The Way Learning Environments are Evolving What’s in stock for us in the future? By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed. School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica Saturday, March 26, 2016 Post 241
Psychologist Sherry Turkle, in a TED Talk back in 2012, pointed out an interesting reflection on how cell phones have changed our lives. Turkle posits the following after inverviewing hundreds of people of all age groups, “What I’ve found is that out little devices, those little devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don’t only change what we do, they change who we are” (2012). If her contemplation of cell phones were taken to all possible innovations that are coming our way in the field of education, would they learning enhancers or disruptors? Web-based technologies for learning accessed by means of smartphones and tablets can be paradoxically good and evil. “As with all technology, mobile phones can have their pros and cons, depending on how they are used. At their best, they can be useful tools for staying in touch, finding out new information and co-ordinating social activities. At worst, they can negatively affect concentration, communication and sleep, or increase fear of missing out, procrastination and stress” (Busch, 2016). And if this idea plainly stated by Busch is extrapolated to other commonly used devices in the hands of college students, such as tablets and laptops, we are bound to encounter lots
of problems that will affect student learning and course achievement. College learners are at risk of missing lots of important information being delivered to them, and consequently not developing skills and competences for their current or future jobs. Dispite the need for the development of skills and competences, mobile computing is indeed one of those changes, innovations, and trends that will have a strong influence in higher learning environments in the next 3-5 years. As stated by Mark West for UNESCO, “Access to robust mobile networks is nearly universal: 90% of the world’s population and an impressive 80% of the population living in rural areas are blanketed by a mobile network. This means that learners who might not have access to highquality education or even schools often do have working mobile phones” (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 2012). Costa Rica is not the exception to this penetration of mobile technology and networks. And in terms of higher education, this penetration of mobile phones (and tablets) is going to create attractive virtual learning spaces for students and instructors. Five years from this point in history, more and more learners will be engaged in blended and online education. Costa Rican learners are transitioning towards a more dynamic way of learning and being part of the new trends in university life. If Eric Mazur, a professor of physics at Harvard, is 100% right, “during periods of study, lab work and homework” it is when pupils are the most engaged and in a state of ‘arousal associated with emotion, cognition and attention’” (Hardesty, 2013). If we facutly members can emotionally and cognitively motivate leaners with hands-on task to apply the concepts that being studied in a course, our Costa Rican pupils will positively respond to this new challenge in their way of being educated. Lecture-led instruction in classrooms will become an obsolete practice in a few years, but not in five. “The advantages of interactive learning over lectures have been well-documented for decades, if not centuries” (Hardesty, 2013). Going back to what Mazur was alluding about “the pedagogical efficiency of lectures” studied by MIT
Professor Rosiland Picard, these practices’ “readout flatlined during two activies: attending class and watching TV” (Hardesty, 2013). In other words, the “arousal associated with emotion, cognition and attention” is not present during class lectures. What we are bound to find in Costan Rican higher education contexts in the future is faculty members who are going to be recording and producing their own teaching material in vodcast-like formats, like the ones used by Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, to teach mathematics.
References Busch, B. (2016, March 8). Fomo, stress and sleeplessness: are smartphones bad for students? The Guardian . Hardesty, L. (2013, March 6). Higher-ed leaders meet to discuss future of online education. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/edx-summit-0306.html Turkle, S. (2012, February). Connected, but alone? (TED.Com) Retrieved from TED.Com: http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together#t-152139 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (2012). Turning on Mobile Learning Global Themes. Paris: UNESCO.