LEARNING AND NEW EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Paper presented at 7th Annual Conference of EAEEIE, "Telematics for future education and training", Oulu 12.6.1996.

Timo Järvilehto

The application of the modern educational tehnology, such as video/telecommunications, internet, hypermedia and so on, involves several basic assumptions associated with the conception of the relation between man and technology, and of the character of the learning process. The basic starting point is usually that learning is based on a transfer of knowledge from one place to another, and that technology may be helpful in facilitating this transfer.

The applications of technology usually start with the assumption that technology is a way to master and control the nature, above and outside of which man is located. Technological products are often seen as solutions of problems posed by the nature to man: for example, with nuclear power the problem of energy production is solved; with the car the problem of transfer from one place to another is reduced; and with educational technology the problems of teaching may be alleviated.

This way of thinking becomes explicit in the development of educational technology when such arguments are used in favor of this technology as educational technology

1) could reduce the number of teachers and costs of education,

2) increase the number of people who may have access to university education, and

3) make generally the transfer of knowledge more efficient.

These arguments are based on such "self-evident facts" as

1) knowlegde is something which may be worked out as any material object,

2) learning is an individual process going on in the head of the pupil,

3) the efficiency of learning may be measured by single tests and examinations.

Unity of man and environment

All these assumptions are based on a mechanical conception of man and technology, and knowledge and learning, and on a dualistic separation of man and his environment into two distinct systems. From the point of view of the systemic approach (Järvilehto, 1994), regarding man and environment as one system, the role of the new educational technology may be re-evaluated.

It is just the basic assumption of two separate systems, organism or man and environment, which is questioned by the theory of the organism-environment system and the associated systemic psychology (Järvilehto, 1994). The starting point of the theory is the fact that, although separation of man and environment to two systems seems self-evident, it is impossible to show any exact border separating the presumed two systems. Therefore, in any functional sense man and environment act always together, as one unitary system.

Thus, all action means joining of elements of the organism and environment into one action system realizing all behavior. It should be clear that behavior cannot be within or without, because it always presupposes movement in a certain environment. Thus behavior is not defined as a change of the relation between organism and environment systems (as it should be for example in the cognitive science), but as any change in the relation of the elements of the organism-environment system.

As any organism may survive only if its behavior leads to results (getting food, escaping enemies etc.) the structure of the organism-environment system is related to the result of action. In fact, action is, of course, a continuous process having no interruptions, but it may be divided for inspection to results, which are intermediate phases linking separate actions together. The organization of activity of any organism may be understood only through results of its behavior; not through some inner forces or motivating stimuli.

From the organism-environment system theory follows that tehnology is not somehow separate and outside of man, but belongs to him as truly as his hands or legs. Technological devices do not solve any human problems, but they may help to create a more efficient organization of the man-environment system leading to new results of action. It is just the result of action which is the factor which makes the organization of the man-environment system understandable. Technology as such is creating nothing new, but may give new possibilities to obtain the desired results. Thus, to be able to exploit well technological possibilities we must understand the process in which we want to use technology and the results which we want to achieve.

As all technical devices are parts of the man-environment system, they do not exist without human beings. Any technical device gets its significance and reality of existence only in connection to man. A computer is not functioning alone or independently of human beings; a computer is part of the human world and is specified only in reference to man. A computer thinks if man thinks, because computer is only an element extending the human thinking possibilities.

Now, what is then learning more precisely from this point of view?

According to the theory of organism-environment system there is no transfer of knowledge in the learning process; learning is not a process in which stimuli would be received, processed, and stored in some "memory centers" of the brain. Instead of that, learning is a continuos process of reorganization of the man-environment system, a process during which knowledge is created in dependence on what the human being needs from his environment and to what kind of results his actions must lead.

Knowledge is not a thing which could be moved from one head to another; knowledge is rather a relation, a possibility to act. In the frame of the organism-environment system theory knowledge means simply the form of existence of the system; therefore creating knowlegde, the learning, is the basic process of life. There is no order in the environment, before man joins and defines in action its certain parts; during learning every human being is occupying and widening his action environment, creating his world. This process may be directed only by the man himself, not by any preplanned programs or orders.

