In this session, we began to critically examine some of the global trends that are likely to have an impact on the future of learning - both positive and negative.

1. Lecture 4: Global Tends
Dr James Stanfield
Tuesday 22nd October 2019

2. Plan of Action
Part I: UK & Global Trends
Part II: The Dark Side

3. • Evolution of the Internet
• UK Trends
• Global Trends
Part I: Global Trends

4. “The internet is intangible,
like spirits and angels. The
web is an immense ghost land
of disembodied places. Who
knows if you are even there,
there. Yet everyday we
navigate through this ethereal
realm for hours on end and
return alive. We must have
some map in our head”.
Kevin Kelly, Founder Wired magazine

5. World largest network of computers got its name from the US
military arm that funded it: Arpanet – Advanced Research
Projects Agency.
It was renamed Internet in 1984 when it linked approximately
1000 hosts at university and corporate labs.
A Brief History of the InternetHobbes Internet Timeline.

7. The internet
mapping
project

8. Barrett Lyon / The Opte Project
Visualization of the routing paths of the Internet.

9. The Internet Map by Ruslan Enikeev

10. How the internet works in 5 minutes
The network of networks

11. The brain is something very
complicated we don’t
understand – yet we rely on it.
The web is very complicated
too and, though we built it, we
have no real data about the
stability of the emergent
systems that have cropped up
on it.
Tim Burners Lee: We no longer fully understand the web

12. Nothing like the Web has ever
happened in all of human history.
The scale of its impact and the
rate of its adoption are
unparalleled. This is a great
opportunity as well as an
obligation....
The Web is the largest human
information construct in history. The
Web is transforming society. In order
to understand what the Web is,
engineer its future and ensure its
social benefit we need a new
interdisciplinary field that we call
Web Science.

14. The evolution of the internet
- Started as a way for universities to share data
- Significant disruptive changes to many businesses
- New tools enabled people to both consume and produce content
- Increasing information shared about users
- Emergence of social networks and a more personalised experience
- Power structures have changed – small number of powerful
companies now control data
- Increasing interest in big data and data analytics
- Growth of the sharing economy (zooniverse, uber, airBnB,
patientslikeme.com)
- Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (cars, smart cities)
- From public space of documents towards automated, personalised
transactions and highly connected social networks
A Manifesto for Web Science @10 by Wendy Hall, Jim Hendler, Steffen Staab

18. • Many learners move into a variety of different fields over their lifetime.
• Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience.
• Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of
practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related
tasks.
• Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime.
• Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define
and shape our thinking.
• Many of the processes previously handled by learning theories
(especially in cognitive information processing) can now be off-loaded
to, or supported by, technology.
• Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where
(the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).
‘Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age‘ George Siemens, 2004.
Significant trends in learning

19. • to provide a rich picture of the
different elements of media
literacy across the key platforms:
the internet, television, games,
and mobile phones;
• to identify emerging issues and
skills gaps
• to provide data about children’s
internet habits/opinions and
parents’ strategies to protect
their children online;
UK Trends

20. The highest YouTube earner of
last year made nearly $5
million just by opening Disney
toy packages.
Demystifying the Huge & Unconventional Unboxing Video Business by Cornelia Cozmiuc

33. The Silent Generation: Born 1928-1945 (73-90)
Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (54-72)
Generation X: Born 1965-1980 (38-53)
Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (22-37)
Generation Z: Born 1997-Present (0-21)

43. Most of the children were using the internet to learn about new things
and to help with homework.
• checking facts and finding out new information – in particular to help with
homework.
• using YouTube tutorials to learn new skills, such as learning the piano.
Some children were proactively going online to explore new interests.
• proactively exploring niche or alternative content online,
• giving them access to information and worldviews they might not be able
to find out about elsewhere.
Some felt they could use social media as a means of expressing
solidarity for certain causes.
• using social media as a means to express solidarity
• feeling empowered by the internet to make a positive change – for example
by signing online petitions.

46. Global Kids Online

54. “If we do not use the computer, if we do not know the computer,
then we do not know anything, including... The good things for our
lives.” (Timor-Leste, girl, 14)
“When I grow up I will use technology to work, have fun, create, get
informed, communicate, express, give my point of view.” (Uruguay, girl,
14)
“When I grow up I will use technology to widen my knowledge, to
create my own technology stuff, and to help other people” (Malaysia,
boy, 15)
“When I grow up I will use technology to connect with people, search
for information, organise myself and get informed about what’s
happening in the world.”(Paraguay, girl, 15)

