Learning and technology

Renee Patton, an industry marketing manager with US-based networking giant Cisco, sheds light on the path education and students are taking in this hi-tech world

Renee Patton, a US-based manager with Cisco for industry marketing, sat in a conference room at her San Jose, California, office late one evening last week waiting for a long-distance phone call from me in Bangkok.

It was around 8.30pm on the US west coast and about 10.30am in Bangkok.

"Good Evening, Patton," I said in greeting.

"Hi," she quickly responded via a giant panoramic TV screen in front of me at the Cisco head office in Bangkok.

The connection was so good that I could even catch a glimpse of the outdoors at one end of the horizontal multi-screen TV transmitting the live video from San Jose.

We were booked for an hour-long telepresence interview session, which looked and sounded like a proper "face-to-face" chat even though we were half a world apart.

Thanks to the latest information and communication technology as well as abundant bandwidth, telepresence is a huge improvement from the previous generation of long-distance teleconference calls.

Since Patton is a technology expert for the education sector, I had to ask her how new technology like telepresence would impact the future of our education.

According to her, the younger generation of students, especially those in the United States, live and breathe information and communication technology "just like oxygen".

On average, an American student has at least nine devices, and 97 per cent of them own a mobile phone.

This means that their lifestyles play a critical part in social digital connection with constant access to networking sites, blogs, encyclopaedic sites like Wikipedia as well as virtual reality.

These students want to be engaged in the classroom but sometimes feel disconnected, as traditional models of education do not serve their needs anymore.

Besides, globalisation has made education and career opportunities more international, therefore more and more students need to be aware of and understand the world around them.

In addition, traditional classrooms have new purposes, with libraries and computer labs among high-traffic areas for modern students. Food courts, social-gathering sites and computer-gaming areas are fast becoming study spaces.

More and more students are increasingly going online, with at least a third of them not bothering with traditional land phone lines for voice calls, but are instead using their Blackberry, iPhone and other smart devices while on campus, at home or on their way somewhere.

This is why students need 24/7 mobile access to network resources for doing their homework, e-mailing, keeping up with their friends, delivering course materials and field data, sitting through tutorials as well as taking part in polls or sharing experiences through blogging etc.

According to Patton, other trends include collaboration, edutainment and an evolution in teaching and learning methods.

Patton, who has 11 years experience in the education sector, says students in the 21st century need to be "ever prepared" for future jobs due to growing uncertainties in the labour market and global economy.

This means learning has to be a lifelong endeavour for people who wish to remain competitive.

Asked to compare her time in college with that of today's students, she said that during her university years she would just ride her bike to the library for research.

Her work was done on a typewriter, and it could take up to 10 hours to complete a 10-page report.

Now however, she said, students just turn on a computer and do their research through on-line resources like Google, Wikipedia or telepresence.

Nowadays, the issue is more about managing the massive information available on the Net within a smaller amount of time and about boosting students' engagement in class, she noted.

Suppose an internationally acclaimed professor in Munich, Germany, is giving an interesting lecture on nuclear physics: students in the United States or anywhere else should be able to listen to that lecture live or at least be able to download its contents at any time anywhere.

"However, this doesn't mean that physical classrooms will go away," said Patton, adding that she didn't believe technology could actually replace professors and teachers.

On the other hand, education is evolving toward a platform in which technology complements teachers and classrooms.

As for students, the subject matters will shift toward those representing more of a link between global and local issues such as climate change and terrorism, she said.

In the US, Barack Obama's administration is spending a combined US$100 billion (Bt3.4 trillion) over the next six months to upgrade school infrastructure and further improve the skills of professionals in the education sector. This is part of the American government's economic stimulus package.

As we approached the end of our session, I asked Patton if technology like telepresence meant more work for her. Though she did not respond directly, she did say that since her job had become global, work could continue quite late into the evening like this session did.

However, like they say, time flies when you're having fun, so we had to finally exchange our goodbyes and turn off the panoramic vista.