The computer world has become a key component in our quest for information. But if knowledge is now accessible in a few clicks, fundamental structural changes are to be expected in the way we teach, learn and administer educational devices. A real revolution is underway to reinvent the pedagogy of tomorrow.
While knowledge was historically carried by teachers who were reluctant to use computer media to disseminate knowledge, new players and new tools are now appearing, completely changing our learning methods. These new training devices have several objectives:
- To imagine value-added uses of ICTe (Information Technology for Teaching), communication and digital.
- To take advantage of ICTe to rethink traditional education
- Adapt learning to the new habits of hyper-connected learners
Serendipity, access to knowledge by chance
Google and Wikipedia have undeniably changed the way we collect information. For the preparation of an assignment, the challenge for the learner is no longer to search in books and synthesize the results, but rather to use the information found on the Internet after entering the keywords in a search engine.
This method, long considered ambiguous because it is perceived as an element that does not encourage the student’s personal reflection, often leads to the discovery of new information thanks to serendipity.
Serendipity refers to the fact of finding interesting information by chance, without it having been the object of the initial research. The rise of the Internet has significantly led to the development of this practice in our access to knowledge.
Most content sites seek to broaden the amount and type of information available by offering suggested publications. Indeed, it is not uncommon to start your research on the Internet on a specific topic and find yourself, with each click, on a completely different web page. This practice very often leads the Internet user to discover content derived from his initial research leading to an access to knowledge guided by his curiosity.
It is therefore not the final information in itself but rather the path to access it and the new possibilities that result from it that has modified our relationship to knowledge. If serendipity instinctively modifies our way of retrieving information on the web, some fundamental structural changes have to be put in place in order to organize and assimilate this new information efficiently.
Self-improvement”, a new relationship to learning
At a time when the academic course is very often considered too theoretical and likely to provoke an increase in inequalities at school, the interest of new technologies rests on a source of self-improvement tools, i.e. tools that allow us to improve our knowledge in a particular field autonomously. In addition to allowing everyone to learn at their own pace, it is generally presented on a playful medium through an individualized e-learning path.
It is the personalization, the gamification and the autonomy of the learner in this new form of learning that considerably modifies the access to knowledge through new technologies.
E-learning or the pleasure of learning
Although e-learning appeared in the late 1990s, despite the development and other innovative educational concepts, its integration into the professional world is still in its infancy. Indeed, since its creation, which was intended to promote the dissemination of knowledge through technology, the concept has evolved: it is no longer the dissemination of knowledge, but rather the pleasure of apprehending it that makes e-learning a real revolution in our access to knowledge.
Learning while having fun has multiple advantages: in addition to increasing learner motivation, this pedagogical approach allows for real-life situations to evaluate much more complex skills such as know-how and interpersonal skills. It also allows to interact within a community and thus not to neglect the human being despite the use of new technologies.
Collaborative education: fostering human beings and sharing knowledge
It is also on this concept that Oppia was created, a new educational service proposed by Google. This learning platform, currently available in beta and in English only, should be enriched very quickly if it manages to find its audience.
This collaborative learning method should allow each Google account holder to create or follow a course according to his or her skills and needs. While this e-learning platform is still in its infancy, it does reveal a whole new way of approaching access to knowledge: knowledge sharing between Internet users.
Initiation to the use of new technologies: a new pedagogical priority?
The rise of new technologies has undeniably reduced the social divide in access to knowledge, leading to a new form of humanism. Nevertheless, while the use of computers and the Internet is clearly on the rise, especially among young people, general computer skills are often limited to the use of Google, Instagram and other social networks. The use of this access to knowledge anywhere and for any purpose remains limited.
Early initiation to computer techniques must above all make it possible to respond to two major challenges:
- Enabling students to understand the world around them as well as possible in order to become digital actors.
- To enable students to be able to claim to have access to job typologies in full development that meet the current needs of society and that require the mastery of certain computer skills.
Providing tablets to students is therefore a first step towards digital access in schools, but this real revolution in the education system must imperatively involve digital training to enable people to take advantage of this plethora of information. So while new technologies have undeniably encouraged the dissemination of knowledge, they have also turned upside down ancestral teaching methods that need to be renewed.
We therefore need to adapt what works in physics to the digital world by maximizing social adventure. At a time when learners want to test, react and interact, the new technologies cannot do without a human, collective and social environment for optimal access to knowledge.
