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Technology and learning

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Attitudes to Technology

In the last twenty years there has been an explosion of new technologies that are available to individuals.  National Statistics figures show that home ownership of computers has increased, as has access to the Internet, alongside a growth of other technologies such as mobile phones and digital television.  These technologies have increasingly begun to be used in learning.  An example of this is the increase in the amount of online learning available over the last few years.  Technologies are also used alongside other forms of learning in the classroom, and this is called ‘blended’ learning.  Examples of this could be a classroom where a tutor gives a talk, and then asks learners to complete a task on a computer, or university students on work placements who are given PDA devices that they can use to record and reflect on their learning each day and email their thoughts straight back to their tutors.

However, people’s attitudes to technologies generally, or specific technologies, will influence whether they are happy to use them.  The Social Issues Research Centre report “Love e, Love e not…” says that,

“…recent studies on British attitudes to new technologies…suggest that as a demographic we are deeply suspicious of new developments…”

Our research suggests two main barriers to adopting technologies relating to attitudes.  Firstly, some people are suspicious of technologies as they have certain perceptions of how they could be used.  For example, we’ve often found people with children or grandchildren refusing to use the Internet, as they see it as posing a threat to children due to stories they see in the press about paedophiles ‘grooming’ children in chatrooms.  These people would not respond positively to the idea of online learning.  Similarly, those with concerns about the health of mobile phones are not keen to use them as part of their learning.

The second important issue relates to peoples’ confidence in their ability to use technologies.  Many don’t feel confident, especially if they haven’t used them before, and this forms a barrier to engaging with technologies.  Generally those who are older are more likely to lack confidence, although it is by no means true that all younger people are confident, and all older people are unconfident with technology!

However, despite these barriers stopping people engaging with technologies, they can be overcome. This is shown by the fact that the technologies have been taken up by more and more people right across the population in the last few years.  There are several issues involved in overcoming resistance to new technologies.  Firstly, people often need a reason to engage with a technology for the first time.  No-one will invest time and money in equipment or learning unless they see a need in their lives.  Unfortunately however, when people are not exposed to technologies they often do not understand fully how the technology could be relevant to them.  However, our research findings suggest that in the majority of cases, when people start using a technology, they undergo a ‘tech-conversion’ as they learn how to use the technology and see how it is useful to them. Lastly, an academic called Kopytoff wrote a chapter in a book called “The Social Life of Things”, and talked about the ‘biography’ of a technology’.  This idea helps explain the ways that people find, get used to, and adopt new technologies, and the reasons why this takes time, as well as the reasons why some might be negative towards new technologies.