55. “We are not allowed to bring our device to school” (Nigeria, boy, 16)
“Students must turn off their phones at school, and have them
stored by the teachers every morning” (Japan, boy, 16).
“Devices are forbidden, if you are caught with a phone, first it is
confiscated for the rest of the year and then you lose points in
education.” (Burundi, boy, 16)
“You can use your phone during recess only if you have a letter from
your parents and only if the reason for taking it to school should be
valid for school work.” (Fiji, girl, 16)
“Students’ own devices are strictly forbidden as the school believes
that it provides the necessary equipment for our learning.”
(Democratic Republic of Congo, girl, 14)

56. “Electronic devices have an important role in helping you do your
homework.” (Kiribati, group response)
“It allows me to reinforce what I learn at school and to enrich my
knowledge.” (Democratic Republic of the Congo, girl, 16)
“Technology helps me to do research for my homework and also, if I miss a
class, I can contact a friend on Whatsapp to get information or work
together.” (Burundi, girl, 18)
“Sometimes I spend a lot of time on the telephone/internet. After that I
don’t have any time for doing homework”. (Republic of Moldova, boy, 14)
“Sometimes I get too distracted, and many times I’ve even forgotten to do
my homework because I had spent all day on the cellphone”. (Peru, girl, 16)

57. “Schools can be more focused in their teaching and help building
capacities and skills that students can use for their daily life and future
work.” (Thailand, girl, 18)
“They could teach us not only more thing related to ‘the typical job’
(writing and typing), but also designing and programming [and] not
only from the intellectual side, but also social and personal.” (Uruguay,
girl, 14)
“I learnt coding through YouTube. I watched so many videos about
coding and thus I have learned coding.” (Bangladesh, girl, 17)
The school program has got old and doesn’t correspond with the
modern world (including programming languages in schools).”
(Belarus, girl, 16)

58. “School should help me know the bad and good effects of
technology, the impacts.” (Fiji, girl, 12)
“Schools should guide the students in terms of positive and negative
impacts of digital technology.” (Bhutan, girl, 18)
“Teachers should teach classes that help us use digital technology
appropriately.” (Japan, girl, 17)
“School educators should make time for children to better
understand and therefore make better use of technology, to know
the advantages and the disadvantages.” (Democratic Republic of
the Congo, boy, 16)

59. Digital technology has already changed the world –
and as more and more children go online around the
world, it is increasingly changing childhood.
• Youth (ages 15–24) are the most connected age group.
• Worldwide, 71 per cent are online compared with 48
per cent of the total population.
• Children and adolescents under 18 account for an
estimated one in three internet users around the world.
• A growing body of evidence indicates that children are
accessing the internet at increasingly younger ages. In
some countries, children under 15 are as likely to use
the internet as adults over 25.
• Smartphones are fuelling a ‘bedroom culture’, with
online access for many children becoming more
personal, more private and less supervised.

60. Connectivity can be a game changer for some of the
world’s most marginalized children, helping them fulfil their
potential and break intergenerational cycles of poverty.
• Digital technologies are bringing opportunities for learning
and education to children, especially in remote regions and
during humanitarian crises.
• Digital technologies also allow children to access information
on issues that affect their communities and can give them a
role in helping to solve them.
• Digital technologies can deliver economic opportunity by
providing young people with training opportunities and job-
matching services, and by creating new kinds of work.
• To accelerate learning, information and communication
technology (ICT) in education needs to be backed by training
for teachers and strong pedagogy.

61. But digital access is becoming the new dividing line, as millions of the
children who could most benefit from digital technology are missing
out.
• About 29 per cent of youth worldwide – around 346 million individuals –
are not online.
• African youth are the least connected. Around 60 per cent are not online,
compared with just 4 per cent in Europe.
• Digital divides go beyond the question of access. Children who rely on
mobile phones rather than computers may get only a second-best online
experience, and those who lack digital skills or speak minority languages
often can’t find relevant content online.
• Digital divides also mirror prevailing economic gaps, amplifying the
advantages of children from wealthier backgrounds and failing to deliver
opportunities to the poorest and most disadvantaged children.
• There is a digital gender gap as well. Globally, 12 per cent more men than
women used the internet in 2017. In India, less than one third of internet
users are female.

64. The more children use the internet the more digital skills they
gain and the higher they climb the so-called ladder of
opportunities
Children’s digital skills are positively linked to online risks.
Indeed, the more digital skills they gain, the more
opportunities they tend to enjoy and the more risks and
potentially harm they are likely to encounter.
Therefore as children’s use of the internet increases, greater
efforts are required to manage those risks, ideally without
restricting children’s opportunities

65. Interviewer:
“Do you ask your teachers for help?”
Respondent:
“They ask me. They always ask us.”
(14-17 year-olds, Eastern Cape, South Africa)
Interviewer:
“So what are some of the bad things that can happen to you if
you’re using your phone?”
Respondent:
“You can get into contact with someone that you don’t even
know and then they ask you questions and then you answer
them and then they come and kill you.”
(9 to 11 year-olds, Eastern Cape, South Africa)

66. #edu8213