Peter BryantLondon School of Economics@peterbryantHEhttp//www.peterbryant.org

Challenging educational paradigms:  The changing role of the learning technologist

#futurehappens

The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed

William Gibson

One one hand…‘Six years ago, for the first time, the number of “things” connected to the internet surpassed the number of people … Experts estimate that, as of this year, there will be 25 billion connected devices, and by 2020, 50 billion’.

US Federal Trade Commission Report 2016

Mobile ownership in Africa is on the increase, including smartphone ownership (but not as fast)

On the other…

Internet access is not universal

Source: internet.org 2014

Neither is affordable mobile data

Source: internet.org 2014

Data poverty“Information is also a vital form of aid in itself. People need information as much as water, food, medicine or shelter. Information can save lives, livelihoods and resources. It may be the only form of disaster preparedness that the most vulnerable can afford. And yet it is very much neglected.” Red Cross 2005

https://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteafrican/3329178301

‘Now that we're in that future, of course, plastics are no big deal. Is digital destined for the same banality? Certainly. Its literal form, the technology, is already beginning to be taken for granted, and its connotation will become tomorrow's commercial and cultural compost for new ideas. Like air and drinking water, being digital will be noticed only by its absence, not its presence.’ (Negroponte, 1998)

What kinds of experiences do learning technologies provide?

Here is one view…

‘Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won't survive. It's as large a change as when we first got the printed book. Do you realize that the cost of higher education has risen as fast as the cost of health care…such totally uncontrollable expenditures, without any visible improvement in either the content or the quality of education, means that the system is rapidly becoming untenable. Higher education is in deep crisis.’

Peter Drucker -1997

And how does that translate as an experience?

Modern pedagogy/teaching is

often…

SEQUENTIALSCAFFOLDEDALIGNEDSTRUCTUREDSTRATIFIED

LEARNING

EXPERIENCING

LIVING

ACQUIRING

CONNECTING

RARELY ARE

LEARNING

SHARINGCONNECTING

CHANGING

The Museum of Broken Relationships

Unlike ‘destructive’ self-help instructions for recovery from failed loves, the Museum offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creation.

“No museum has ever made me feel more connected to everyone else in the world before.”

that achieves the objectivesAND

builds on the art principles of line, space, colour, texture and

unityMalcolm Knowles 1980

CHANGINGPEDAGOGYLEARNINGTEACHINGEXPERIENCES

FOUND

IDENTITY

MAKING

Tensions

Affordances v ResistancesTechnologies v PedagogiesNow v FutureSystems v CloudService v Strategy

The use of technology is the exclusive privilege of the technically adept, the

young or the innovator

Technology is a ‘nice to have’, not an essential,

integrated part of the action

Learning has been and always will be the same and new

technology simply enhances and builds on the successes of

the past

The blurry myths of technological change

We need to focus on ‘the basics’

Innovators are ’out there’ on the fringe

The ‘harsh’ reality

The agility of society and learners to adapt and innovate their learning with and through

technology often far outstrips the ability of the educational institution to keep up

Existing practice and innovation are pitted

against each other as a contest to the death

Investment is rarely commensurate with outcome and impact

Learning, teaching and role of the learning technologist have changed

Strategic review Institutional restructure Pedagogical redesignThe TEFPoor NSS/student experience resultsBudget cutsChange in leadership

An LSE/UAL hack #futurehappens

WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE

THELEARNING TECHNOLOGIST?EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPER?TEACHER? HoD? BELIEVER?

Rule 1: We are teaching and learning focused and institutionally committed

Rule 2: What we talk about is institutionally/nationally agnostic but is all about making the institution better

Rule 3: We are in the room with the decision makers. What we decide is critical to the future of our institutions. We are the institutionRule 4: Despite the chatter, all the tech ‘works’ - the digital is here, we are digital institutions. Digital is not the innovation.

Rule 5: We are here to build not smash or protect or defend

“…an education that is understood in complexity terms cannot be conceived in terms of preparation for the future. Rather, it must be construed in terms of participation in the creation of possible futures” Davis and Sumara (2009)

Traditionalapproaches

changeto makinginstitutional

The LSE experience

• Tensions between systems support and

innovation agenda• Delivering on our previous

promise of ‘solutions in a box’

• Tensions around who owns ‘pedagogy’, ‘technology’ and

‘learning’• Get the current stuff or

the basics right before you start ‘playing’

(Boys/Girls with toys problem)

• Shifting the pioneers to the business as usual

Scaled projects that have institutional

impact(SCALE)

Connected approaches that cross

function, discipline and faculty

(CONNECTION)Stimulating change

through high profile, highly visible interventions

(STIMULUS)Projects that make an impact with learners,

teachers and the institution(IMPACT)

- And what do they do in the middle out?

Thanks to Audrey Watters who found this image from 1973

She?

LEARNING SPACES

ExperimentChange the conversationChange the processCollaborateBring the word inFail and Succeed

RENEWALINNOVATIONASPIRATIONTRANSFORMATION

LSE INNOVATORShttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lti/lse-innovator/

Creative hubSeeding innovationReward and recognitionPositive messagesInspirationChange practice

LSE 2020

VoiceImpactPerceptionsPositive messagesDigital storytelling

I believe everything we dream can come to pass through our union we can turn the world around we can turn the earth's revolution we have the power

People have the power ...

Patti Smith, People have the Power 1985

THANK YOU