The basic process of learning is differentiation of the organism-environment system which makes new results of action possible. The reorganization of the system during learning is determined by the expected result. Therefore all learning is active and directed towards results of action.

As all learning is related to the real results of action, understanding is always related to the really achieved result. If the pupil is learning material for an examination, for example, his understanding is not directed towards the content of the material to be learned, but towards means how to pass the examination. Therefore all formal examinations lead the pupil to wrong direction. Real learning of the content of the learning material may occur only when the material is not used as an instrument for some other purpose (like examination), but as a way to increase the own way of understanding. One could even say that real learning and understanding of any material may be achieved only then when the learning process does not produce any immediate profit - and only then learning produces most profitable results.

Human learning: learning as co-operation

The result of action is the key to the understanding of the structure of the single organism-environment system. However, hardly any such system acts independently of other systems and almost all animals show some sort of social activity (Mead, 1934).

In humans the development of social activity has led to joining of the organism-environment systems for a common result of action. Such joining of the structures of the systems together, the development of the real co-operation for a common result, was possible through development of communication and consciousness. Consciousness means an appearance of social environment, shared activity and the possibility for the description of the own action and its objects. Consciousness is not a property of the brain or even an individual, but presupposes always existence of several individuals joining their action for the common result.

Human learning is tightly bound with other people and with social activity. Human learning is never proceeding as an independent individual process, but it involves the whole cultural environment in which every human being is living. All conscious learning results are common; their appearance presupposes the existence of all participants of the learning organization, he teachers as well as the students. In this system of co-operation language and other ways of communication join the pupil and the teacher and their common experiences together. When learning, man is creating his own personal world and his own view of this world, but it is just the communication which opens the possibility to transform the common experience to common knowledge, to common and conscious existence .

What is then the role of the teacher?

Teaching means always cooperation of the teacher and the pupil; it is the process in which both participants modify their organization to produce common results of action. The task of the teacher is not to force the student into a preset organization, but to help the student to realize the possiblities of development inherent in his own organization. A successful teaching porcess is a process of communication in which results are achieved which are to some extent always new both for the student and the teacher. From the point of view of the teacher the student means a possibility to see the world from a different point of view, to realize such aspects of teaching topic which he himself did not originally think abouta. And this may be achieved only if the teaching process is not reastricted by formal study plans and exactly preset results.

Teaching is directed towards understanding which means the possibility to achieve new results of action. Understanding means that in the process of reorganization during learning the man-environment system develops a structure rendering new results of action possible. Understanding can never be something "theoretical", but entails always new action possibilities. Theory and practice cannot be separated, they cannot be even in interaction, because "theory" refers to the structure of the man-environment system and "practice" to the functioning of this system. All actions presuppose theory, i.e. plans or expectancies for the achievement of a certain result. Therefore, understanding may never be separated from the action and its results. Thus, understanding or other results of learning, may be evaluated only through documentation of the results of action, not through some artificial examinations.

Possibilities of the new technology

As to the modern educational technology such considerations entail that the use of new technological devices does not solve any problems of teaching/learning process, but may - if properly used - increase the possibilities of this process. New educational technology does not bring any new radical solutions to the old problems or does not decrease the necessity of co-operation between the teacher and the pupil. It does not either give some magical ways to multiply or transmit knowledge through electric wires.

Sometimes I think that there is some sort of regression of human thinking when the new technology is praised (of course, for selling purposes!). Even a monkey looks behind the mirror to see where the real monkey is, but nowadays many people really seem to believe that it is possible to transfer a real lecture to another place by using a camera and a TV set presenting symbols controlled by the camera. If a video recording of the lecture would be reality, how easy it would be to make television movies! And actually we could forget the whole art of movie production.

