I don’t know a single person who’s recently bought a desktop computer.
Not one.
Combine that anecdote with the stats showing that for the first time more smartphones were sold than PCs and another that shows over the Christmas season of 2011, the number of people who owned either a tablet or an ereader doubled from 10% to approximately 19% and you can see that the computing world is in complete flux these days.
We want to take our technology with us.
Is it the data that we want to have with us, our files and pictures, or the ability to connect with others? Both?
A couple of years ago, this video was making the rounds at conferences and it seems like we are fully arriving at this point:
Our data, our connections, our services, our media, our learning. We want to take it with us. We want access no matter where we are. We what to switch from work to play and back again quickly and easily. A desktop computer used to sit in the corner of a room in our homes. It had its own desk. It was a place. Like the internet, it was a destination all its own. It was someplace you went to. “Going online” used to be a saying. I’m not sure it even applies anymore. We’re surrounded by devices that slip between internet access and media consumption seamlessly.
How do these societal trends change learning? How do they change how we need to structure classrooms? Are complete labs filled with computers an outdated model? Do we need infrastructure that is more seamless? Are classes that are focused purely on computers and technology an outdated model? Do we need more integrated systems?
Are schools still pursuing the desktop model of learning? Learning as a place, a thing that is separate and sits off in the corner all on its own when really we should be looking at something much more integrated and faster moving?
New technologies make new things possible. They allow us to move in new directions and consider new possibilities. We need to keep moving.
> I don’t know a single person who’s recently bought a desktop computer. Not one.
Yes you do – I dropped $1300 on the most powerful computer in the store less than a month ago.
Why? Because I do a lot of web production, much more than you might imagine, and I needed a large screen, ultra-fast processing (eg., something that processes Camtasia videos in just a couple of minutes), and more.
It’s pretty niche – and I still need my laptop when I’m on the road(the iPad is still a luxury). But even a MacBook Pro is a long way from the development environemnt I need.
What you say is very true. Desktops are the platform of choice for specific taks – heavy multimedia development, crunching large amounts of data, a machine that is tied to a specific location or piece of equipment, etc. But overall, I still believe that the model of learning that we need to pursue in schools is not generally a “desktop model of learning.” As students age and get into more focused courses (multimedia development, using CNC routers, etc) I can see the need for small labs or pads of machines. Besides that, the type of learning (and learner) that our period of time requires is flexible, mobile and connected rather than static and tied to a place.
(I also enjoyed the fact that you paid $1 300 for the most powerful computer in the store, compared to the $2 500 I paid for a Dell 10 years ago or so that could be outpaced several times by a $400 Linux box today)
Indeed new things are happening with the world going mobile, be it with their smart phones or their tablets. Education is no exception to this, especially the news we hear about the adoption of iPads in more educational institutions, the way we teach and learn is undergoing a massive change by itself.
The only problem I feel is the thorough adoption of technology by the educators. I sometimes wonder why we are using age-old methods to teach, despite knowing that the students would find a more technologically advanced environment easier to learn and understand. What worked at one time would eventually become obsolete with time. I especially like your last phrase “We need to keep moving” and this is the truth that educators need to keep in their mind.