Michele Knobel

Downsizing the Watershed

Within the framework laid out in chapter 1, this chapter aims to assess some of the fruitful possibilities, and some of the dangers, that await the users of educational technology. The research reported here was conducted in southwestern Ontario, Canada, and centered primarily on the development and implementation of an integrated digital information system that was known variously as The Watershed Information System, Map- Connections, or Point of View. We shall refer to this system as The Watershed Information System, or just The Watershed for short.

Facing the Digital Challenge Far from Town

Throughout the 1990s, successive Australian governments funded an extensive program of research projects focused on children’s literacy. The program began as a key initiative within the Australian Language and Literacy Policy that was framed at the end of the 1980s and legislated in 1991.This policy was based on recognition of the fact that the contemporary transition from industrialism to post-industrialism, and concurrent changes in the role and organization of the state, greatly increased the stakes for literacy. Among the 16 projects funded to the end of 1998 was a two-year study of the interaction and relationship between literacy and technology in teaching and learning (Lankshear 1997; Lankshear, Snyder, and Green 2000). The research was undertaken by a consortium of investigators working in four of Australia’s eight states and territories and became known as the “Digital Rhetorics project” (Lankshear et al. 1997).

Paradoxes and Culture Clashes

In previous chapters we have described, on the basis of our own research, some of the things that happen when a new social technology—in this case, the complex of new computing technologies—is imposed on the school. While the cases reported here by no means exhaust our collective research base, they are nonetheless typical of what we have seen in classrooms and virtual education spaces in the different countries in which we have worked over the past decade. Without wanting to generalize from these few studies, we believe that they will resonate with the experiences of many readers, and to this extent are indicative of larger “realities.” Specifically, we see in the cases outlined here a range of quite paradoxical outcomes that appear to us to result from a form of culture clash that can be understood on multiple dimensions.

Grid.for.Learning@Clampdown.edu

Britain’s National Grid for Learning (hereafter, “the Grid”) began as a government policy initiative in 1996 and “opened for business” in late 1999. Officially described as “a Government initiative to help learners and educators in the U.K. to benefit from information and communications technology” (BECTA 2001a, p. 1), the Grid is a “vital part of The Government’s commitment to the creation of a connected learning society in which learning is increasingly accessible and adapted to individual needs” (ibid.). According to Prime Minister Tony Blair (1999), nNot only will digital technologies become a normal part of everyday life, but Britain’s international competitiveness will increasingly depend on the way in which we adopt them. Used well, they have the potential to improve achievement in our schools and colleges, to boost the prospects of British industry and commerce, to offer opportunities to all learners and particularly to those who would otherwise be excluded, and significantly to enhance our quality of life. In parallel, the Government is investing very substantial new resources in a programme to raise standards in schools and increase opportunities in lifelong learning The National Grid for Learning will play a crucial part in this process. (p. 1)