The clip below is making its round amongst friends on social media. Unfortunately I don’t have a source to give it’s due copyright attribution. Nevertheless, whilst the clip will be evoking lots of different messages for different people, my thoughts went to its primary message – the traditional vs digital, especially in the context of learning online.

Look theatres didn’t disappear with the advent of film. Nor did radio go away with the arrival of television. In fact, more people are currently listening to radio* than ever, albeit now for a slightly different purpose, maybe in a different place.

Learning face to face too will not be diminished by learning online. If we create it properly, and I can see with the hard efforts of educators around the world due to the pandemic, that things are changing towards this way; digital will not replace the traditional ways of doing things, but it will continue to enhance the way we do the traditional.

Things are not ideal currently with learning online, and we need to iron out as a society, such as universal high speed internet access, ownership of data, accessibility.

However for now, and going back to the clip and the analogy it’s trying to portray – whilst technology will not help when you run out of the loo roll, it will hopefully help you to get hold of one, in time, before that ever occurs!

*https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52037461