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Is IT a hook into learning?

Government policies stress the importance of IT skills and IT generally, recognising the importance of IT in the workplace, as well as life in general.  Policies see IT as useful in two main ways.  Firstly, individuals need IT skills to get, or progress in, employment. Secondly, they view IT as a 'hook' to encourage people into learning and therefore to widen participation in learning.  However, research suggests that it is not that simple.

Our research (Learning to Listen) showed that lots of people wanted to go on IT courses to improve their IT skills. This is because the majority of people recognised that IT skills were important for their lives (see Getting IT right).  In fact, the research suggested that many people who were returning to learning after a break chose to enrol on an IT course.  Those who found their IT course a positive experience then often went on to do other learning. So, IT courses themselves attracted people back into learning.

However, this is not to say that IT itself is a hook into learning.  There are indications in the research that IT can act as a hook, or a barrier to engaging in learning. For example, research into m-learning technologies suggested that they could be a tool of engaging 'hard to reach' young people in learning (Emerging technologies for learning).

Others find IT a barrier to learning, and this is often related to age. Those who are older tend to not want anything to do with IT, whereas young people are happy to engage with it.  However, this does not mean that IT was necessarily a 'hook' into learning for them.  Many young people were so used to technology that it was 'invisible' in terms of their decision making.  They were happy to use it if it was there, but having it there did not make them more likely to start a course. Of course, age wasn't a determining factor- some old people were enthusiastic about IT, and some young people did not like it- but the general trend was there.

Linked to this was the level of IT skills that people had. Those who were less skilled and had less experience were often less happy to engage with IT.  However, our research suggested that once people engaged with IT, they found it was more user friendly and more useful than they had realised, and consequently became more enthusiastic about using the technology.  The issue here was that there needed to be a reason for them to engage with the technology in the first place and discover this- they weren't interested in it for its own sake.

So, our research suggests that IT is not a universally applicable 'hook' into learning, although it could encourage some to get involved in learning.  Our research showed that the most critical 'hook' into learning across all groups was the content of the learning.  In general, that was more important than the mode of delivery.