Page 18 - Education in a Digital World

Developing a Global Perspective 5

development. In this sense, the main issue that individual citizens are required to
address throughout their working lives is their ability to accrue the skills (and
perhaps as importantly the associated certification and accreditation) required for
success in the labour market. The main issue that governments are therefore
required to address is the removal of the impediments or ‘barriers’ that prevent
individuals from participating in education and training. As Andy Green (2003, p.87)
reflects, “the impact of globalisation on the demand for skills and qualifications”
over the past thirty years or so has been substantial.

The Significance of Education, Technology and Global
Societal Change

As these latter points suggest, education is an integral component of the changing
contemporary world. Whether described in terms of the information age, network
society or knowledge economy, it is difficult to overlook the links between education,
economy and society. The beliefs and values underlying most forms of recent edu-
cation change and reform have therefore been simple ones – first, that a knowledge
economy requires an information-skilled workforce in order to succeed, and second that
the key to an information-skilled workforce is education and learning. As Roger
Dale (2005, p.118) notes, the knowledge economy is therefore “intrinsically related to
education”. In these terms, education is positioned as a continuous concern – reflecting
the ethos of ‘lifelong learning’ that embraces not only compulsory phases of
schooling but also education and training throughout the life-course.
This, then, brings us to the core concern of the book – the significance of the use
of digital technologies in these forms of education that underpin the digital age,
information society and knowledge economy. From even our brief discussion so far,
it should be of no surprise that digital technology is seen by most commentators as
being an essential element of contemporary educational arrangements. Indeed, the
educational controversies that raged throughout the 1980s and 1990s over whether
or not learning about digital technology should be a core component of education
(the so-called issue of ‘computer literacy’) have long since been resolved. Now
there is widespread acceptance that digital technologies must play an integral role
in the provision of all aspects of lifelong learning – from the integration of
computers in school, college and university classrooms, to the virtual delivery of online
courses and training. Digital technologies and media are also recognised as implicit
elements of the ‘informal’ modes of learning that are stimulated by general interests,
pursuits and hobbies outside the formal curriculum. In short, digital technology is
now an utterly integral but wholly unremarkable component of educational conditions
and arrangements around the world.
At this point, it is important to note that what is often referred to as ‘educational
technology’ is not a single entity, but a diverse array of technological devices
and technology-based activities and practices. In fact, many discussions of educa-
tional technology are focused only on a small number of the various forms of digital