Away from text

The Education Technology Centre eEDU in Tampere University of Applied Sciences was founded 2001 to coordinate and develop web-based learning (e-learning) and teaching in TAMK. It's function was and still is to assists teachers with the use of learning environments, support teachers with the implementation of on-line teaching materials and offer consultation in the educational use of ICT. Besides support for teachers eEDU is responsible for research and development in its field of expertise at Tampere University of Applied Sciences.

To perform it's tasks, eEDU needs to keep up with the development of e-learning (the concept as well as the tools), to form our own view of e-learning on the basis of domestic and international signals. The following is an insight into the type of discussion that forms our view.


Since its conception e-learning has been struggling to find alternative media to text-based learning. The whole concept has been wrapped around the premise of being something other than text printed on paper. Visions of that otherness have varied from video walls to brain plug-ins. As in any technology driven field, innovation, new applications and new gadgets have moved the concept forward and guaranteed funding. Now, we are entering a period in which technology is not the main issue. The main focus is coming back to people and their goals of learning. It is this shift in thinking that has been the basis of conversations towards what is e-learning for eEDU. It is extremely important to have open discussions about what learning is and what it is that we want to achieve via education. The following video is one of the sparks for conversation about long term goals and profile of the education system. It is a 20 min. video and well worth watching for anyone working in education.




(The video is from TED.com which is worth while the visit if you are looking for quality academic disussion about social issues.)

There are two key issues in the video. First, the education system is geared towards producing university professors. Traditionally, the goal of the student is to succeed well in your studies. The best possible success is to become a university professor. This however omits completely the students individual tendencies. For a small percentage of students, it is desirable and worth while to seek the ultimate goal of professorship, but what about the rest 99,9% of students? (Finland is, and has been for a while, producing doctoral thesis at an alarming rate.) What is the role in society for those students who are not and will never be university professors? This brings us to the second key issue in the video: the girl who could not sit still. The girl had intelligence which did not include sitting silently in rows of desks, reading and producing text. She had to move to think. Then, and even now the girl would have been doomed as a failure to life outside the society. BUT through the appropriate discourse and proper supportshe became a successful dancer/choreographer and has had a merited and fulfilling career. This is not to suggest that all children who cannot sit still will become the lead in Bolshoi's next production of Swan Lake. What it does suggest is that there is a definite demand for diversified education and diversified learning environments. This demand and the potential for social media and authentic learning environments to answer the demand make this a revolutionary and exciting time in education.

(to be continued)