take the form of a radically new Web-services oriented model. It will be designed with a wide range of concerns and technological developments in mind, including integration with overarching organizational information systems.
  • The IMS Content Packaging specification will become a freely-available ISO document. Content packaging is certainly one of the most widely-implemented standard in e-learning. This version will contain only minor changes, to make it consistent with ISO conventions and formatting.
  • Learning Resource Metadata (LRM). The saga of metadata for learning resources (a.k.a. learning objects) continues. The standard that is gradually emerging from ISO on this front shows some very promising design features, including a core set of that is based on Dublin Core. Although it attempts to be neutral as far as implementation environments are concerned, the LRM standard is well-suited to RDF and OWL contexts that are part of the semantic Web.
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Presentation: E-Learning Myths and their Undoing

Posted on March 20, 2009 by friesenn

Here’s the PowerPoint for a presentation that I gave at Massey University

Here’s a podcast of an interview about the presentation topics (with John Milne).

The abstract is below:

“There a number of claims, truisms or clichés that are frequently taken as self-evident in e-learning discussions, presentations, research proposals and papers. These find pointed expression in buzzwords and catchphrases like “knowledge economy,” “mindtools” or fixed “laws” of technological change. These terms or phrases bring with them particular claims and implications, for example: that knowledge, on its own, is an engine of economic growth; that technological progress drives educational change; and, that computer technology is intrinsically mental or cognitive in nature. These claims and understandings play critical and enabling roles in e-learning research and practice. Closer investigation, however, reveals the “truth” behind these claims to be much less self-evident, and much more controversial and complex than one might initially be led to believe. In this presentation, Dr. Norm Friesen, Canada Research Chair in E-Learning Practices at Thompson Rivers University will describe a number of these myths, will explain how they are associated with particular research designs, and will also discuss alternative paradigms that can help might assist in their “undoing.” Of particular importance in Dr. Friesen’s presentation will be “technologized” conceptions of cognition and education that lend themselves to technological solutions –and how these conceptions can be countered through discursive and other alternative paradigms.”

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Presentation: Standards for E-Learning Innovation?

Posted on March 18, 2009 by friesenn

Here are the powerpoint slides of a presentation I just gave in Wellington, NZ.

With the rapid pace of change on the world wide web, many “standards” have evolved in response to the needs of the medium. These are technical solutions that may not be officially sanctioned. Their legitimacy comes from widespread use.
Loose “standards” have arisen from these technologies and practices. RSS feeds, Mediawiki extensions, and a range of other conventions and technologies are now widely employed in many learning applications and practices.
This presentation looks at the characteristics of these standards or conventions. We will discuss the place of these in the world of international technical standardization and how to bridge the gap between divergent areas of standarisation and innovation.

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Paper: Interaction Paradigms for new Web Technologies – Shift Happens

Posted on March 11, 2009 by friesenn

The concept of “interaction” lies at the foundation of many theories and applications of computer and Internet technologies. Taking the specific example of those theories and applications associated with distance education and educational technology, this paper looks at the role of interaction as a kind of metaphor in educational theory and research. It takes as its starting point the idea that “interaction” represents a kind of research paradigm or “generative metaphor” that structures the way in which technologies are understood and applied, and in which research questions and problems are defined. Emphasizing the role this term has played in specifically in the theory and understandings of educational technology, this paper will consider to what degree the cybernetic and information-theoretical history of this term burdens and limits its semantics and morphology. It will consider alternative ways of understanding this term, and alternate metaphors that might be more efficacious. Surveying a range of literature, it considers the “generative power” or potential that might be gained from relational, contextual or ecological frames of reference. Instead of defining the research and practical challenges in terms of “closing” interactive feedback loops, or of “getting the mix right” between interactive forms, these metaphors offer new potential for understanding the manifold challenges and contexts associated with new “participatory” technologies and their application.

Download full draft

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Paper: Open Educational Resources: New Possibilities for Change and Sustainability

Posted on February 22, 2009 by friesenn

Here’s a draft of a paper I just completed on OERs and sustainability. Drawing a number of lessons from an informal survey of educational resource projects, both past and present, it warns: “OER projects suffer from the same incompatibilities with existing institutional cultures and priorities that have dogged learning object initiatives, and face the concomitant challenge of gaining access to the operational funding support that …is necessary for their survival.” But the paper also looks to the “original” and long-lived OER project –the MIT Open Courseware Initiative—as an example of how to address this challenge: Namely by linking the laudable (but lofty) humanitarian goals of the OER movement with tangible, short-term institutional gains.

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Presentation: "Discursive Psychology and Web 2.0 Technology"

Posted on November 19, 2008 by friesenn

I recently had the pleasure of giving a presentation at the Centre for Social Innovation in Vienna.

The title of my presentation was “Discursive Psychology and Web 2.0 Technology: Investigating Web 2.0 in Education.”

A copy of the PowerPoint used in this presentation is available, as is an audio podcast.

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The Mediatic Turn: Exploring Concepts in Media Pedagogy

Posted on November 19, 2008 by friesenn

Here’s a paper that I wrote together with an Austrian colleague, Theo Hug as a chapter inMediatization: Concept, Changes, Consequences (K.Lundby, ed.). It explores the definition and practices of “media literacy” in the context of recent developments in the sociology and theory of media in Europe. Central to these developments is the idea that changing communication media are absolutely foundational to culture and education. They cannot be separated from even the most basic understandings of epistemology and cognition. Following McLuhan (right), this paper argues that media (whether print, television or the “mixed media” of the Web and Internet) set the parameters for the institution of schooling, the dynamics of individual development and even the character of knowledge itself. Special thanks go to Michael Molenda (Indiana U.) for his permission to use his systems diagram of the “student academic learning model” in the paper.

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BOOK: Re-Thinking E-Learning Research

Posted on October 9, 2008 by friesenn

This book, forthcoming from Peter Lang Publishers, undertakes a re-thinking of e-learning research in the light of new developments in technology, social practice and psychological theory. It both describes and enacts a range of possibilities for resesarch that are a part of such a re-thinking.

 

A draft of some sample chapters of this monograph are available at: http://elearn.tru.ca

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Wikiversity; or Education meets the Free Culture Movement

Posted on October 6, 2008 by friesenn

During the spring, I worked with Janet Hopkins (an MEd student) on a directed study examining Wikiversity, a sister project of Wikipedia. Initially in this study, Janet took a free, open, online course offered through Wikiversity, “Composing Free and Open Online Educational Resources.”

While completing the 12-week course, Janet kept field notes on her blog. Janet and I made use of these notes in putting together a paper presenting an ethnographic study of the community and culture of Wikiversity. It appears in the October 2008 edition of First Monday.

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