Christopher Eliot (eliot@cs.umass.edu)
Fri, 14 Aug 1998 16:46:50 -0400 (EDT)
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Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 16:46:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Eliot <eliot@cs.umass.edu> Subject: [ifets] Re: IFETS - Personal message from forum moderator
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There seem to be quite a few "introductions from new members" today,
so I will add mine.
I am a postdoc computer scientist working on intelligent educational
software at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Currently I am
working with the chemistry department on a system that will be
required of all 1000 introductory students starting in the fall. Other
projects include an intelligent simulation based system for teaching
medical personnel how to treat people who have had a heart attack,
pre-hospital life-support, anatomy and physiology, developmental math
and qualitative simulation for representing physiological mechanisms.
Regarding the current discussion on the place of distance education, I
follow the "middle-of-road" approach that most contributors seem to
share. I am not the touchy feely sort who believes that high quality
education must come from human contact because computers are somehow
incapable of it, but neither do I advocate a blind rush to apply the
latest fad to everything.
I think we need to do research to improve distance learning and
understand what it is and is not good for. We also need a systematic
re-evaluation of the importance and effectiveness of all aspects of
education. One value in developing educational technology is that
hidden assumptions about the purpose of learning come to light.
In general, I think that cognitive, factual and procedural learning
will be effectively addressed by technological means. However, many
conceptual, perceptual and social skills will probably remain
difficult to teach by distance learning mechanisms.
-Chris Eliot
Christopher R. Eliot, Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate
Center for Knowledge Communication, Department of Computer Science
University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003. (413) 545-4248 FAX: 545-1249
ELIOT@cs.umass.edu, <http://www.cs.umass.edu/~eliot/>
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