Tunnelling our future #edcmooc
Transcript of Tunnelling our future #edcmooc
Theme: Utopias and Dystopias
Watching Intel’s video ‘Bridging Our Future’
made me very uneasy with this spotlessly clean
utopian vision of the future.
If you haven’t watched it, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMd-
7Ng9Y8
It got me interested in the use of the bridge
metaphor.
The #EDCMOOC discussion forum led
me and others to question aspects of
this utopia:
Who is keeping everything so spotless? What sort of
education have the cleaners had?
What if this style of education doesn’t suit you
because you have a disability or a learning difficulty?
What if you or your education system can’t afford all
the technology?
Is this vision of a ‘cut and paste’ education really
desirable?
What does the ‘bridge’ metaphor signify?
Tunnelling
In some senses a tunnel has the same function as a bridge - it is a physical link between two spaces, you could use it for road, rail, water, cabling etc. You can travel in more than one direction.
However it is also in opposition to a bridge. A bridge is above ground, in the air, in the sky. You can look up at a bridge, and you can look down from a bridge. You can climb up it, and even jump off it. Tunnelling happens underground, it is dark, dirty and often invisible to people above ground. If you are in a tunnel, you probably can't look up at the sky. It is physically difficult to get out of a tunnel, and you can only follow the tunnel (unless you tunnel).
Tunnelling is done by odd creatures
such as moles, or machines with
human names – see for example
http://www.crossrail.co.uk/constructi
on/tunnelling/meet-our-giant-
tunnelling-machines/
Crossrail tunnel boring machine in London
Tunnelling our future sounds much less appealing, but must be quite close to the truth. Much of our online activity must be enabled by underground power cables, underground broadband connections etc. Of course there are satellite signals and wifi etc 'up in the air' but we can't yet charge our devices through the air.
A tunnel is therefore not going to be the aspirational and upward looking metaphor that a bridge is. A bridge makes links between two clearly visible points - we can see where we are going. Tunnelling is more uncertain and messier.
But...
Tunnelling is a way to by-pass governments and giant global corporations that seek to limit our interests and progress. We may want to do things that are 'not supported' by the official protocols, but that doesn't mean we can't do them!
Bidgee (2010) Fibre optic cable in an underground service pit, via Google Images
'Underground‘ has an anti-establishment,
counter-culture connotation, implying secrecy
and illicit behaviour (e.g. 'underground
railroad'). One other sense of tunnelling is an
escape to freedom, that one is currently
confined in some awful condition (e.g. a
prisoner of war camp).
Are learners beginning, through MOOCS and
other Open Educational Resources (OER), to
break free and gain the knowledge and skills
they want while bypassing fees and exams?
How long will the educational establishment
tolerate this underground activity?
l k o (2013) io-robot via Flickr
Learning may be 'deeply' transformational. What learners learn is not always what the teacher tried to teach them. We may not know what the learner actually took away from the learning experience, as it happens beneath the surface.
Brian J Matis (2010) I guess it makes sense for a robot to read an e-book via Flickr
Tunnelling Our Future!
Maybe tunnelling can be a new way to think
about getting the education we want and need.
Maybe the official educational bridges between
school and work are not the only way.
Maybe we can bypass educational
establishments and corporations to forge new
ways to knowledge.
What do you think?