Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age

I recently read an article about how President Obama’s election campaign was the ‘perfect balance between High Touch and High Tech’.  For those that are not entirely sure about what these terms mean, here is an explanation as it came across to me:  High Touch means the human interface, human interaction, socializing, commune-ication, humour, contact between people, and so forth.  It includes concepts like synergy, team work, brainstorming, and communicating face to face.  High Tech means technical skills, technology rich environments, using latest technology to communicate e.g. Twitter, blogs, wikis.  High Tech means incorporating digital means of socializing.  At first glance, it seems as if these two concepts are in direct competition.  Yet, Obama achieved success in his endeavours of reaching out to the masses both physically and virtually, and in the end, he was elected as a leader.

Do teachers also face similar choices?  Of course.  We deal with people, and need to use technology. Thus, we too need a balance between High Touch and High Tech.  We work with other people all the time.  We need to be able to lead by example in our communication with other teachers, support staff, school managers, parents and students.  We need to have relationship building skills, in addition to having the High Tech skills like incorporating technology into our teaching and the students’ learning through setting tasks and assessments that will require students to learn and demonstrate their skills of using technology effectively in ways that mirror the world outside of school.  An all High Touch approach will see our student fall behind in the technology skills needed in the workplaces and tertiary institutions of the modern world.  An all High Tech approach will see everyone deprived of a basic human need, namely face to face interaction with other human beings, thus forfeiting socialization, and true human companionship. High-Tech needs to be in balance with  High-Touch, which will allow people to utilize technology to bolster actual (not virtual) communities and face-to-face social interaction.

If we want technology to be used in an effective and smart way in our schools, school leaders must demonstrate a willingness to support staff, to provide the necessary resources, to encourage staff, to train staff, to celebrate small successes and share these around at staff meetings.  These things all speak towards the high touch abilities of school leaders, yet it is used to encourage the capacity for becoming more high tech, in staff.  Teachers also need to use High Touch methods to motivate and encourage students to become more High Tech.  It is clear that eductors must strike a balance between these two ideas.

For further information on the balancing act between High Tech and High Touch, please read   futurist John Naisbitt’s 1999 book High-Tech, High-Touch: Technology & Our Search for Meaning.  Here is a blurb of the book: “In High-Tech, High-Touch, Naisbitt prompts the reader to act on the information by examining the technology-driven changes in our society. In short, he demands readers accept that we, as people, are responsible for these trends, to understand that it is within our power and to our benefit to take action to find balance in our lives. While technology is the tool, it’s how we wield it that matters.”

Other resources on this matter can be found on the web:

• Summary of futurist John Naisbitt’s 1999 book High-Tech, High-Touch: Technology & Our Search for Meaning: http://www.bicyclecity.com/Bicycle-City-High-Tech-High-Touch
• Instructional Leadership and High Touch vs High Tech: http://fno.org/sum02/principal.html

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