Section One

Introduction

Purpose and Framework

This paper is a first step in the process of exploring the impact of new learning technologies on learning opportunities for women in Canada; a process undertaken by the Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women (CCLOW).

It takes a questioning stance, exploring underlying values and assumptions as well as current practice. It is designed to promote discussion and reflection, point to areas where there are questions to be considered, and identify issues that seem most important to those who are concerned with women's learning, as educators, learners, facilitators, planners and policy makers.

There are a number of reasons why it is timely to look at the potential impact of new learning technologies on women:

• the recent intense interest in new technologies and their potential for learning.
  
  
• the importance for women of opportunities for both formal and non formal learning, especially for those who have not previously had access to formal learning, for those who want to continue their education, for those who rely on mentoring, networking and information sharing to enable them to continue in their work, community or family commitments and for those for whom learning is a passion;
  
  
• the prevailing concern among many in the workforce about being able to have income-generating work in the near and longer term future, and the sense that additional learning can be an advantage in the workplace.

In Canada, questions related to education, communications and technology are so bound up with our governance, traditions, culture, geography, and with private and public sector institutions, that it sometimes difficult to address specific issues without unearthing the tap roots of ongoing political, social, and economic debates. However, in order to maintain the focus of this document, references to these broader issues will be as tailored as possible to the questions at hand, recognizing that their extent and complexity goes far beyond the scope of this paper.

What do we mean by new learning technologies?

"Educational technologies are not simply the tools of educators--- although this is a popular misconception, rather, they are the knowledge, values and practices which constitute the development and use of those tools." ¹

The term "new learning technologies" can be defined in a variety of ways. It can be said that there have always been learning technologies--- tools that people use to help in the process of teaching and learning ---books, chalk and board, overhead, and so on. As well, for more than a hundred years, there have been systems in place to help teachers and learners communicate at a distance for instruction and interaction, using print, and later, audiotape, telephone, video. Over the past 25 years, the use of these systems for open and distance education has grown rapidly worldwide to deal with the demand for flexible learning opportunities that accommodate the needs of adult learners. So the use of technologies for learning, whether in face to face or distance education, is in itself not new. So then, what is "new" about the "new learning technologies"?

A Working Definition

In this discussion paper, the concept of the "new" learning technologies encompasses electronic technologies used for enhanced communication and interaction to support learning. These include:

• communications technologies such as videoconferencing and audio conferencing, which although not very new, are being applied in new ways because of technical and social developments and computer based technologies, such as electronic mail, computer conferencing, and
  
  
• technologies that provide access to information, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web.

The new learning technologies, like all technologies, are part of a system, as Franklin points out, noting "technology involves organization, procedures, symbols, new words, equations and most of all, a mindset".²

In other words, this study will examine not just technologies in isolation, but the ways in which people change or adapt their ways of doing things as part of using technologies.