In this book-structured blog I am attempting to shed some light on some of the tools and issues in integrating educational technology into college teaching.
It often strikes me that professions, apart from teaching, have a rich history of innovation. Few are more striking than that of medicine. Many of the medical practices of today would be unrecognizable to the physician of fifty years ago. Medical history is rich with new developments that come at an ever accelerating rate. The significant increases in human longevity are in some ways a measure of this progress. (For a compelling look at this geometric rate of change check out the work of Ray Kurzweil.)
Teaching, on the other hand, if we trace its history arbitrarily back to Socrates, offers what in the way of innovation? Some teachers still proudly announce their use of a teaching technique called the Socratic method, a questioning technique that is about two thousand years old. The history of teaching since the time of Socrates isn’t landmarked by numerous points of significant innovation. New teaching practices have not appeared at an accelerating rate as seems to be the case in other professions.
While there might be many reasons for this paucity of invention it is hard not to notice that many of today’s teachers have not yet taken up the challenge of mastering and using new technological and pedagogical innovations. This reticence not only impedes the development of teaching as a self-defining profession but also allows technology to overpower education in shaping important world trends.
Educational technology is arriving faster than most institutions can absorb it but, for most of our students, each new technological development quickly becomes an important part of their lifestyle. We may have to abandon our goal of preparing students for the real world and turn our attention to making education a little more like the real world.
TOPICS
Current Research on Online Learning |
Why Wiki? |
What Wiki? |
Web 2.0 |
Mashups |
Remembering Memory |
YouTube (work in progress) |
People in the Field |
Chat as an Instructional Tool |
