comments on Sanders (2006)

Sanders raises some very important issues regarding use of IT in education. I found myself nodding away as I read (I do that sometimes much to the amusement of anyone observing me at the time) when I reflected on the ICT projects/contracts most secondary schools have undertaken over the past few years. For those not familiar with these..teachers were all issued with laptops and had to undertake professional development within schools and between schools, and with other external providers to learn how to use the computer itself, navigate the web, learn to use the software and other digi tools such as write-one tablets, smart boards.

For many, this was a steep learning curve and because of the funding and the reporting requirements there was a lot of pressure on teachers to produce the goods in terms of demonstrating how they were using the new technology in their teaching. While I understand that we had to start somewhere and that in some instances, nothing would happen without a compliance requirement this process left teachers feeling extremely stressed and negative about the use of digital technologies. Even those who were quite committed to the project, became (and continue to be) frustrated by inconsistent/unreliable/slow internet connections, limited access to computers in classroom teaching, continual introduction of new software and new tools without adequate learning time with what is already there.Overall, all there was little evidence to suggest that students learned any better as a result of introduction of new technologies although teachers reproted increased interest and engagement possibly attributable to the novelty factor and more variety in learning activities.

Essentially, all most of us have done is what Sanders describes as transferring traditional F2F teaching to the web without actually creating anything truly different and better. Teachers do not have the time or the skills to do that (nor I suspect do many adult educators) and still produce the goods they need to in their daily working lives.

We need to be aware that the process of learning the new technology can often interfere with the learning that is the focus of a course especially when we think in terms of adult learners. Many migrant ESOL learners are not familiar with computer technology at all and don't have access to it in their daily lives. Moreover, those in more rural areas have unreliable and slow internet connectivity at best.

While I believe that there are many advantages in using digital technologies in education,there are also obstacles. Our focus must be on the learning and how,and if so, what technology can be used to enhance the learning for any particular learner at any one point in time.