Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:842] Re: Response to Arun
From: Art Recesso (amrecess@valdosta.edu)
Date: Thu 04 Jan 2001 - 16:01:29 MET
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 10:01:29 -0500 From: Art Recesso <amrecess@valdosta.edu> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:842] Re: Response to Arun
Response to Arun:
> "It will always be true that sacred cow produce superflous milk. In this
> instance, the computer may well be the cow who changes milk into mud. An
> information fetish seems to occupy the minds of most educators these
> days. "
The USA has begun to see the backlash of an economic sector trying to rely solely on the
compilation, housing, and delivery of information. Internet companies are failing in droves
and the stock market has become wary. I sense the same frustration in education. There is
more information, materials, ideas, etc... accessible to educators than ever before. But
how do we best make use of it? See http://bigchalk.com as representative of the private
sector and http://www.glc.k12.ga.us/ or http://www.intime.uni.edu/ serve as public sector
representative projects.
My questions...
Is there a critical mass of teachers that can even make effective use of the materials?
How many teachers are receiving quality training to use technology in the classroom?
Yes, information overload is muddying the waters. But we should not disregard the
effectiveness of the computer to increase a shool teacher's capacity and capability to
access resources and make even the smallest improvements in the classroom without first
being concerned with the quality of, and access to, training for all teachers. Even then,
according to the work of the CEO Forum on Technology (http://www.ceoforum.org/), teachers
have only attained the awareness level.
Computer-related technology presents many capabilities beyond information compilation and
delivery for effective instruction and learning, but we must first do a better job of
getting teachers to a basic level of competency. Then we can have more success further
implementing the highly-interactive learning environments (See Papert and Bork).
Art Recesso
Asst Professor
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Ga USA
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