Wouldn't it be better if...

In the spirit of William Heath's wonderful Ideal government blog, where his purpose is to ask "Wouldn't it be better if..." (or "Wibbi" for short), I've been having a quite grumble to myself this afternoon, in the midst of drafting the education chapter for my book, about how badly we as a nation deploy technology to enable education. To some degree it is all tied up with the kinds of problems I was referring to earlier in the day about ID cards. In any case, here's a random list of some of my wibbis on information and communications technologies in education...

Wibbi we didn't try to make kids and teachers use computers in school for the sake of using computers in school.

Wibbi in a digital, participative, collaborative age people used the technology to learn from each other.

Wibbi policy and decision makers public and private understood the difference between information technologies and information systems.

Wibbi if people had the skills to get access the information they need, like, are interested in.

Wibbi the suits could see the value of technology as an enabling tool rather than as something that you buy because it is expensive, flashy and it is good PR to be modern.

Wibbi kids growing up with and assimilating technology naturally were given the freedom to be creative with it.

Wibbi educators facilitated that freedom with ideas, sound information practices, and the imparting of critical assessment skills to interpret, assess and use the knowledge gained. Better to teach the kids where to find the information they need and how to decide whether it is trustworthy.

Wibbi we used computers in education to enable people who suffer from dyslexia to bypass that disability.

Wibbi we realised the technology is just the plumbing and it will eventually fade into the background. It i?s the message, the information, the knowledge, the sharing, the community thatÂ?s important, not the medium, the wine not the bottles. "E-learning" doesn't exist, so to quote a well known techie millionaire, "?get over it."

Wibbi teachers became less the gatekeepers of "?facts"? or approved curricula and more guides in the acquisition of knowledge.

Wibbi teachers were not just curriculum experts (if you'?re lucky!) but content creators and networkers -? models for the children/students to follow

Wibbi if we realised that anyone with a PC and internet connection now has access to a printing press of their own and a potential global audience.

Wibbi the school and college curricula were on wikipedia (like the South African high school curriculum or MIT OpenCourseWare).

Wibbi we learned how to compliment what we already do well in education with collaborative information generation along the lines of Wikipedia.

Wibbi school children and college students communicated and learned through books, periodicals, TV, blogs, wikis, creating, sharing and engaging with multimedia technologies, photos, videos, podcasting, digital stories, webpage building, browsers, databases, screencasts, RSS newsfeeds, IM, communities in the classroom and remotely?

Wibbi kids had the choice to publish their homework and/or hand it to the teacher or fellow learners who had acquired the skills to provide positive feedback and support. (Don't kid yourself - there i?s not a school in the world where some small number of children are not already doing a much better job of "?teaching"? their peers than any of the professionals in the institution and entirely without their knowledge)

Wibbi if we taught ourselves and our children how to manage the information firehose and how to be selective to facilitate healthy minds and communities (an information diet, if you like).

Wibbi we got over the notion that we have to change for change sake and started using the technology to establish stability in educational institutions; not stability in the sense of stagnation but stability in the sense of space and time to focus on learning (rather than boredom or fear, confusion or avoidance, keeping your head down, or enduring, testing, or form filling or procedures or artificial targets). Within that space and time the educational process can be as calm or anarchic or adventurous as the students and teachers want it to be in order to serve the personal development needs of every single individual

Wibbi we stopped concentrating on kids/students misusing the technologies and started focussing on how to enable and encourage them to use them constructively for their own and others'? benefits.

Wibbi we got over the fear factor and focussed on the potential of the students and how we and the technologies can help them reach that potential.

Wibbi some massively rich philanthropist or the government funded the nationwide construction of an open access, open architecture, broadband networks.

Wibbi all digital educational platforms were interoperable and based on open standards.

Wibbi the folks who really do know how to deploy computers in education (because we've done it - children, students and teachers alike - and have the scars to prove it) were able to help those who haven't yet done so, or who might be nervous about trying.

Wibbi we were able to use a pencil and paper when it is still the BAT (best available technology) for facilitating particular types of learning.

Finally for today, since blogger has been playing up badly again, wibbi blogger stopped mucking about and got back to normal, so that I didn't have to go through a ridiculous word verification process every time I wanted to post. Have a good weekend.