The 21st Century Learning Model: Electronic Tutelage Realized

Introduction The personal computer is the "universal tool" of the twenty-first century--born in the last century, but reaching maturation in our time. All new technologies are used in an "old", more familiar way when they are first introduced. It requires a period of adjustment for us to realize their potential and use them in the "new" way that they are truly intended (Ong, 1982.) For the last two decades of the twentieth century we became accustomed to the capabilities of the personal computer. Today, we use the computer--desktop to personal digital assistant--for everything from document preparation, to communication and information retrieval. We use it to research, plan, and produce. Its ubiquitous presence in our lives merits its place as the all-purpose "vege-matic" of our culture. It is natural, then, that we have adapted the personal computer to our educational needs. The learning model of the 21st century uses the computer as the conduit for teaching and learning. The state of teaching information systems today, after the influence of technology and the saturation of computers in our lives, is one of electronic tutelage. Electronic tutelage refers to the use of computers to learn new concepts, rather than using the human teacher-learner interaction (Marold, 1994.) It consists of teaching with the assistance, or sometimes the total substitution, of computer for human teacher. We have by this century incorporated computers into the learning process so that they are no longer an obstacle, but are an integral delivery component in IT education. In our century, we have reached the stage of extension transference that Edward Hall predicted in 1973. Extension transference theory holds that the computer serves as a "prosthesis"--almost a biological extension of our physical beings. We use it with much the same ease as we use one of our natural limbs. Just as the bicycle wheel serves as an extension of our legs to propel us forward, the computer extends the bounds of our ability to learn (McLuhan, 1964). The PC, however, is not the end; it is the means to the end. It is our tool for mastery of Information Technology concepts. This article suggests that the new learning model of the 21st century Information Technology education is electronic tutelage. That model has far-reaching effects--both for the teachers and the learners. In the 21st century, the probe that Marshall McLuhan introduced more than forty-five years ago--"the medium is the message"--has come to fruition. The Changing Model of Education Delivery The university teaching model that was developed in the fifteenth century and persisted for over 500 years relied heavily on the new development of printing (Havelock, 1976.) The printing press was the new technology of its century; it allowed a new teaching model to be developed by the end of the 15th century that included lecturer and audience, passive learning and more private reading and introspection. It replaced the Oral Model, a memory-intensive open Forum and Query Model that Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato championed. In turn, five centuries later not only did the electronic medium spawn information technology as we know it today; it also resulted in yet another model of learning: electronic tutelage is at the heart of the new model. Ong realized this as early as 1967, when he introduced the electronic noetic--his adaptation of the Greek noesis, or way of knowing. The electronic noetic has resulted in a true shift in the way we deliver IT education today. Embracing the potential of the electronic noetic characterizes information technology education in this century. Certainly, the profile of the information technology learner has changed. The college student studying information systems today is far different from the EDP (electronic data processing) student of the 1970s. It follows, then, that the way we deliver education to the IT student in the 21st century should also change. …