Technology for You – or You for Technology?

In Mont-Louis, a small town in French Pyrenees, there is a fortification and a small settlement within the walls, built more than three centuries ago. The architect was Sébastien Le Prestre, marquis de Vauban, publicly known as Vauban, a French engineer, famous for several fortresses and for fortified towns. What made me think during the visit, is Vauban`s statement about the terrain and buildings. In 1679, in a Project for General Planning, he wrote: ?The plan must be subordinate to the terrain and not the terrain to the plan. This is to make the most of the advantages of its position … the plan will be much better, the works a lot cheaper, and the space better occupied.”?

Aren`t we today – way too often - “subordinated to the technology” instead the “technology being subordinated to us, people”?

When I have to install yet another app just to enter the museum. Or when I install an app for finding the trails in my neighborhood and then fight with navigation and menus, not to mention its registration process, for an hour. I am sure you can find numerous such cases, even in very mundane daily tasks for which you need an Information Technology (IT).

Now let`s add learning to this “equation”, since technology has become an integral part of it. “When students face maintenance issues, or encounter bugs, cannot get access to machines, they are likely to become frustrated.” This quote is from an interesting chapter which appeared in a book titled The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, published in 2006. The chapter, authored by Phyllis C. Blumenfeld, Toni M. Kempler and Joseph C. Krajcik talks about Motivation and Cognitive Engagement in Learning Environments. One of the aspects they talk about is also the ?Technology?. Some of you will consider fifteen years ago as ancient times (especially in IT), for me, the ancient times date back to 1976. Anyway, the mentioned authors continue their chapter with the following: ?Second, students need time to learn to use the machines; if they are not experienced, they need to learn to type, and to create, save, and integrate files. The cost of learning new software and new uses of technology is often high for students and this may diminish interest in both the technology and the subject matter.??

I want you to pay attention to the last sentence. You see ?diminish interest in both the technology and the subject matter?. Too often, even today, in digitalized world, we have to focus way too much on technology and less on the content, on the subject matter. The technology and its use must be seamless, otherwise the negative impact pops up immediately. Probably smartphones, as an example of consumer devices, showed what the user experience (or, the learner experience, for that matter) should look like. Yes not all apps, but some of them, are horrible from the user experience perspective.

I just do not want to be a slave of technology. Where is the content? Am I learning to become an expert in a certain matter – or to master the technology? Often, I see that the ratio between learning how to use a certain technology (or an app) to support my learning and the learning content itself is all wrong. I remember participating at a hackathon focusing on leadership ideas. Unfortunately, most of the time we had to focus on the software platform that we used to articulate the ideas. I would say that more than three quarters of the time were spent fighting with technology, we were only able to dedicate a small part of the time to ideas. Wrong!

There is another aspect I want to mention. It is somehow expected that we know how to use technology. It has happened to me several times that no one took care, or even asked, about my skills in using a certain platform, software, tool, an app. Or prepare me to use it. Ok, you may say, there is help built-in, there are chatbots and now also Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will simplify the use of technology. Still, more often than not, I see that the content (or practical application of the tool) is far away from me, “hours away”. There are numerous obstacles between me and the content I need. Obstacles in the form of the software platform itself or of its user interface.

I would like to see more “Vaubans” again. Innovators, designers, developers who would have human beings in mind. People are their “terrain”, and their applications have to be “subordinated” to people. Not vice versa.

In todays digitalization and artificial intelligence rush, everyone should ask themselves: “Do we want people adjust to technology – or the technology to serve people?”

You know my answer. Please, let me know yours.?