Chris O'Hagan (C.M.Ohagan@derby.ac.uk)
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 14:27:39 +0000
From: "Chris O'Hagan" <C.M.Ohagan@derby.ac.uk> Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 14:27:39 +0000 Subject: Re: [ifets] tomorrow
Hi
It was never my intention to polarise between old and new
technologies ( I did not give it that title!), and I think Mike
Collett puts his finger on it when he says ' The key is balance.'
And I suppose that is what I was trying to say in my preconference
'prompter' - Is the balance too far towards new technology so that
the majority of teachers are not cutting their teeth on simpler
technologies first? Is there a natural tendency for those promoting
technology to focus too strongly on the few to the exclusion of the
many? Does the increasing rate of change exacerbate that?
We have had various responses: the 'optimists' who don't think there
is particular learning curve of this kind, and teachers can come on
board any technology any time, and the 'pessimists' who are more
sceptical of this, because of the lack of cpd and the persistence of
'out-of-date' instructional models, or indeed institutionalised
structural barriers in the very ways our schools/colleges are
organised.
And there are those who are seeking answers in
social/political/instructional theorists, and who find difficulties
in a simple 'strategy and implementation' model. In particular we
have some views which would fall in the 'technological determinist'
camp, suggesting that technology imposes its forms on both the social
and pedagogical nature of learning, irreversibly changing the nature
and purpose of learning itself.
I think it would be good if some of these last contributors, or
others, could relate these views more closely to 'action' in our
educational institutions. What does 'theory into practice' have to
tell us? In lieu of a social and political revolution which will make
technology somehow 'liberating' rather than 'repressive', what do we
do now for our students?
Chris O'Hagan
============================================
Christopher O'Hagan
Dean of Learning Development
Centre for Educational Development and Media
University of Derby
Kedleston Road
DERBY, DE22 1DA
England
Tel: +44 (0)1332 622262 (direct)
Fax: +44 (0)1332 622772
Email: c.m.ohagan@derby.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.derby.ac.uk/cedm/welcome.html
CEDM is home to a Teaching and Learning Technology
Support Network Centre, one of nine in the UK offering
free support to UK Higher Education Institutions:
tltsn@derby.ac.uk
Without Contraries is no progression - Wm Blake
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