Visions of university study in 2020
At the Future of Technology in Education 2009 conference last week, Bill Ashraf from the University of Sussex showed a video made by the 1st Prize winner of Manchester Metropolitan University's staff and student podcast competition - What Will it be Like to be a Student at MMU in 2020?
It made us sit up, so I post it here - see the other entries on the competition page:
Phonejacker anyone? Completely unoriginal. The competition winner must be laughing (with his £5,000) all the way to the bank! The judges should be ashamed at their lack of knowledge of popular culture. Perhaps the fact that the film painted MMU as an innovative uni clouded their jusdgement. I wonder if the students were told that this was one of the criteria on==under which they would be judged (in which case the winner should be congratulated for his unashamedly 'T4' entry. Well done sir!)
Well getting more bike racks at uni would be a start....never mind the solar panels! 
more bike racks on the way - look out for the new rotating covered ones - arriving soon.
I think their 'jusgdement' was fair enough - painting the uni as innovative is beside the point, clever on his part to refer to his environment and appeal to his uni to step up and realise or at least consider some of these potential changes - and the video could inspire people to get excited about the possibilities of transforming a campus. He makes it fun and 'T4' to make it accessible........I think the style is humourous and engaging.
Loz, what do you mean by 'ashamed at their lack of knowledge of popular culture'?
Would be good if you could elaborate.
Did you submit Loz - would love to watch if so.
I don't think these changes will all happen in the space of ten years, and I don't think that the move towards more interactive learning is necessarily a good thing - the idea of having seminar groups via my iApp alone in my room or on the bus (or hovercraft) doesn't appeal, personally. I do like the fact that the student has a positive vision for the future though, with his uni becoming more environmentally aware. These are the types of changes that we should be seeing already. Whether they will come about or not.....
Apologies for my cheeky reply about the bike racks, but I believe everyone who can ride to school or work should do so, and that more people would do it if there was more emphasis put on it, and if the space catered for it
Loz, what do you mean by 'ashamed at their lack of knowledge of popular culture'?
Would be good if you could elaborate.
Did you submit Loz - would love to watch if so.
I don't think these changes will all happen in the space of ten years, and I don't think that the move towards more interactive learning is necessarily a good thing - the idea of having seminar groups via my iApp alone in my room or on the bus (or hovercraft) doesn't appeal, personally. I do like the fact that the student has a positive vision for the future though, with his uni becoming more environmentally aware. These are the types of changes that we should be seeing already. Whether they will come about or not.....
Apologies for my cheeky reply about the bike racks, but I believe everyone who can ride to school or work should do so, and that more people would do it if there was more emphasis put on it, and if the space catered for it
That's interesting. I'm now wondering whether the word 'interactive' has for some people become associated with 'web-based' more than 'social' or 'responsive' - it jumped out at me to see it crop up in the same sentence as 'alone in my room'. One of the main questions I encounter as a learning technologist is: now that we (those of us who are affluent, and who can access it) have our hands on the cornucopia of potential interactivities which is today's Web - interacting with software; interacting with each other via software - how are learners and teachers in higher education thinking about activity and interactivity in learning? I'm fully aware that interactivity can't always be seen; you can listen silently to a brilliant presentation by a leading thinker in their field who makes your mind whirr with connections and questions, which you then get to express later in your work and in your conversations. I'm also aware that for some people participating over the Web can exacerbate a sense of isolation, while others can feel great warmth and involvement.
Mmm yes I thought this when I wrote it, but decided to stick with it - as for me, when I think of 'interactivity' in terms of new media approaches to learning, it brings to mind interaction with technology as oppose to with humans.....and that somehow this interaction with the technology, be it a screen or a programme, acts as a barrier against human interaction. For example with Facebook - the many chats one can have with friends, which in the past may have been held over the phone, or in person - now are conducted on a screen, through text, whilst one is often conducting many other conversations or looking at a website, eating their lunch, listening to music, popping downstairs for a cup of tea......I can't help but feel that this computer-based form of communication, if applied to learning, might lead to a sense of disengagement?
The potential for interacting with other via software, as touched upon by the mention of the lecture from China broadcast via the internet and translated by a gadget - is interesting and obviously opens up a world of possibilities. I just feel that if I wanted to learn in this way I would take an Open University course or something similar, I come to University to experience the richness of learning in a group with my peers - thinking of receiving lectures via a giant screen from another country makes me feel one step removed from this experience - and that the more 'interactive' technology becomes, the less 'interactive' we become in the sphere of everyday human contact? I don't know if I am articulating this very well - but it is definitely an interesting link you have posted! Have you seen this approach being adopted in any courses anywhere? Any notable effects / differences?
