In the UK we have spent a lot of money over the years creating a high speed infrastructure for schools. Many schools have fast internet connections but I wonder just how many of them are working to establish what might be called an infrastructure for learning. What does this mean?....
There are probably many different models for communicating and collaborating with learners as well as a wide range of services that
can be used to support the learning process.
The VLE or Learning Platform is one such infrastructure built as they are from a number of different tools but if they are only used for providing another means of delivering work then I am pretty sure they will not be as effective as one might think.
There are other infrastructure models or additional tools than could be brought into the VLE to expand the options for engaging young people particularly where young people have access to a mobile device.
An example would be Calibre - an ebook management system which has its own server so you could use it to distribute coursework books (text books) in a completely new way. On mobile devices this works great with the Stanza e-book reader and is simple to set up.
There are also tools such as Jisko which is a private microblogging system similar to Twitter but which provides a means of using such tools in a controlled and safe way (internet safety is a high profile issue in the UK). Add to this the potential of mobile phones used as response devices using tools such as GiEFal which is a little away from an out of the box product but demonstrates a direction of travel for the use of mobile tools for learning.
We have a long way to go with really making effective use of ICT in learning and we need to move away from what devices we use or what bandwidth we have onto what learning infrastructures we need to create to make best use of them.
This said the critical thing with all of these infrastructures is that they need good and imaginative educators to make them really work. Setting the challenges for harnessing such opportunities for learning is the real challenge but at least these and other tools allows educators to explore ideas and perhaps transform the learning experience.
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