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1996-02-28
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http://www.acorn.co.uk/acorn/media/
No Limits to Learning
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Acorn Education hosted a one day conference on Saturday 27 January, in
Northampton, with the following brief.
Purpose
MediaFuture '96 brought together educators and developers in a forum
which allowed them to identify and understand the impact of emerging
technologies on learning. Delegates were invited to contribute to and
benefit from the debate to establish appropriate learning tools and
solutions.
Issues
The United Kingdom dominates the world in the use of IT as a
curriculum tool.
From this position of strength, ideas are being developed for the next
generation of educational IT. Encompassing low-cost online services
and small portable systems, applications and media broader than
desktop systems are receiving serious consideration. Whilst the
technology is an important enabler, the real educational issues are
in the new learning opportunities which may be created.
Perhaps only in the UK could one bring together a cross section of
manufacturers, software developers, local authority advisers,
academics, teachers and school pupils to discuss, plan and even define
the next wave of educational IT for schools and perhaps homes. In a
plethora of outcomes, three key strands emerge as core findings:
Outcomes
* The consumer trend in online and portable products introduces the
risk of social polarisation in learning divided on lines of class
values or the ability to pay. Can we, or even should we, try to make
homes a more equal place for learning than schools have proved to be?
What is the role of the institution if the home is where the learning
gets done?
* Today's technology standards are designed for more expensive systems
than homes or schools can afford in mass volumes. New open standards
are required and proposals have been developed to initiate these.
The conference has proposals and we encourage a wider debate.
* Methods and processes for assessment need to be revised. With and
video accessible to students, showing progression in the development
of a piece of work may be more important than the finished product.
Combating plagiarism is a major issue - how can you prove a student's
work is their own? Perhaps originality in crafting material may be as
important as creating it in the first place.
Follow up
In its role as facilitator and host, Acorn Education wisely
relinquished ownership or endorsement of the content, enabling a free
exchange of ideas. The material will however be published as a
"Virtual Conference" here on the company's World Wide Web page. More
here 'real soon now'!