Journal Entry #4

One major irony in American education is that no philosophy or pedagogy has been developed to take into account the role of visual representation in instruction, while at the same time increasingly large portions of the education budget are being spent on iconic technologies such as computers, video recorders, and video cameras.

I found this quote to be very interesting, and something I had never taken into consideration before. We base our instructional methods on past theories and ideas. The education system is hesitant to accept new instructional ideas and methods of teaching. We still have our students sit in a classroom at desks while we stand up and lecture them. Some educational systems are beginning to make efforts to change they way we teach our students but for the most part it still follows the traditional method of education. Education systems fear change and want to continue using the traditional method of teaching. Many say it has been successful for many years so why should we change it now. But while these educational systems fear removing traditional instruction methods they ask teachers to incorporate 21st Century Learning styles into the curriculum. They purchase all of the latest technologies to help increase learning in the classroom. But even though educational systems are buying technological items are they really changing their instruction methods. A PowerPoint uses a computer but isn't it still a lecture? Response clickers are great, but are the students still answering questions from a standard format and choosing a letter. Are the students really making the decisions and finding the correct path, or are they just choosing form a list of answers and memorizing facts? Yes technology is being incorporated but are we using technology in ways to improve critical thinking or are we just adjusting our traditional methods?

Great quote!

Reference Article -Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing
Click Here to Read

I copied a section of the article that really emphasizes my point. Please see the quote below.

Interaction

Third, technology must be relevant and interactive to the coursework. A faculty member who uses PowerPoint in a lecture is not using technology interactively. Students need a practical use for technology, whether to manipulate data or to explore the inner recesses of the human body without cutting up cadavers. Students need to communicate quickly with each other, but in a centralized manner. That is why message boards are great. Members-only message boards allow students and faculty to communicate with each other. Plus, faculty members can use the course lockers during lectures and provide information outside lecture for students to explore at their own pace.
Relevance

Fourth, technology must be used for a practical purpose—that is, taking the fundamentals and technology learned over a semester and applying it to a final project, where creativity and uniqueness is required and rewarded. In my technical document design class, we had to create a useful technical document: write the text and design a technical document using Pagemaker. My group designed an instruction booklet for a video game. Chris Reynolds used his sound-editing software to help a friend with a music project. They wrote a short piece of music, recorded and edited it, and burned it to a CD for the professor to evaluate. Chris was excited because it gave him a chance to "play" with his software. While he doesn't use his music software in his business courses, he is learning skills that could be marketable after college. Plus, his friend got an "A" on the project.

Using technology for some practical purpose, and not for the sake of using technology, must be the clear objective. "Students are often the guinea pigs in 'IT-enabled' classes as faculty test out whether the latest innovations actually help learning," Assa said. "Some faculty, in an effort to use the latest buzzword or receive the next big grant, are testing technology simply for the sake of technology, rather than using technology as a tool for learning, such as paper and pencils. When people focus too much on technology, they lose sight of the true purpose of technology, which is to facilitate learning in the classroom."

McNeely, B. (n.d.). using technology as a learning tool, not just the cool new thing. Unpublished manuscript, North Carolina State University, North Carolina. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/Resources/EducatingtheNetGeneration/UsingTechnologyasaLearningTool/6060