Fischer's papers

Gerhard Fischer has published a number of papers (see previous post) related to technology and lifelong learning. The general thrust of these is that technology alone is not going to be a panacea that will transform us into a learning society. There will also need to be a shift in attitute ("mindset") from consumers of knowledge to producers of solutions, a re-design of software to allow users to remodel it to fit their needs, a shift away from using ICT to simply "automate rather than innovate" (November) and a radical change in the learning environment away from training by teachers with little or no understanding of the learners jobs to collaborative problem solving that is directly relevant to the workplace.

He would seem to sit within the current heterodoxy of lifelong learning, suggesting that lifelong learning should not be about taking individuals out of their usual environment to study for qualifications that bear no relationship to their specific role. Definite nods to Illich in that schooling is the problem and that there should be a shift toward learning experiences where the facilitator may be as ignorant of the solution as the students, but together they can work towards that solution - touches of Dewey's progressive methods there too.

Fischer also points out that creativity and innovation will be vital for societites of the future, "working smarter" from Drucker, and that lifelong learning should be about how to develop these traits in individuals and groups. He also points out that creating consumers is a problem that is a barrier to this and that changing our model of education from a consumer model with passive learners into a model that moves beyond Skinner and Taylor and integrates work and learning and makes learners active contributors in their learning.

This methodology is reflected in the methods used in the ATI where groups are assigned tasks which are made up of a number of criteria and it is up to the group to interpret these and provide solutions to the problems that they encounter with the help of their peers and advisors. Often some of the more technical problems need the input of a large group as it may be an issue that no-one has previously encountered. An example of this was when attempting to create an animation of a book opening and a page crumpling up and rolling away. In that instance we were lucky enough to have a large group with some useful insights and the creators of the software on hand to explain some of the tricks that could be brought to bear. After several attempts to animate a large, and heavy, book opening and much head scratching that a chance observation by a passing member of another group pointed out that we should just film someone opening the book and only animate the page crumpling thus saving us hours of work tring to produce a movable support that would allow us to prop the book open and remain hidden. By carefully framing the shot we caputured what appeared to be a self-opening book in about 10 minutes!