“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution”

In reading Bonk and Wiley’s article, “Preface: Reflections on the waves of emerging learning technologies”, I was reminded of my experiences with MOOCs (although I didn’t know they were called that when I started). I lost my job of 10 years (20+ years in the field of international education) in April 2020 due to the pandemic and international travel coming to a halt. I knew I needed to reinvent myself and pivot my course in order to find another job.

At the same time, many organizations, like FutureLearn, were advertising discounts or even free certification courses due to the pandemic, so I signed up. In the three months I was without full-time work, I decided to explore the field of technology. I have a master’s degree in Education: Effective Teaching and Leadership and my focus in the early 2000 was Instructional Technology. The master’s I have set me up to be able to walk into a K-12 tech/building tech/tech teacher job. In all of the jobs I have had, I have used technology at a higher level than most, and my experience the past 7 years teaching online courses at IUPUI, designing courses, “mastering” Canvas, etc. had prepared me to explore the different avenues of technology. So, I dove into FutureLearn, partaking in the deal they had at the time from Australian universities providing credited/certified courses for free due to the pandemic.

I know it may not seem like much, but in those three months, I completed seven certificate courses ranging from UX and Data Analytics to IT Ethics and the intersection between Learning Design and Service Design, from reputable universities in both Australia and the UK like Bond University, Deakin University, and the University of the Arts London (UAL) Creative Computing Institute, just to name a few. Through the courses I learned about some areas of technology that I was unaware of and gained a lot of perspective for the field, which led me to where I am now, employed in higher ed in the EdTech field and pursuing my EdD in IST at IU.

This article also reminded me how fast technology is changing. It seems like there is constantly a new tool out there. “Use this bright and shiny new ‘toy’. It will make your classes sparkle.” No wonder educators are overwhelmed with the technology and even reject using it sometimes – there are too many and without the knowledge or experience to vet the tools, it can be quite an undertaking. In my current position at CTS, I work with all of our faculty and many times, there is resistance to tech because it’s too “hard”, or they say to me, “I heard I should be using xxx technology – can you show me how to do it?” I don’t want anyone to introduce tech to their teaching as “technology for technology’s sake”. I sit down with the faculty, ask them how they teach, what they want to accomplish, and help them figure out the best way to do it – from organizing their class material in the LMS to the tech tools needed to accomplish something specific (i.e. ideal setup for hybrid class with some students “Zooming” in and some students in the classroom). H.R. McMaster was quoted in the article as saying, “We’re so enamored of technological advancements that we fail to think about how to best apply those technologies to what we’re trying to achieve (Erdmann 2013)” (Bonk & Wiley 2020). How true of a statement that is! Bonk and Wiley go on to say “As long as we are focused on the tools themselves, the ongoing march of learning technologies will resemble an endless series of waves eternally breaking on the short only to draw out and come crashing in again without making a visible difference in the surrounding landscape” (Bonk & Wiley 2020).

To conclude, Bonk and Wiley encourage learning technologists to “fall in love with the problem, not the solution” (Bonk & Wiley 2020). What great advice, because if you are passionate about a particular problem, you can stand against the waves of learning technologies that come and go over the years. Use the technology as instruments to “make the world a better place” (Bonk & Wiley 2020).

References

Bonk, C. J., & Wiley, D. (2020). Preface: Reflections on the waves of emerging learning technology. Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D), 68(4), 1595–1612. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09809-x

FutureLearn. (n.d.). Online courses and degrees from top universities. FutureLearn. Retrieved October 16, 2021, from https://www.futurelearn.com/.