The computer is a tool which has so many emergent aspects to it that it has been a tool, as well as a means to channel inspiration. Of course, some of the tools which reside within the world of computers and the internet are the results of this idea…being mere tools again.
This is a perspective about computers which has been covered over and over again since the 70’s (when I became aware of this huge change in how we can do things). With computer power we have become used to having appliances and gadgets which can replace the function of a huge array of formerly important tools. We have also been getting used to breaking up some ideas which were considered obvious, such as:
· Separating the content of something from the means with which you deal with the contents…a great example would be to consider the changes from various formats for containing music…from LP’s to Cassettes. To CD’s to MP3’s, to having all of your music in the cloud. You can see comparable changes with almost any form of information we deal with (music, movies, TV, books, magazines, telephone conversations, letters, and documents in general)
· All of these changes have rendered some things which we had in the physical world to equivalents in the virtual world (i.e. with no special coordinates, mass, or volume). My iPad contains about 1,000 books, hundreds of songs, several movies, lots of ‘letters’, documents, and so on…
· We have increasingly powerful tools to help us with organizing our lives, much of the toil involved with these sorts of personal organization tasks, note taking, scheduling, and most clerical activities have been minimized in time and effort
· We are only in the beginning of this sort of physical convergence of former tools…
It’s not just a tool
http://ideasandthoughts.org/2011/05/07/its-not-just-a-tool
The question that my colleague Darren Kuropatwa asks in many of his presentations is “What is it I can do now that I couldn’t do before? Is a fundamental question that should be asked way more? Many people’s use of technology simply involves faster and more efficient, not different. As Will Richardson points out,
“…if we’re touting the online experience has superior because kids can take trips and still do the work or because their teachers are excited, that speaks to bigger, more fundamental issues that aren’t being addressed. This is still all about content delivery, old wine in a new bottle that’s being motivated more by economics and convenience than good or better design. And it’s about, as I mentioned yesterday, a growing business interest that sees an opportunity to make inroads into education as ‘approved providers.’”
So is technology just a tool? That statement minimizes the shifts and changes that technology affords and allows people to use technology to perpetuate bad practices, more testing and seek efficiency and simplicity instead of the messiness that comes from personalized connections to passions and interests. While I advocate largely for the ability to use technology to share and make connections, the ability for us to leverage technology to create projects, works of art and beauty not possible prior to our current age should change the way we think about learning.
