The Renaissance of Learning

We are living in an era of rapid and disruptive changes in many aspects of our lives. Rapid developments in Information and Communications Technologies, ICTs give modern society a capacity no previous generation could aspire to. Do we therefore believe that ‘history is bunk?’ Back in the early 1990s when talk of the information superhighway and the Information Society arose, there was much talk about this being the new or next Industrial Revolution I sat through many presentations and read many articles which tried to draw a parallel between the capabilities of ICT and in particular the internet with the steam engine, spinning jenny and the production line amongst others. For me it didn't feel the correct analogy. In truth, part of this is personal. In revolutions, there are many victims and after the revolution, you shoot the revolutionaries. Standing where I was, that felt deeply uncomfortable. My thinking on the Renaissance as a potential model started in 1996.