Views From the Gulch

There have been a number of significant changes since Seely Brown (1999) presented his paper ”Learning, Working and Playing in the Digital Age”.  Many are in line with his predictions:

• the web has become an increasing part of our lives and our social infrastructure (the things we do, the language we use, our social/leisure activities) and the speed at which we share information and communication (or the speed we expect to communicate at
• more people have become involved in the production and distribution of knowledge via Wiki’s, social networks, etc
• the need for rapidly acquiring new knowledge and skills (for work or other pursuits) continues to increase

I’m not sure if “digital kids” are learning as Seely Brown predicted – especially with recent research that is questioning the efficiency of multi-tasking.  I do know that many older workers are struggling with the impact of technology on their work – eve the basics such as word processing and emails.

Many of the issues raised by Seely Brown have been, or are being, adopted:

• online learning experiences are being encouraged at all levels of the education system and in industry.  “e-learning” is a catch cy and seen as a panacea for the time/costs associated with participants attaining new skills in many organisations
• an increase in the use of social networks – from my own initial experiences with them I am keen to see how they work and are adopted
• the need for reflective use of these technologies – too often they are introduced into an organisation with little or not thought and no follow up or development to ensure that their full potential is realised.

From my perspective there are a number of challenges in using these technologies in my workplace:

• my own developing knowledge and comfort level
• a workforce with a significant number of older, blue collar workers who are not interested in using technology AND a significant number of professionsals who are very familiar with the technology.  Finding a happy medium will be challenging
• outdated IT infrastructure – many sites have dial up access; broadband speed even in some urban environments; an  IT policy that blocks access to many educational sites and downloads from them
• the limited exposure of senior management of the organisation to the use of technology for learning and the associated lack of understanding of issues around it (eg how social networking can result in learning)

 I look forward to continuing to explore these technologies and finding ways to deal with these challenges.