I have spent some time discussing learning in recent weeks.
In one of my conversations, I spoke with my daughter, Beth, about her interest in approriate technology.
I was really impressed with her sense of appropriate technology as small-scale technology. My subsequent reading led me to understand that appropriate technology “is simple enough that people can manage it directly and on a local level. Appropriate technology makes use of skills and technology that are available in a local community to supply basic human needs” (link). I think directness and localness are keys for me in thinking about transformational change.
This does involve profound listening. It requires a sensitivity to relationships of power. It also requires us as Susanto Basu and David Neil (1996) pointed out that technology diffuses slowly (link) and discussed more recently by Deborah Healey (2018) (link).
I believe these conversations will lead me to more reflections about the relationships between appropriate technologies and the pursuit and recognition of microlearning (link).
Photo Credit
Photo by Badal Gyawali on Unsplash
