Brain: It proved that radio was a powerful tool. And now, Pinky, the advance of technology has brought us an even more powerful tool. Do you know what that is?
Pinky: Ummm... the rubber band?
Bott’s asks an interesting question in trying to rescue the Blue(e) Fairy from Artichoke’s deceit.
What point is there in understanding the pedagogy if i don't understand the use of the tool? and ultimately, the use of the tool is the easy bit.
The pedagogy/tool sequence thing is a chicken/egg kind of argument and may never be resolved - but I reckon the use of the “tool analogy” is worthy of unpacking again.
In New Zealand our MoE is rather keen on the “tool” analogy, referring to ICT as “only a tool” in several MoE publications.
Nevertheless evidence is currently emerging from studies in the UK and elsewhere that indicates improved outcomes for learners in schools where ICT is used as a tool for cognitive development in curriculum areas. (Ministry of Education, 2003, p.8)
Analogy always interests me – in that it can both clarify and obscure understanding. In this case when we talk about ICT as a tool I think we limit our imaginings and understanding of how students might learn through ICT.
I reckon we would be better served retreating to Taylor’s rather dated tutor, tool, tutee classification of how “learning through ICT” happens in schools, (Taylor 1980).
- Computer in tutor mode (Computer as “sage on the stage”) :Computer assisted instruction enhances individual student learning outcomes. Behaviourist understandings of the learning process,
- Computer in tutee mode (Computer as “guide on the side”) Students develop metacognitive and critical thinking strategies and skills through “teaching” the computer or software to fulfil certain desired outcomes, Constructionist understanding of the learning process.
- Computer in tool mode (Computer as a "streamliner")The computers’ facility to manipulate, store, create and distribute “information surfaces” (Manovich 2001) streamlines student learning processes making them more efficient.
But even this 3T's analogy limits our understanding. We need to improve on this tutor/tutee/tool analogy given that it still doesn’t capture Bott’s “digital native” allusion to how many students are thinking and learning with ICT - when they have grown up with technology.
I suspect a possible solution lies in McWilliam’s (2005) metaphor for pedagogical supply and demand in the learning process, the “meddler in the middle”. She describes a process for teaching and learning when teacher and student are mutually involved as co-creators of learning value.
McWilliam uses IKEA furnishings and Scion cars as examples of this phenomenon of collaboration between a company and the users.
When learning is portrayed as a form of co-creation (McWilliam 2005) or “collaborative authorship”, (Manovich 2001), it immediately implicates the unique facility of ICT for enhancing the multiplicity of variation and information surfaces available for meddling in. The student and ICT are mutually involved as co-creators of learning value.
It is not too hard to find examples of meddling in the middle. Bott’s ICT proficient students are already meddling with examples of collaborative authorship in sampling, remixing as in the music/video industry and in open source software.
This is especially obvious when you look at the computer game industries support for creating mods/avatars/and patches. For example, The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion RPG supports a free download of The Elder Scrolls Construction Set and access to the Elder Scrolls Construction Set Wiki. This allows
… extensive expansion of the game and includes all of the basic world building tools used by the designers, giving users many of the same opportunities to create original game content as the designers. The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion
ICT is not a tutor, a tutee or a tool. ICT is a co-conspirator in "meddling in the middle".
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