John Cook
London Metropolitan University, UK

Ann Light
Sussex University, UK

Ellie Stoneley
UKVillages.co.uk, UK

The Last Friday Mob
LastFridayMob@jiscmail.ac.uk, UK

New patterns of power and participation? Designing ICT for adult and community learning

Introduction
Through initiatives such as learndirect and UK online, the UK government has demonstrated faith in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as a means of achieving a participative and inclusive society. It is also claimed that ICT or e-learning can bring about new patterns of power and participation for excluded learners. In this context, our paper will examine the following question: What new patterns of power and participation are ICTs enabling through e-learning?

The paper will address the question from two different perspectives. First, we will look at the small but growing empirical base in the area of Adult and Community Learning. Second, we will examine attempts to design digital media that plug into the motivations of 'real people' in a way that empowers them. It is this merging of interdisciplinary perspectives that, we argue, is needed if we are to enable true power and participation for e-learners.

Background
The ESRC funded Adult Learning @ Home project found that 33% of adults do not engage in learning. However, this project also found that informal learning via the Internet or by using computers was more appealing and effective for some adults who were not successful formal learners. Work by Cook and Smith (2004) produced similar, if more specialised, findings, i.e. the individual goals that motivate informal learners in UK online centres are various and powerful. These individual learners may have a 'life cycle' whereby they are first assisted (to build confidence in trusting and using ICT) and subsequently progress onto more engaging and interactive forms of ICT usage.

The ESRC project mentioned above also found, more generally, that there is a failure of ICT to make a difference in terms of helping to widen participation. Specifically, members of the ESRC project argue that we need to re-examine the underlying assumptions surrounding the social complexity of people's lives and how ICT fits into day to day existence.

Empowering through design
The above concerns are fuelled by an examination of current trends in computing. Light (2003) has observed that pervasive computing promises a 'network of things', a joined-up world where learning can be conducted anywhere, at any time, about anything. An emerging question must then be: How can people understand the potential of what is within their grasp?
Light argues that a new divide will emerge between the people who can 'see' and control the structures behind digital environments and those that cannot even conceive of what they are missing (Light 2003). Are the latter to remain mere recipients of learning systems at a time when technologies are potentially enabling everyone to take these matters into their own hands?
Complimentary work by Cook and Smith (2004) has researched the factors that influence learning progression in community-based settings and used the results to argue for a progressive, communal knowledge-building framework for embedding e-learning.

Conclusions
We will conclude the paper by discussing how the work of the Last Friday Mob (LFM) aims to bring about empowering design of ICT for Adult and Community Learning.

References

Cook, J. and Smith, M. (2004). 'Beyond Formal Learning: Informal Community eLearning'. Computers and Education, CAL03 Special Issue, 43(1-2), 35-47.

Cook, J. and Smith, M. (2004). 'Enabling Learner "Progression" in a Community Setting with eLearning'. In Proceedings of British Educational Research Association (BERA) Conference, UMIST, Manchester, 15-18 September.

Light, A. (2003). 'Systems Literacy and the Narnia Effect: Using Education to protect Human Sovereignty over the e-Environment'. Paper presented to the ICS/Oxford Internet Institute Symposium, Sept 2003.