THE DIGITAL HABIT

THE DIGITAL HABIT
Ancient philosophers considered that habit was "second nature", and that the nature of mankind is enriched (or impoverished) improved (or worsened) by habit. Habits are both good and bad. This conception, linked to the notion of "virtue", had in its time significant practical consequences on customs and morality, education and even politics. Today the concept of habit has moved to a secondary plane in both theory and practice, in particular among educators, although it merits greater attention.

In effect it is possible to state that the entire process of education is based on the creation of "new habits". Contemporary sciences have recently come to the rescue of this almost forgotten but very necessary notion. Cognitive sciences, etology, neurosciences all investigate the acquisition of habits, their preservation and loss. From innate, genetically programmed conduct through to the freest creations of the human spirit, including elemental reflexes and the neuro-physiological mechanisms of "habituation" and adaptation, human learning is based on the unceasing building of new habits. Distinguished American psychologist and educator Jerome Bruner has affirmed that "knowledge only becomes useful when it is turned into habit".

In some cases, such as that which concerns us here, habit is linked to the massive flood of new technology affecting human society. Cars, telephones, radio and television have created new habits all over the world. Information technology has drastically modified social behavior in many fields as the century comes to an end. Curiously only education seems immune to this transformation. No "digital habit" of an educational nature has yet been established that could compete with those in other non-educational areas, such as TV zapping and video games.

How is such a digital habit to be formed? In the first place, familiarity with computers and communications in learning and teaching is still limited. The typical organization of a school that (incorrectly) calls itself computerized consists of a separate world where "computer classes " are given in set timetables on certain days. Such an exercise does not influence the intimate nature of education. If we were to remove the blackboard from a classroom, lessons could not continue to be given. Were we to remove the computers however, lessons would be given as normal (although school enrollment might suffer). Computers have still not been fully integrated into modern education. They still need to be domesticated. In many cases they are used as an instrument imposed by social convention or program demands. Computers have not yet managed to renovate old educational habits and teaching methods dating from the last century such as classroom learning, master classes and examinations.

One practical method for generating digital habits is for there to be continued, unrestricted, exposure to a computerized environment. In the same way that the best method for learning a language is to live in a community where the language is spoken, acquiring digital language requires living in a digital habitat. Generally speaking few teachers willingly attend computer classes. When they do attend they are subjected to the same constraints as their students: restricted timetables and limited availability of equipment. It is absolutely essential to break this rigid mold and open up new technology to both teachers and student alike. To do so there is no better way than to create an environment where teachers are in a position to train themselves, freely acquiring new digital habits in school or at home. It is necessary to create "the missing classroom" for them, with all necessary comforts and the best equipment, with no timetable restrictions. Our experience at the Colegio San Martín de Tours school for girls in Buenos Aires has been extremely encouraging. When we began our consultancy we discovered a situation where information technology was taught in a traditional manner by a small group of experts in a closed classroom. We proposed opening up the game and offering computer courses to all staff wishing to acquire such skills. Little by little the situation changed, so that after two years the school has managed to incorporate all its teachers and directors to the world of digital technology. The school now has more than one hundred teachers trained in communications and information technology compared to the handful of computer experts with which it began. The training of adults was not easy, as not all were convinced of the need for it, but it provoked a profound revolution in the school itself. Gone were locked classrooms; network computers began to populate the open spaces and corridors of the entire institution. Administrators, teachers and students were all provided total freedom to work with the best information technology tools.

This experience indicates that instead of restricting the use of the few machines in the computer room to "computer class hours" it is essential to offer the entire school community freedom of access to machines at all times and everywhere. This in turn means that computers should be connected to a network within the institution, ceasing to be "personal" computers and instead becoming inter-personal computers, distributed throughout the school, in corridors, classrooms, libraries and patios. Digital habits are quickly learnt when users can sit down at any machine anywhere in the school, appropriating the machine for their own use. Such universal availability of equipment is the prime property of becoming digital. At the school all the computers are linked to each other and to oneself at all times, anywhere; they are at one's disposal and not the other way around, as happens in most schools.

However, familiarity is not limited to the school environment, but extends into the home. The "extended school" concept is no more than the prolonging of education into the home and society. Unfortunately educators are not genuine leaders of technological change, and most only passively follow market and fashion flows; many have not yet acquired or can even recognize digital habits in their personal lives. Because of this in the best of cases they support the mistaken idea that only an increased number of computers in schools will lead to progress in education. Not enough awareness exists of the formidable resource that exists in homes. A quick survey would however be sufficient to confirm the wealth of information technology installed in homes compared to the chronic scarcity in schools.

We are concerned to verify that such an enormous wealth of human talent and information technology equipment is wasted to education simply because the home is not digitally linked to the school. A profound change in connectivity must be encouraged. Firstly, the homes of teachers and students should form a network with the school if we wish to establish a digital habit in line with modern globalization. In the home the family computer is an instrument that belongs equally to children and adults. Connectivity has already been developed with the home use of Internet, the prodigious growth of which is a subject in itself. However, schools remain unconnected to homes. This is a matter that must still be dealt with. We must create a truly extended school, as this digital connection between home and school will be the backbone of the new education.

However, if familiarity with computers is a necessary condition for establishing a digital habit, we recognize that this alone is not sufficient. Computer use must have a personal justification for the user. Often computers are installed but no-one uses them regularly or to full advantage. One infallible test is to verify if the computer is kept on at the executive's desk or in the teachers' room. Another check is to calculate the number of printed documents in an educational establishment. As long as the computer is used only as a typewriter the institution will be inundated with paper, memos, work to be corrected, lists, notices, etc. But the decisive test is in the classroom. The ideal of many supposedly computer-literate teachers is to be able to use a computer at the front of the class to control the computer activities of each of the students at their desks. It is very difficult to break away from this vertical approach, the radiation of knowledge from a single source to the more or less dumb receivers of information.

Our educational proposal on the other hand is based on replacing this centralized model, placing maximum confidence in intelligence distributed horizontally, between peers. The teacher will learn to require practical work digitally over the network, daily on-line evaluation of all tasks will replace the final exam, and everyone will be linked, with the greatest possible freedom to consult, ask, make mistakes and create. In schools where this digital practice has begun favorable changes have followed at dizzying speed. Our own experience bears witness to this.