Challenging My Thinking Process…I am sure many more to come!

When Howard gave me a link to an article by Don Tapscott, ‘Higher Education Is Stuck in the Middle Ages-Will Universities Adapt or Die Off in Our Digital World?, my initial question was ‘Does it say anything we don’t already know?’ I skimmed it through and quickly came to two conclusions. Firstly, I agree with the needs of changes in the model of learning. There are lecturers who recognize such needs and offer students with choices and options to cater for their diverse learning styles. I do believe that these changes should be driven by University as a whole in a systematic way rather than an ad hoc response by individual lecturers. However, secondly, I disagreed instantly on the dismissal of the face to face lecture, the traditional teaching model. Labelling it as “Broadcast Learning”, a one way, linear information transmission, he suggests that such model is not suitable for the students of the digital age. I felt what we needed is a hybrid teaching/learning model that combines old and new that offers digital technology enhanced learning experience without losing human to human interaction (including lecture theatre experience).

Then I read the BBC article about Geoff Taylor who is the head of music industry body BPI, talking about the lack of music industry’s understanding of Napster when it emerged in 1999 or rather the inevitable social and technological changes coming ahead, directing and reshaping the music industry as a whole forever. We do know what happened to Napster. The music industry resisted and fought against it.

It made me question my response to the Tapscott’s vision. I was very quick to disagree with his devaluation of the traditional pedagogy model for future education. Why did I disagree with it? My university experience was based on lecture theatre learning/teaching that I was one of many students sitting in an imposing theatre where the lecturer taking a centre stage. Am I simply hanging on to that experience, just because that is what I know? Am I saying we need a hybrid educational model based on a rational decision through a careful examination of supporting evidence or saying it because I am unconsciously scared of a fundamental change? Am I resisting and fighting against such change by taking a hybrid stand without realising it?