E-LEARNING AS A PROJECT OF CULTURAL CHANGE Ian Chowcat – Project Director
Feb 01, 2016
E-LEARNING AS A PROJECT OF CULTURAL
CHANGE Ian Chowcat – Project Director
This is South Yorkshire…..
£72m investment
38,000 learners
150 schools and libraries
450 SMEs
13,000 plus pieces of kit
21,000 individuals getting qualifications
1 VLE – shortly turning into a learning portal
“The focus has shifted to an interpretation of the project as a vehicle for cultural change using a significant IT implementation programme to facilitate it, rather than primarily an ICT programme”
SQW Year 2 Evaluation report
Cultural change = doing things differently – but why should people and organisations change?
If e-learning is a vehicle for changing the culture of
education, who (or what) is the driver?
Learner autonomy
Informal learning
Constructivism
E-learning as enabler
But if e-learning is of only instrumental value something else is driving cultural change.
Is the driver educational theory….or social change?
Avoid technological determinism….
…and social and educational utopianism
What matters is what people are doing with technology…
InteractCommunicateTransactionsFind
informationPlan and book
trips
Grab resources
Download media
Play gamesShare
….and how they are changing society - and themselves
Education should change because people are using it to change the way they work and
live
It’s about what we teach as well as how we teach…..
….digital natives need teachers
So, e-learning is about change:
o People and society not technology and educational theory
o Curriculum rather than pedagogy o The social and economic
relevance of education, not raising attainment
o Rich life chances in a digital world, not technophile utopianism