The potential for interacting with other via software, as touched upon by the mention of the lecture from China broadcast via the internet and translated by a gadget - is interesting and obviously opens up a world of possibilities. I just feel that if I wanted to learn in this way I would take an Open University course or something similar, I come to University to experience the richness of learning in a group with my peers - thinking of receiving lectures via a giant screen from another country makes me feel one step removed from this experience - and that the more 'interactive' technology becomes, the less 'interactive' we become in the sphere of everyday human contact? I don't know if I am articulating this very well - but it is definitely an interesting link you have posted! Have you seen this approach being adopted in any courses anywhere? Any notable effects / differences?
I totally agree with you Niamh. For me, nothing can replace real-time interaction with actual people. Some of this stuff was nightmarish for me- podcast lectures from my tutor and automatic translations via gadgets- no no NO!!! Not that this technology doesn't have the potential to top up our learning experience- but it should NEVER replace face to face contact in the curriculum. There is something unique that happens in a real-time group environment - the sense of excitement as something is understood together, the belief - however illusory - that your tutor cared enough about your individual development to turn up and share in it.
I think if we lose the experience of live and in-the-moment teaching and discussion - we lose our sense of commitment and engagement with each other, and become detached from the process of learning. Innovation shouldn't just be driven by what is possible technologically - what next? Automatic uploading of information to our brains????!
I think if we lose the experience of live and in-the-moment teaching and discussion - we lose our sense of commitment and engagement with each other, and become detached from the process of learning. Innovation shouldn't just be driven by what is possible technologically - what next? Automatic uploading of information to our brains????!
Hi Mira
this made me laugh a bit, thanks. I am not scared of technology, less than my dad was from a vision of the world dominated by robots (anyone remembers that kind of fiction?). The reality, as I live it, it is made instead by small acts and daily practices that are quite different. For instance, while you can use all Microsoft and Adobe stuff, the computer network is not able to provide Open Source software (imagine the savings for the Uni, apart from the politics!). I have been waiting for nearly a month to have some Open Source software installed on my personal account (still waiting at the present). See what a 1st Year Undergraduate says in his email:
this made me laugh a bit, thanks. I am not scared of technology, less than my dad was from a vision of the world dominated by robots (anyone remembers that kind of fiction?). The reality, as I live it, it is made instead by small acts and daily practices that are quite different. For instance, while you can use all Microsoft and Adobe stuff, the computer network is not able to provide Open Source software (imagine the savings for the Uni, apart from the politics!). I have been waiting for nearly a month to have some Open Source software installed on my personal account (still waiting at the present). See what a 1st Year Undergraduate says in his email:
Hi Paolo
I think the issue of integrating open source software into educational system, governmental bodies and organizations needs more public attention. When reading news about open source you always notice an article or two about a police department X in country Y deciding to move to open source as a way of cutting costs (and hopefully, making the system more secure), but what about here, what about Goldsmiths? When I came to uni this September, I was not surprised to find no Linux based systems (although I saw people from IT service using Linux for maintenance purposes, which made my slightly happier).
But what about Open Office, and PSPP (as an alternative to subscription based SPSS)? It is available everywhere for anyone AND for any platform at no cost! I am in similar situation as the student in the email, but I hope send my work in pdf format to preserve the original formatting and so that my tutor can read my work without any problems. After all, the corrections are made on a printed version, so it should be ok.
I think the issue of integrating open source software into educational system, governmental bodies and organizations needs more public attention. When reading news about open source you always notice an article or two about a police department X in country Y deciding to move to open source as a way of cutting costs (and hopefully, making the system more secure), but what about here, what about Goldsmiths? When I came to uni this September, I was not surprised to find no Linux based systems (although I saw people from IT service using Linux for maintenance purposes, which made my slightly happier).
But what about Open Office, and PSPP (as an alternative to subscription based SPSS)? It is available everywhere for anyone AND for any platform at no cost! I am in similar situation as the student in the email, but I hope send my work in pdf format to preserve the original formatting and so that my tutor can read my work without any problems. After all, the corrections are made on a printed version, so it should be ok.
Hi Sergiy, I appreciate your reply and I thought a lot before deciding to post this message, in line with the Thread of this post, that is (my) 'Vision of university study' for the future. Firstly, I agree you can export in pdf, but also I have to say that while Open Office offers the possibility to read both formats, typically Word only complies with its own (.doc). I generally try to avoid printing in order to save paper and therefore I would prefer an editable document from my students (sorry).
