Arshad Ahmad (arshad@mercato.concordia.ca)
Fri, 20 Nov 1998 09:49:12 +0100
From: "Arshad Ahmad" <arshad@mercato.concordia.ca> Subject: [ifets] old vs. new technology Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 09:49:12 +0100
Several postings have suggested that the impact of new waves of technology
on education (be they film - radio - TV - computers - the internet or
other so-called intelligent systems) range anywhere from being
ill-conceived, faddish dismal failures to
psychic-socio-cultural-linguistic changes that profoundly affect the ways
in which we see the world.
Add to this our epistemological bent towards related questions that deal
with "self efficacy", "beliefs", "truth", "meaning making" etc, and we
approach another continuum from the objective mind to one that constructs
meaning to one molded by Vygotskian forces. This, it seems to me, is the
essence of the leverage afforded by techne - a term the Greeks understood
long before we learned to reinvent it.
Now, with some trepidation, allow me to stake the following position.
There is ample evidence to suggest that human nature resists change -
academia, (and religious institutions) are good examples of just how
powerful this resistance can be. To ask the question as to how we can
better use "old technology" before testing "new technology" is a noble but
futile attempt to resolve what we have not been able to resolve for
donkeys ears. This question traps one with the implicit assumption that
what we have been doing - old technology, can be significantly improved in
isolation - away from the forces of economic and cultural change in which
we find ourselves in. Why is this so? Consider at least three reasons:
For starters, some of the competitive forces begging for change. The most
recent AAHE bulletin suggests that the "corporate university" will have a
higher enrollment than traditional universities in just a couple of years
from today. Or go back a bit. Almost a decade ago, Pascarella and
Terenzini documented the almost zero correlation between grades and work
achievement. That is, our assessment of what we consider meaningful
learning does not seem to matter in life long achievements amongst our
students. Or, if you are more visually inclined, in the Harvard Yard video
"A Private Universe" the graduating seniors, faculty and alumni are asked
"why is it warmer in the summer than in the winter?" - one percent get the
right answer.
Instructional (re) design and learning theory have been around long enough
for educators to have made a difference in they ways in which "old
technology" could make a difference. If we are generalizing, it seems to
me that it might be better to keep parts of the old (dont improve these,
keep them) And use "new technology" to help revise questions about
teaching and learning that we have and will continue to struggle with.
Arshad Ahmad
Department of Finance
Concordia University
Montreal, Canada
H3G 1M8
Phone: (514) 848-2928
Fax: (514) 848-4500
email: arshad@vax2.concordia.ca
More thoughts later.
In the world where I have worked, any attempt to use technology meets the
thick wall of status quo and the resistence, inertia and defensiveness to
prove the "value added" before anyone comits to take any risk. business as
usual since change threatens our expertise - whatever that may be. The
fact is that the academia I where the truth of how technolgy has affected
the ways in which we learn and educate here we are, questioning once again
the least technology This continuim where technology is merely a tool for
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