eLearning For Teachers: Di Goodman (Epoff)

Learning Technologies 2008 Conference

Thursday 6th November

The Adult Educator: an endangered species

Anne Bartlett-Bragg’s workshop

Anne adopts the role of storyteller in her confronting and entertaining workshop.

Whilst she pitches her presentation toward adult educators, it has relevance for all educators.

Anne takes us into the future to the 2015 Learning Technologies Conference, and describes an isolated and ‘endangered’ group of educators - the last remaining ‘tribe’ of educators.

She provides us with a definition of ‘endangered’:

“threatened by predators and changing environments; few in numbers”,

and shows us a number of other endangered species:

- Printers (Anne pushes a paperless environment)

- Swimming pools, car manufacturers

- Educational services

- Bankers

- Chimney sweeps (for fireplaces)

Anne explains how her 2015 future-world is shaped by 2008 events happening now,

- The changing nature of work: only 70% jobs are now full-time and permanent

- The new trend for part-time work for women

- 200,000 jobs predicted to be lost during the next 12 months

- Learners have changed and their needs and expectations have changed

- Effective Learning Management Systems (LMS) are available for students online

She names the predators responsible for the crisis in education:

- Educators who continue to use digital technologies in boring, pedestrian and irrelevant ways that do not engage students: eg. powerpoint shows, use of IWBs as data projectors, printing materials etc

- Managed informal sharing and discussion groups: we can do all of this without the ‘big guys’, in more relevant ways

- The IT department: they block and restrict access

Anne describes some key identity issues that put educators at risk:

- Decreasing numbers of young educators: an aging population

- The role of educators has fundamentally changed (but have educators changed?)

She finishes her presentation with a whimsical response to this question: What can we do about it?

- Create sanctuaries

- Lobby

- Set up a Save Vocational Educators fund!

Whilst amusing, its also sad! And thats the whole point of her presentation!