Structural Change and Educational Technologies
Reflection by
Jason Bates
At every stage of history,
technology has been a challenge to an existing mindset because it changes the
way things have been done (ex: ice machine, steamboat), and at times pushes some
people out of their comfort zone. Many factors have contributed to the growth
in technological power. Most importantly is the growth in population, and a
need for a more powerful computational power. The article by Robert Tinker
referred to Moore’s Law, stating that the number of transistors on a microchip
was doubling every 18 months. What Tinker failed to mention was the second part
of Moore’s Law, which states that at the same time the price for that
technology will continue to decline by 50% in value relative to that power.
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If you combine this law with what
has happened with email and the Internet revolution, it is absolutely amazing.
In 1993, there were no users on the Web. In the last 24 hours, 2 million new
web pages have been added. By next year, it is estimated that there will be
more web pages than people on the planet.
Over 12 billion email messages are sent daily, in the US alone.
But what does this mean for
education? Unfortunately, education is largely disconnected from the rest of
the world. A world that has changed drastically over the last 15 years. As we
now see, education is not confined to a single place or time, or even to a
single teacher. Students can now benefit from the wisdom and experiences on
many people. Learning can occur wherever the learner is at a particular moment.
This new technology will create a needed shift in the instructional role a
teacher plays. For most teachers it is
becoming increasingly harder to keep up with these changes. If we, as
educators, are going to keep up with this technological explosion we must
change our teaching. Our curriculum must make a drastic shift from
content-based to process based. We should be organizing technology around
student learning not the opposite. We need to prepare kids for their
future, not the past or present.
Changing people’s mindset on the delivery of educational content
will need some convincing. Let’s hope they do not have the same thoughts as
others from history:
“What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out
of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches?” (Quarterly
Review-England 1825?
“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a means of communication. This device is inherently of no
value.”(Western Union Internal memo, 1876)
“The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a
fad, a passing fancy” (Henry Ford’s lawyer)
“ I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
(Thomas Watson-Chairman of IBM 1943)
“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their
home” (Ken Olsen-founder of Digital Equipment Co. 1977)
We should instead look to what former president John F. Kennedy so
forcefully said, “Change is the law of life, those who look only to the past or
the present are certain to miss the future.”