I do think that the speed of technological change (very much in mobile and Web 2.0 areas) does move very fast. I wonder if we as institutions have the skills and knowledge to determine if something is suitable? Even if we decide it is not suitable, how do we know that it won’t be in a year, or even a few months.

A good example is the iPod touch.

When it first came out, it was basically a media and web device.

You probably would determine it wasn’t suitable.

Then they released firmware 2.0 and you could have applications, lots of applications.

Some of them are quite good and some are even useful.

Other technologies which fit in here are things like Google Docs, Evernote, Twitter…

We as institutions do not need to focus on the technologies, but on the ability as e-enabled institutions to be able to be responsive and flexible as our learners start to use new technologies.

I do think with the ways in which society is changing and embedding technologies, staff are changing as well.

How many people now have a sat-nav for example? I recall the days when I use to get the road atlas out and plan a journey (if I had the time, otherwise it was atlas on the knees and avoid driving into things).

I remember impressing my wife, playing the Matrix on my iPAQ using an IBM Microdrive CF card in the car during a massive traffic jam at night on the M5 back in 2001. People kept staring into the car wondering what the flickering light was. Of course today, the back seats of most cars rival most front rooms with consoles, DVD players, Digital TV, etc…

Staff are now use to using technology and should be more enthusiastic about using it for enhancing and enriching learning. So what’s stopping the enthusiasm, is it curriculum delivery, curriculum structures, assessment, inspection frameworks, etc…