Information Technology (IT) -- isn't that about getting information, like celebrity gossips and sports news on the Internet and "googling" for more on your computer screen? Well, let's be bold and face it: information-gathering and consumption is like getting food for both necessary and pleasurable consumption. And gathering information, like shopping for food, has never been easier thanks to the savvy development of information technology (just as easily available at IT shops as food is at supermarkets). I'm a school teacher who could safely be classified as a regular amateur user of IT, thanks to my serendipitous encounters with computers and other IT gadgets at work. However, my dichotomy of being human, a thinking animal, and a teacher, a "logical" being, forces my educational musings today to whirl around IT and us .... So, join me, if you like, in my a-musing pondering about this and what education's got to do with it, if anything at all.

By now, everyone's heard of IT and its realm, the cyberspace. In cyberspace, things exist pretty much the same way as they do here in the "real world" -- except you don't really need to get your hands dirty or sweat through some every-day routines. You just click your way through cyberspace with your computer mouse or track pad from the comfort of your home, the beach, or anywhere, and lo and behold -- you can see and hear what people have been up to or are actually doing right this minute. You can actually video-conference with people via Skype and the like or "chat" online, "poke" them, "tag" them or "throw a gummy bear" at them in Facebook, and shop, study, find a date, etc. in cyberspace. You can be part of a cyber community with similar interests, aspirations or even a grudge. So then, a cyber community is like a real community and has become just as important as the actual community we inhabit. In this connection, I've recently even heard of "digital natives" who consider their official ‘state' to be cyberspace rather than an actual country on the map.

And now, the teacher side of me is curious: learning, like many other activities, takes place in a community and cyber communities such as we now have (e.g. Facebook, Second Life, chat groups, discussion forums, etc.) deserve another good look to see where they fit into the educational scheme of things. As the Internet gains global momentum, its users have diversified, which means that cyber-communities have also diversified linguistically, culturally and politically. In fact, it's not an overstatement to say that if it weren't for this kind of diversification and interest-specialization, the Internet - and IT and cyberspace -- would not have developed and become as large and ubiquitous as they are today.

And they have already established concrete roles in many schools: good old news bulletins have been replaced by e-mail and other forms of electronic communication media; young children know better about navigating through cyberspace than how to hold a pencil correctly; and encyclopedias have lost their raison d'être to Wikipedia and Google. "Electronic Classrooms" do exist and they not only help students with their homework, but also with distance learning or home schooling. Some affluent and innovative schools have gone "paperless" and have issued a "tablet," portable computer to each student. IT has not only provided tools to enhance learning, but has also created learning communities within cyberspace to facilitate further learning.

IT and cyberspace are wonderfully convenient in shrinking the physical distance and the amount of time required in performing certain tasks (e.g. calculations or plotting a graph) and transactions (e.g. e-mailing and video conferencing). However, one thing to remember is that these things are still invented, maintained, and further developed by human beings. The question, "can artificial intelligence replace human intelligence?" and the like have already been popped. So then, we
now need to be seriously asking: "Can the ‘human touch" -- physical, emotional and ethical -- ever be replicated by the cyberspace verisimilitude? And if so, would we be better off "marrying" high-tech robots than working on relationship skills, which are fundamental to any meaningful learning? Call me near-sighted or ignorant, but technology, to me, is a tool or medium and it remains as such, not really capable of evolving further on its own.

The education spirit in me says that the ability to use and discern the usage of technology for different contexts and purposes is crucial in educating the future generation of people with what we should still be able to call a human heart. "Educating" is an interactive and cultural process, dealing with diversity in ways of thinking, ideas, perceptions, inklings, tendencies, orientations and so forth. Schools facilitate learning and dare their community members to brace for a paradigm shift, if necessary. Learning has many facets and entails many things. Its process has many expressions and actions. Education should still be organic enough to require humans and things human.

But at the same time, I must say that I do recognize the good side of technology: as with good medicine and tools, we need it for "quality of life" and sheer convenience (I would shudder at the thought of writing an article like this by hand and even worse, editing it several times!). To do further justice to technology, it is like the arts and is an expression and the fruit of human creativity. It needs to be embraced and celebrated, and as with medicine and tools, its use must be studied and managed appropriately.

So, that's all from me for today. Amusing or simply musing, the thinking animal side of me has gone on a wonder-wander rampage of ideas. Join me next time on another topic -- whether in cyberspace or in a real-life food-and-drink joint. Or simply partake of food for thought with me, somewhere in the gray matter.

Chika Kumashiro-Wilms is a teacher at Bangkok Patana School.