When video systems are sold for teaching purposes it is usually forgotten- probably purposively! - that production of a television program is quite an expensive business. To have a good tv presentation we need a terrible team of people as you may see even after a simpliest television program. Why would this be different when educational material is produced either on-line or through the editing process. Just think what kind of team of people and how many cameras are needed to give to the spectator of the tv screen an illusion of participation in a hockey game. I think these things are not connected to the implementation of the new technology, because this would lead to the conclusion that the use of the new technology in a proper way would be terribly expensive.

But, I would not say that the new technology has no positive sides. I would only like to repeat that we must know the process in which we want to use it. And I think that this analysis has not even really began; the producers of the technology, however, are in the hurry of selling and they will never provide us with the answers. The implementation of the new technology cannot happen under the old premises; in my opinion the effective use of the new possibilities presupposes a complete re-evaluation of the present undertanding of the learning process and the creation of a new learning culture - not just a new technological learning environment.

Thus, in my opinion we must develop quite a new way of thinking of the educational process as a cooperative process of the teachers and students, a process in which all participants are creating something new and in which everybody is participating in the results of learning. For the development of such possibility the new technology may give such means which never existed before.

The new technology may give new possibilities to intensify the process of co-operation between the teacher and the pupil. The new technology does not make teachers unnecessary; on the contrary, it may help in binding the teacher and pupil more tightly together, independent of their momentary temporal or spatial relations.

Consequently, the modern educational technology may help

1) to organize the co-operation of the teacher and the pupil in new ways,

2) to include in the teaching process also individuals with severe handicaps preventing normal co-operation with the teacher, and

3) to produce new ways of documentation of results of learning (electronic journals, articles, video-communications, hypermedia products etc.). Here especially important is the possibility to create own textbooks!

The new devices cannot replace the teacher, because the pupil is in the learning process never co-operating with the technological devices as such, but with people. The reorganization of the activities of the pupil does not occur in relation to the computer or video screens, but in relation to those social contexts which the computer or the video recording are symbolically depicting.

With the technological devices people create forms of co-operation based on symbols: picture, written word, or spoken text is never that reality which it tells about, but they are all artificially changed parts of the environment making human cooperation possible. Recorded reality represents always only certain symbolic aspects of the real situation.

When a human being is looking at television knowledge is not jumping from the screen into his head where it would be interpreted and stored. The brain is not the seat of learning or knowing, but represents only one part of the system getting reorganized during the learning process. When using the technical device the pupil may use the symbolic presentation on the screen for the process of reorganization and co-operation with other human beings. What really happens in this process is dependent on pupil's earlier experiences, his developmental history and on his relation to those people with whom he is learning.

The reality mediated by the picture or word is an abstraction; it is never that reality what it symbolizes. Real environment is the only real environment; tape-recordings and videofilms represent virtual worlds which all participants interpret in their own way. Therefore, real learning or understanding may be produced by electronic media only if the participants are co-operating with the teacher and may have such an organization which makes the understanding of the symbolic abstractions possible. All learning is contextual, related to the situation of the learning individual.

Concluding remarks

Most considerations about the use of the new educational technology are severely handicapped through the straight-forward dominance of cybernetic concepts and information theory when describing the human learning process. Cybernetics was created for the description of automata and robots; when these concepts are applied to the consideration of human learning, man is made to a robot inputting and outputting information. The cybernetic concept of information presupposes the existence of clearly defined information, facts. When applied to man this would mean that an absolut truth exists.

Human learning cannot be described in cybernetic terms, because for a human being there are no "facts" in the same sense as for an automaton. Man is not born into a ready world, but must create it through his own actions. In the human world there are no facts which could not be questioned from some point of view. Therefore, every human being must create his own knowledge, his own form of existence. This is also why it is not possible to multiply knowledge through electronic media.

Thus, in all its applications the new educational technology should not be regarded as a solution for any problems in teaching and learning, but only as a means to increase the possibilities of co-operation of the teacher and pupil and to create a completely new learning culture.

References:

Järvilehto, T. Man and his environment (In Finnish). Oulu: Pohjoinen, 1994.

Mead, H.G. Man, self, and society. 1934.