{"id":3248,"date":"2013-08-27T10:36:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T08:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/OEB_Newsportal\/?p=3248"},"modified":"2016-11-21T16:56:27","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T14:56:27","slug":"communication-collaboration-and-interaction-an-interview-with-eilif-trondsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/oeb-insights\/communication-collaboration-and-interaction-an-interview-with-eilif-trondsen\/","title":{"rendered":"Communication, Collaboration and Interaction: an interview with Eilif Trondsen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Eilif Trondsen is Research Director at Strategic Business Insights, formerly Stanford Research Institute. He describes himself as a \u201cScandihoovian\u201d \u2013 originally from Norway, he went to California to visit Silicon Valley, and was so taken with the place he decided to stay. That was 34 years ago. More recently, however, he has been drawn back across the Atlantic to analyse developments in the Scandinavian world \u2013 to see if Europe\u2019s new start-up capitals are evolving on similar lines to America\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Interview by Alasdair MacKinnon<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cEduPreneuring\u201d is Trondsen\u2019s portmanteau term for this latest trend in edtech, a concept which encapsulates the pioneering spirit of the young companies that are now hoping to make their mark on an education landscape which has often, in Europe, been dominated by government ministries. It is something Trondsen has been noticing at Stanford for a while: \u201cI see incredibly bright students coming out of the school of education, and they don\u2019t want to become teachers: they want to start companies. They have ideas on products that can make the life of teachers better and easier. I\u2019ve been totally blown away by how good these young people are. And now we see entrepreneurship spreading \u2013 Barcelona, Berlin, Stockholm, Tallinn \u2013 it\u2019s happening everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Over the last two or three years tech start-ups have begun to flourish in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, many of them focusing on education. Trondsen\u2019s latest research project targeted early-stage projects, in an attempt to identify, profile and evaluate these Nordic companies. He and his Nordic colleagues in the project (funded by Nordic Innovation headquartered in Oslo) got into contact with fifty enterprises, most of them set up only in the last two and three years, which were \u201cinnovating, coming up with new ideas, and increasingly focusing on the areas we were particularly intrigued by, that is game based learning, mobile learning, simulations and online tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

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His research has given him a fascinating insight into the birth of a new industry, and reflects not only the particular circumstances faced by young companies in Scandinavia, but also global trends in technology and education. What has become important is \u201ccommunication, and not just communication, collaboration and interactivity\u201d. For Trondsen the educational revolution is not being brought about by technology of itself, but by the new channels of communication technological tools open up between people \u2013 something evident in the Nordic EduPreneurs\u2019 concentration on mobile and game-based learning. \u201cThe tech is just a tool, and if you have more tools you have more means for communicating. That\u2019s the key part of learning,\u201d he says, \u201chaving different ways of communicating.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To illustrate the point he turns to tablets. \u201cI read the story recently of a primary school teacher talking about how it had really changed her life \u2013 the iPad made less of a wall between her and her students. You get some very interesting dynamics as a result of bringing in these tablets \u2013 it\u2019s a way to really get the interactivity. Why, I see my 2 year old granddaughter interacting with a tablet and she already knows how to manoeuvre and interact with it. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about: actually interacting with the content, moving things around, solving problems. I\u2019m sure that\u2019s going to result in much improved learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Though education has always been about the communication between teacher and pupil, some of its methods undermine the usefulness of this moment of interaction. Trondsen, having progressed through years of formal education himself, is as well placed as any to criticise these \u201carchaic methods\u201d \u2013 particularly the concept of lecturers lecturing and students writing notes, a model he labels \u201cthe sage on the stage\u201d. \u201cCopying off the board is the most stupid way of teaching,\u201d he says firmly: \u201cI remember it from grad school and it\u2019s just a waste of time. You really don\u2019t have the opportunity to think about what is being said when you\u2019re just trying to copy the notes.\u201d For Trondsen the flipped model, where students can interact with the lecture material in their own way at home while collaborating with classmates and teachers to solve problems in the classroom, is a far more effective form of education. \u201cEven with video, though it may not be the most effective sort of learning, you can have 100 people watching and then use twitter as a backchannel for dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Of course, the communications revolution goes far beyond formal education, into informal learning and training. \u201cYou can now collaborate with anyone, and do team-based learning. Most of us in the workplace today have to work collaboratively.\u201d Ironically, one of the problems Trondsen found facing the EduPreneurs he contacted for his research was a lack of communication. \u201cThese guys feel somewhat isolated, especially in the Nordic region, where the countries are small. They\u2019re sitting by themselves and feel that they\u2019re not able to talk with people who are doing the same elsewhere in the region. One of the things we found during the research was that companies really enjoyed connecting and hearing what other people were doing and so on.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s one of the roles ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN plays \u2013 bringing people together and enabling them to connect, get to know each other and see how they can work together. I hope that eventually maybe these companies can make their way down to Berlin and use that as a way to connect, and talk, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Eilif Trondsen will be facilitating a session on EduPreneuring at this year\u2019s ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN. Find out more and register for the conference at <\/strong>https:\/\/oeb.global\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eilif Trondsen is Research Director at Strategic Business Insights, formerly Stanford Research Institute. He describes himself as a \u201cScandihoovian\u201d \u2013 originally from Norway, he went to California to visit Silicon Valley, and was so taken with the place he decided to stay. That was 34 years ago. More recently, however, he has been drawn back […]<\/p>\n

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