I'm still not sure that I have a clear understanding of what we all mean by e-learning, but I'm increasingly unhappy with the common assumption it has something that it is just to do with stuff delivered through a networked desktop, or laptop, computer screen...
An interesting news story today (Reaching out to digital refuseniks) highlights a related issue - the penetration of PC-based, broadband connected computers into our daily lives:
"[The digital divide] seems an odd term given the preponderance of digital products in our lives. What would be more helpful, and what most people mean by digital divide, is access to the internet via a PC," [Ian Fogg, an analyst with Jupiter Research] said.
And in a third example, a similar assumption (of access to networked PCs) appears to provide the cornerstone of trendy reports on Digital Inclusion; (I tried to find a definition of digital inclusion, but failed, even in the all-describing Wikipedia...).
In the OU, we increasingly require students to have access to a networked PC (and I do mean Windows-based PC, of course, since we all know that PC = Windows, Mac = Mac, Linux machine = Linux machine, etc. etc.). The platform issue is already a matter of concern for some current students (e.g. Open OU), but I wonder whether this will be even more of an issue in the years to come?
Thinking about the trends going on in my own family, for example, the rest of the bunch use SMS text messaging heavily, and email very rarely. I can quite see an iPod or its equivalent becoming the thing we plug in to an amplifier/speaker system in our car and 'home entertainment system', rather than a scratched CD, or battered cassette tape (the car still only has a tape player - which means an uncomfortable lash up for a portable CD player if we want an alternative to the radio or anthing other than a 5 year old + audio tape). Our (newish) DVD-writer/hardrive combo is now littered with episodes of Dr Who and countless unwatched (to-view list) films, all of which need dumping to DVD if we're to record anything new on the hard drive!
And I can see that the next iteration of our domestic entertainment setup will give us digital TV and digital radio (possibly - we're terrestrial digital broadcast deprived where we live at the moment - and I really don't want to have to by a Sky dish...)
If there were time for games playing, I think a games console (lean-back on the settee), rather than PC (lean forward over a keyboard), would be what we opt for.
And if it comes to those other mainstays of communication - books or the phone - then I'd rather choose where I read them, or sit, or pace as I talk, rather than have to boot the PC, glance at the screen 3 feet away from me, and stare at the keyboard as I try to type...
It also has to be said that during the course of a normal day I see more people on a daily basis txting (or talking) on their phone, reading a pocket-sized book, listening to their car stereo (radio, or CD), or iPod, and jotting into a notebook, than I see using a laptop or PC...
I think in our increasingly sedentary home lifestyle, the PC will be used less and less as we find more convenient (relaxing? passive??) ways to consume content. And I wonder how this relates to distance education, particularly where it is consumed in the home, or in transit between home and work.
Time and again I keep coming back in my own mind to a comment that I heard made about m-learning via mobile phones. The speaker had given a demonstration of some ropey WAP screens, and not too effective SMS based interactions (this is 3 years ago now) and had asked for comments from the floor about other possible uses for the handset. "You could use it as a phone" someone said, "or to receive an audio lecture". The speaker was stunned at the novelty of the idea, even going so far as to write it down as worthy of further thought...
And so to the purpose of this post, which I could have made a one-liner really, but wanted to try and build up to...
Here's the hint condition as to what it is: the pictures are better on radio than on TV...
And here's the (almost one liner): if e-learning = CAL + conferencing is such a bad assumption, what's a better one? I don't know...
But what I do know is, we're not making enough use of audio: think podcast... (don't you just hate that word?!)
Here's a couple of related links that add to the mix...
- BT launch mobile radio
- Apple and Nokia: Who Approached Who?