But technology on its own may change nothing (or at any rate, may not change for the better). I agree with what Doug Belshaw has said about the need to consider ‘habits, dispositions and attitudes’ in education (see his blog post at http://dougbelshaw.com/conferences/2011/10/07/jisc-digital-literacy-workshop-jiscdiglit/ ).

I couldn’t agree more re your observations on the need to engage academics and learning technologists/learning resource advisers to work together to overcome the very real fears about technology and Intellectual Property rights.

Here are the notes I took from the afternoon breakout session 7 which I attended:

“Expanding the use of and measuring the impact of technology in learning in employment”

The main focus of this session was to look at “where technology can take us with learning in employment”

• Who are the stakeholders? – Students, Staff and Employers.

• Multi-tasking is an essential skill for the workplace and we must ensure that we are equipping out students with this and other relevant attributes

• Do employers expect new graduates to come to them with highly developed technology skills?

• Using online resources effectively can be a key employability skill.

• Does technology essentially change how people learn?

• There is a blurring of the boundaries between social and learning activities online – particularly with the advent of social media and mobile technologies

• There is still a need to build up the confidence of both Staff AND Students to enable them to feel comfortable using a range of technologies in learning and teaching.

• We need to offer bite size pieces of information and engage staff in accessible technologies.

• Some examples of technologies that are being effectively used in this way are Moodle, YouTube, Second Life, Facebook and Skype.

• Screencastomatic is a free online screen capture tool that is very easy to use by novices and offers an excellent method for staff to demonstrate concepts and techniques to students.

• A range of learning technologies can be used for both distance and on-campus learners including videos than may be viewed before a physical workshop or instead of a formal lecture, screen capture and interactive web conferencing as a lecture format.

• Employers think that technology can make or break their business

• Employees are bringing their social media skills into the business and the modern employers see this not as a threat but as an opportunity – especially in the sphere of marketing and communications. Many businesses nowadays not only have a website but also have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

These are created mainly for marketing purposes but can also be used to interact with customers in an informal, relatively personal way which can increase customer satisfaction and ensure repeat business as well as adding viral marketing with recommendations and so forth. ‘Word of mouth’ can be as powerful online as in person.

• Technology should be used as an enabler and not just for its own sake – Work SMARTER not harder. The blurring of boundaries between work and home need to be effectively managed to avoid information overload and employees feeling that they are permanently at work – with email through mobile devices etc.

• Accessible technologies can be empowering not frightening but we must show learners how to harness technology to work FOR them and not be dragged along kicking and screaming into a brave new world of technology taking over FROM them.

hope this is useful