You might also want to ask around why the Library staff don't provide training on ZOTERO, the powerful reference software free and open source, developed by the Centre for History and New Media of George Mason University. We instead provide training on a miserable web version of EndNote, the software produced by the powerful multinational Thomson Reuters , paradoxically preparing future customers for them (maybe after having had a few discounted copies of their software? but I am speculating, here). It is very relevant, I think, to look into the lawsuit that Thomson moved to George Mason Uni, on the blog of the co-director of the Zotero project, Sean Takats, Assistant Professor at the above Centre.
My vision for the future is a campus free from proprietary software: this is possible and Linux Ubuntu generates network solutions for education (and police forces, as you rightly noted) already. My vision of university study for the future is precisely this one: to have the courage to kick out all the multinationals of knowledge (Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, Thomson, etc) and start doing the work of innovation expected from certain Universities and Centres, that is, to develop, implement, and promote Free (Libre) and Open Source Software.
You might also want to ask around why the Library staff don't provide training on ZOTERO, the powerful reference software free and open source, developed by the Centre for History and New Media of George Mason University. We instead provide training on a miserable web version of EndNote, the software produced by the powerful multinational Thomson Reuters , paradoxically preparing future customers for them (maybe after having had a few discounted copies of their software? but I am speculating, here). It is very relevant, I think, to look into the lawsuit that Thomson moved to George Mason Uni, on the blog of the co-director of the Zotero project, Sean Takats, Assistant Professor at the above Centre.
My vision for the future is a campus free from proprietary software: this is possible and Linux Ubuntu generates network solutions for education (and police forces, as you rightly noted) already. My vision of university study for the future is precisely this one: to have the courage to kick out all the multinationals of knowledge (Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, Thomson, etc) and start doing the work of innovation expected from certain Universities and Centres, that is, to develop, implement, and promote Free (Libre) and Open Source Software.
This is a very interesting thread. There's legal aggression in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) world too - the commercial system Blackboard basically attempted to patent the features of a VLE.
From where I stand (neither Library nor IT Services), it seems to me that IT Services and Library here are pretty much in line with IT Services and Libraries up and down the country - more or less the same pressures, the same demands from service users, the same mounting concerns about satisfying the "consumers of the higher education experience" (see Peter Mandelson's latest). This kind of thing militates against sticking your neck out and experimenting (although I agree about Zotero, changing from MS Word to OS Write is an entirely different magnitude of scale). So I think the important thing here in moving towards Paolo's vision will be confidence - proof of concept.
One way forward is for students to form a society dedicated to mutually supporting each other in the scoping and use of open source software, which actively seeks the involvement and partnership of the Library and IT Services - excellent relations will be key. I will try and raise this where I can, too.
From where I stand (neither Library nor IT Services), it seems to me that IT Services and Library here are pretty much in line with IT Services and Libraries up and down the country - more or less the same pressures, the same demands from service users, the same mounting concerns about satisfying the "consumers of the higher education experience" (see Peter Mandelson's latest). This kind of thing militates against sticking your neck out and experimenting (although I agree about Zotero, changing from MS Word to OS Write is an entirely different magnitude of scale). So I think the important thing here in moving towards Paolo's vision will be confidence - proof of concept.
One way forward is for students to form a society dedicated to mutually supporting each other in the scoping and use of open source software, which actively seeks the involvement and partnership of the Library and IT Services - excellent relations will be key. I will try and raise this where I can, too.
Hi again, I want just to make sure there is no misunderstanding on the following point: I do not mean to attack IT or Library staff, I am convinced that this choices have to be made at a corporate level (e.g. the decision of adopting Zotero and Open Office on the standard network provision of the college, or a dedicated amount of hours for training staff and students, and so on). On the other hand though, I do believe that qualified and paid stuff such as IT and Library should be the promoters of this change and make sure the Heads will listen to them (even involving students societies and/or unions, if necessary: it is a cultural turn, which involves everyone). Thanks
Too idealistic for something that will happen in decade's time. I wonder if someone really thinks it will change that much in 10 years. If so, the questions is, where all the money will be coming from for all those features outlined in the video.
Although, I wouldn't mind studying in a uni like that, lets face it, in 10 years time things will not change that much and in such a prosperous direction, people who think differently are either optimistic hippies or friends of the Earth, which I don't think is bad, but still. As long as those features are not widely spread across the planet, it won't make any impact, no difference, just a small "bunch" of privileged people, as always.
Although, I wouldn't mind studying in a uni like that, lets face it, in 10 years time things will not change that much and in such a prosperous direction, people who think differently are either optimistic hippies or friends of the Earth, which I don't think is bad, but still. As long as those features are not widely spread across the planet, it won't make any impact, no difference, just a small "bunch" of privileged people, as always.
It'll probably change a heck of a lot more than even that, Sergiy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change