It has been 15 years since I graduated from high school and 10 years since I graduated college. . . if I want back today, to either of these settings, the experiences, technologies, and ways in which I was taught would be vastly different! We are constantly presented with new learning tools and technologies to make information/knowledge available to us at the instance it is needed.
In the Future of learning, there are two distinctions made – Digital Learning and Instructional Technology. Both, of these areas play an important role in the educational process? But, really, what is the difference between the two and can our current educational system enable digital learning through instructional technologies? The author argues that Instructional Technologies are institutionalized and an administrative toolkit of applications for learning, while digital learning is more customizable to the learner and allows for participatory learning to occur. I struggle with the idea that these two things are so different, they make me think of formal vs. informal learning and the pros and cons of both.
I think that Instructional Technologies enable educators to formalize learning and promote education in a virtual environment; they enable synchronous asynchronous learning to occur. The fact that they are more institutionalized is because they are typically thought of as the tools that are used in a formal educational setting. Instructors may utilize a number of different digital tools, but they are using the tools in a way in which a learner can be monitored, tracked, and evaluated. Whether asynchronous or synchronous learning is occurring, learners are receiving the necessary feedback from an instructor in order to further their understanding and knowledge of a particular subject.
Digital learning can be those same tools; however, I think it is the learner taking their education and training into their own hands. They actively participate and communicate in an online environment where they can customize their education to their particular interests. They can use feedback from their peers to expand and re-evaluate their current knowledge.
I think it is important that as educational technologies are developed and adapted into an educational setting, that instructors and educators use both formal and informal training methods in the educational setting. Unfortunately, I don’t see our education system changing in the near future with how we evaluate our students, which will continue to make the evaluation of informal learning much more difficult. However, I do think that as educators we can implement more opportunities for informal learning to occur and students be encouraged to expand their knowledge based upon their own interests and values. More learning will occur for both students and instructors if students are encouraged to relate an educational topic to an area of interest in their life.