LearnTechLib

The use of technology in learning and education has been rapidly evolving. More and more learning is taking place outside of traditional educational environments. Flipped classrooms are an increasingly popular way for teachers to engage their students in the learning process. Online education has matured and gained widespread acceptance, and now new open learning courses — both informal offerings as well as courses provided by traditional universities — are providing access to students who might not have been served by traditional educational environments. Social network is linking information and people in ways both familiar and unfamiliar, spreading new ideas and creating connections. In a field of study — e-learning and education in information technology — that already sees rapid changes, we are now seeing a change in how the subject itself is viewed. Our digital library has always reflected these changes, as researchers and teachers take on new technologies and learning techniques and share their experiences and results in conference papers, journal articles, reports, and eBooks. To reflect the change to a broader recognition of the intersection between learning and technology, EdITLib, the Education and Information Technology Library, is being renamed to LearnTechLib, The Learning & Technology Library. The new domain for the LearnTechLib website is https://www.learntechlib.org. It is our hope that this name change will encourage and inspire researchers, teachers, and students to explore new and effective learning methods and technologies inside and outside the classroom. With the name change, LearnTechLib will continue to explore the overlap between learning, education, and technology. The topic of “education” as distinct from “learning” will still make up many of the resources in the library. This name change is not a judgement on the term “education” or on the topic of education & technology, although there are definitely some who have made judgments on the term. In his Ted Talk, Joi Ito speaking on his experiences in self-directed learning, said:

learning over education is very near and dear to my heart… to me, education is what people do to you and learning is what you do to yourself

And in an article in EdTechReview comparing learning to education, the argument is made that learning is active and personal, while education is passive, institutional, and top-down. Although there is some truth in this — learning can indeed be a very independent and self-directed process, while education traditional is associated with some form of external structure — there is utility in education which is reflected in the contents of our database. Education, especially primary education, ideally fulfills three key goals:

• the dissemination of information
• development of critical thinking
• providing an environment in which students learn how to interact positively with one another

Technology is offering new opportunities to fulfill these goals. The aim of teaching students how to think — in a sense, learning how to learn — is a key goal of education, and one which continues into adulthood. Teaching effectively with technology — and even teaching teachers how to teach effectively with technology, is a complex subject and the primary focus of one of the more popular journals in our library, the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. We see learning, not as an alternative to education, but a broader subject which includes and overlaps with education. The name change reflects these changes. In order to preserve compatibility and expected behavior with existing systems, the editlib.org domain will continue to be active indefinitely and will respond with the exact same content as the LearnTechLib.org website. However, we encourage you to update your links and proxies to reflect the domain name change. Please contact tech@learntechlib.org if you have questions about this. If you are an active subscriber, the domain change will not affect your subscription or access to resources. For technical questions, please contact tech@learntechlib.org. For login, billing, or other support questions, please email info@learntechlib.org.