The Fleshy Interface: From Techno-Nerd to Uber-Norm [1823] Home : Annual Conference 2017

Public Group active 1 year, 7 months ago

Thu, Sep 7 2017, 1:00pm – 2:40pm

Authors: Ian Nicoll

Room: Mountford Hall (G)

Theme: Wildcard

Type: 20-minute session

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Description

The Fleshy Interface exists at the intersection of educators, technology and “techies” (“hard IT” professionals). As early as 1998 technophobia was identified as an issue for educators (Brosnan 2002). While Kurzweil (2000) argues that the rate of technological change is exponential, Toyama (2015) recognises that technology itself is not an agent of positive social change. Those information technologists who deal with software systems at organisation level are often seen as “geeks” with poor social skills (Glen 2003, Bury 2011). Add to this that technology is often seen as the “solution” to educational issues (Taylor 2013), and you end up with a heady mix of expectations, ubiquitous technology, desired learning and all varieties of people with associated stereotypes.

Typical perceptions of those who deal with technology have been of nerds with poor social skills. However, the role of learning technologists has moved from being perceived as a form of techno-nerd to someone who personifies the human scale and has the requisite skills to understand technology, explain pedagogical technology use to educators and technical issues to “techies”; an uber-norm, one who has a combination of good social skills with technological competence, a form of polymath at technological – human boundaries; The Fleshy Interface. However, this aspect of the role is typically just assumed and not recognised as a key skill necessary for the professional nature of the role and its successful implementation. Nonetheless, this skill deserves as much recognition and credit as pedagogical or technical knowledge and is essential to appreciating the value of learning technologists’ unique position.

The session will explore a framework that will give participants a more in depth understanding of the unique position, culture and role of learning technologists as facilitators of learning, and a clearer understanding of where they are situated at the interface of educators, technology and “techies”, and how they are The Fleshy Interface, how they are the human element who can link the often seemingly disparate elements together. The nature of the role brings with it challenges and opportunities, including the culture of the learning technologist within the organisation. The framework will give participants a model within which they can situate and evaluate their practice. They will also be able to critically examine the culture of their role within their organisation and evaluate how complete the recognition is of their unique skill set.

References

Brosnan, M.J., 2002. Technophobia: The psychological impact of information technology. Routledge.

Bury, R., 2011. She’s geeky: The performance of identity among women working in IT. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 3(1).

Glen, P., 2003. Leading geeks: How to manage and lead the people who deliver technology (Vol. 11). John Wiley & Sons.

Kurzweil, R., 2000. The age of spiritual machines: When computers exceed human intelligence. Penguin.

Taylor, P., (2013). Technology is the key to teaching future skills. Financial Times, 17^th July. Online: https://www.ft.com/content/046813bc-e301-11e2-bd87-00144feabdc0 Accessed: 2017-03-27

Toyama, K., 2015. Geek heresy: Rescuing social change from the cult of technology. PublicAffairs.

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