The proliferation of new technologies and internet tools is fundamentally changing the way we liveand work. The lifelong learning sector is no exception with technology having a major impact on teaching and learning. This in turn is affecting the skills needs of the learning delivery workforce.In 2009-10, Lifelong Learning UK carried out a small piece of research into the use of technology in
initial teacher training (ITT) in further education in England. This research highlighted that there was no consensus among ITT (providers as to what constituted effective ‘digital pedagogy’, that is,the effective and purposeful use of technology in teaching and learning.

Learners in the digital age

Drivers for change
One of the factors driving the exploration and development of new pedagogies and the use of
technology for learning is a concern that education may be becoming increasingly out of step with
the way that people use technology today for socialising, working and learning.
Furthermore educational institutions may be failing to meet the expectations of learners. Ubiquity,
accessibility, rapid feedback and ease of use are all features of learners' daily experience with
digital technologies which are changing their expectations of education (Beetham, McGill and
Littlejohn, 2009).
2.2 How people use technology
A series of surveys and reports have provided evidence of how people are using technologies,
particularly social software and web 2.0, for communication and social networking and for creating
and sharing a wide range of digital artefacts.
Hadyn (2008) draws attention to a Becta survey of learners in the UK. Of the 2,600 learners
surveyed, 74 per cent had social networking accounts and 78 per cent had uploaded artefacts
using Web 2.0 applications. However, nearly all students’ use of Web 2.0 is currently outside
school, for social purposes. Few pupils had an understanding of the ways in which Web 2.0 might
be used for educational purposes and few had well developed digital literacy and critical skills to
navigate Web 2.0 territory in a mature way (Becta, 2008).
Perhaps the most extensive surveys of how young people are using technology have been
provided by the Pew Internet and American Life project.
As early as 2005 a Pew Research Centre study (Lenhart and Madden, 2005) found that 56 per cent
of young people in America were using computers for creative activities, writing and posting to the
internet, mixing and constructing multimedia and developing their own content. Twelve to 17-year-
olds look to web tools to share what they think and do online. One in five who use the net said they
used other people’s images, audio or text to help make their own creations.
According to Raine (BBC, 2005), “These teens were born into a digital world where they expect to
be able to create, consume, remix, and share material with each other and lots of strangers.”
Much of the research into how young people use computers and social software has been from the
USA. However, a series of studies around these issues has recently been undertaken in the UK
(Ofcom Social Networking Research, the Oxford Internet Institute’s Internet Surveys, Ofcom Media
Literacy Audit). Ewan McIntosh (2008) has provided a useful summary of some of the findings.
The main use of the net by young people, by far, is for learning: 57 per cent use the net for
homework, saying it provides more information than books. 15 per cent use it for learning that is
‘not school’. 40 per cent use it to stay in touch with friends, 9 per cent for entertainment such as YouTube (a low figure given the younger age of the respondent sample).
Most users of the net are using it at home (94 per cent), then at work (34 per cent), in another person’s house (30 per cent) or at school (16 per cent). Only 12 per cent use public libraries and 9 per cent internet cafés. Most people’s first exposure to the web is at home.
The predominant use of media is for getting information. Both users and non-users of the internet read as many books as each other but users watch less television (cf. Clay Shirky’s theory on “cognitive surplus”). The result is that internet users get more information in total, and as much as non-users through other sources. Face-to-face remains the most important source of information but internet users actually value face-to-face meeting more than non-users. Indeed, in the ‘real world’ internet users are more likely to be outgoing individuals and to belong to a social group or club than non-users of the net.