Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:108] Re: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 11
From: Dellow Family (mhowitt@mail.pris.bc.ca)
Date: Thu 17 Aug 2000 - 06:46:11 MEST
From: "Dellow Family" <mhowitt@mail.pris.bc.ca> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:108] Re: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 11 Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 16:46:11 +1200
> Jonathon Richter, grant coordinator
> From: richterj@msun.edu
> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:78] RE: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 10
> Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 18:14:27 -0600
Schools have been around for 2000 years in thier present form
> (more or less) because this technology was unbeatable in delivering it's
> desired end. But computers are even better at delivering in many ways,
> though not all.
I'd disagree with you about schools not changing in 2000 years.
Originally education or "schools" was something only the rich and
priviledged had access to. The structure was built around a tutor and a
few students who had lots of opportunity to interact and discuss and in
that way shape their own knowledge about the world. The students had a
very active role in the development of their knowledge. When education
came to the masses (100-200 years ago depending on where you live) it
was modified. The opportunity for small group discussion and lots of
interaction disappeared due to numbers. The students have become
passive in their acquisition of knowledge. Technology I think gives the
student once again the opportunity to become an active participant in
building their knowledge. It brings this interaction between tutor and
student back into play.
>
>
> Sometimes things change because they work BETTER (means-end) that way.
I don't know about the states but in Canada there is a move towards
using technology to greater advantage at all levels of education simply
because we do not have the population in many areas to support education
requiring a large student body.
>
> Schools are truly threatened if they don't change because now there is a new
> kid on the block.
Again in Canada it is the rural areas that are most keen on developing
technology and it has been regarded as unimportant in the more populated
areas and in the larger universities. As a consequence many of the
smaller universities and rural areas are now far more advanced in the
development of courses employing technology than are the older larger
universities.
Mary Ellen Howitt
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