Alan November and the technological revolution

In the lecture held by Alan November, he talks about the new way of studying after the Internet got so dominant in our day to day life. In this entry, I will take up some of his key- arguments, and say a little about my own opinions in this matter.


Alan November starts his lecture about telling a story about a little town in England. The town’s main income is treading. The town got into a financial crisis, so they had to think in a new way to get enough money to survive. They found a solution quite remarkable for their time: they decided to expand their customers from a domestic clientele, to a network of customers around the world. He uses this little story to illustrate that in time when we are in need of change, we have to widen our gazes and think in a more global way to make the world develop. If you connect this back to the term of teaching, I think many of you would know that this lecture mainly is about the use of computers and the internet in teaching and studying.
Alan Novembers view on this, is that the Internet is a genius way to easily share information with others, around the world. He wants a globalized curriculum, and using the internet actively in the process of studying. This way, a student in Japan and Norway would have the same curriculum, and they can co- operate trough the internet. He is also very firm when he says that the teacher is not to be replaced by a computer! The teachers’ job is to be supportive and give advices to the students, as well as guiding them trough the curriculum and help them using the internet in an efficient way. The difference is that the students in a much bigger scale are to use the internet as a source of information and inspiration to deepen into special themes.

I defiantly agree with Alan November in this matter. I think the internet and technology is the future, and therefore it is very important to use it for what it’s worth, and grab the opportunity to use this amazing tool. At the same time, I am a bit skeptic to the concept of us using the computer at all times. Sometimes, I think it is far as good just to listen to a lecture given by the teacher, and take notes. I do also want the teacher to play a more active role in the process of choosing which assignments there are to be done etc. The internet can also be a huge distraction once in a while, with Facebook, games and blogs that screams for attention. Therefore I think a good solution would be to do a little of both. But absolutely, I want us to take this amazing opportunity to use the internet and modern technology to make our studying process more colorful and unique.


The first picture is of Alan November, and I found it at:

www.swprsc.fesdev.org/vnews/display.v/Upcoming%20Conferences (09.09.10)

The second picture is an edited verson of the picture i found at: www.perivalechristianbookshop.co.uk/news.aspx (30.08.10)