When we teach people do we want them to just know the subject, or to understand it? Teach them Maths or turn them into mathematicians, teach people science or turn them into scientists? There is a big difference between the two.
Through teaching people how to think we open up new ways to solve problems. We don’t want them to just know something, we want them to be able to use the knowledge.
What is more is that if we teach it correctly they can use their knowledge outside of the specific field they are learning. Interdisciplinary learning can lead to creative thinking and problem solving and if we don’t really know what new problems will arise over the next few months (never mind the next few years), we might just need all the creativity we can get.
So everyone has heard why iPhone users are so irritating in that you can never discuss facts with them. They just pull their phone out and access a web search engine and kill the conversation.
Yes I could see this being irritating but for as little as R2000 (going on the iPod nano also being $200 and it is R2000 here) you basically have a computer in your pocket. Blackberry didn’t quite get it right but from all accounts the iPhone is a truly integrative device. So what is the next step? A $100 mobile device that does all this, and more?
In a country where there are are almost 10 times more mobile phone users than there are internet subscribers will this not have major implications on everything from learning to business? (Ok, I know that not all those mobile phone users can afford an iPhone but at less than half the cost of an entry level laptop and more connectivity it is tempting)
In the USA there are already colleges that are supplying learners with iPhones to enable them to better interact with the college, their classmates and lecturers.
So what is the future for the iPhone in SA and world wide? Merely another status symbol or possibly a way to change interaction and communication for a whole new generation of people and learners?
When it comes to learning technologies games have been around for quite a while. However with technology progressing as fast as it is there is now a whole new way to develop games and serious games for all aspects of learning.
Continuing in this light the Shuttleworth Foundation will be holding an Indaba on games and learning in South Africa on the 14th of August.
It will be exploring, amongst other things, the state of gaming among the youth, opportunities for using games in education and learning, and identifying barriers to increased use of gaming in learning.
