Tim Holt guides readers through the ins and outs of educational technology with reviews, news, and a podcast or two on his blog Byte Speed . He’s Director, Instructional Services for the El Paso ISD. I especially appreciate his thoughtful essay titled Technology Overload in the Classroom. It stimulated this response.
I don’t think we have too much technology in schools, nor are teachers using technologies inappropriately or inadequately. Each does the best she or he can at the moment with and without electronics.
I think we’re in a transition from manual face-to-face mass or group instruction to something else. Schooling, like other organizations, evolves as external conditions change.
It’s a trite cliche, but appears accurate, to say that global conditions have changed more rapidly than educators have adapted schools to fit these conditions.
I, along with many others including I suspect Tim, try to help bring about (mass) electronic based ubiquitous one-on-one learning, some independent, some collaborative, some in schools and some in other venues.
One-on-one learning appears to be a growing, below the radar global movement in schools. Whether this effort supplements or supplants some, most, or all manual face-to-face instruction in most schools, no one knows or can know now. Already, many students in the U.S. and other countries have access to such ubiquitous learning with electronics such as mobile PCs through their schools.
Tim displays a great attitude. He’s worth reading.
Thanks for the followup. It is always interesting to try to determine what is too much of anything, not just technology in a classroom. Some teachers have the “bring it on” attitude about technology. I have some right now clammoring for iPods so they can start podcasting.Others want thier own server (no, sorry, can’t buy that for ya) and others want one to one right now!I have others that say “leave us alone.”The trick is finding the solution that makes everyone happy. Good luck huh?
One last comment:I saw Negroponte in San Diego talking about the $100 laptop program. Interesting stuff, but one thing that was telling to me was the short video he played, where the aid worker said that the people use the laptops as sources of light at night in their huts. So I was thinknig, perhaps we need to address some more basic needs BEFORE we hand out laptops to tribes in Africa. (And by extension in the US as well, lets make sure some basic needs are being met prior to meeting the next level needs.)Tim