Today’s communication technology opens new doors for education, but it also poses new questions. Which technologies will serve us best? Should students have access to blogs and wikis? Should we invest in interactive whiteboards and projectors?
One educational technology leader posed a completely different but very intriguing question on his blogs this week: Should technology support education, or should education support technology? On his blog from July 6, Will Richardson quotes Ira Socol, who asked, “So, it is not a question of whether these technologies add value somehow to education, but the reverse, can education add value to the communications and information technologies of our present day world, and its future?” (2009). (By the way, Richardson was referring to responses to Dean Shareski's blog--also good reading.)
The real point of education has long been to create citizens who can contribute to society—citizens who are informed, thoughtful, concerned, adaptable. Education does not exist for its own sake, but for the sake of the society it serves. However, the same is true of technology. And because of technology, today that “society” is the whole world. As Dr. Thornburg notes in the video “Technology and Society,” communication technology is shrinking the globe, allowing access to global peer groups, any time, anywhere (Laureate Education, 2008).
Since both education and technology exist to serve humanity, neither can claim top priority. So, should technology support education, or should education support technology? Yes.
References:
Richardson, W. (2009, July 3) “Digital Inclusion.” Message posted to Weblogg-ed, archived at http://weblogg-ed.com/.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Program 2, “Technology and Society.” Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author.
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Hello Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI have thought carefully about that statement that Dean Shareski made and truthfully, I can understand why the concept of the egg or the chicken is an issue for technology's impact on society and education. It is like the motion of a yo-yo.
Of itself, the need to have communication and information technologies to carry out life's daily tasks validates their relevance; business, travel, trade are just a few examples to show how the above technologies have evolved to facilitate better quality of exchange and service. Likewise, if education adopted and used even a fraction of these technologies, then the exchange in learning and the service provided would see marked differences and improvements. Hence, our own learning experience with this technology course.
In my mind and life, value has been added because knowledge has been gained. Through the medium of technology and facilitated by this educational course, the blog, as a communication tool, via the Internet, has made a difference to my present status as an educator which will impact the future, because I plan to use this tool in my classes. What a wonderful concept!
Jewel Meikle
English/Science
High School
Jewel
Jewel,
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point. In a related vein, when a given technology becomes widely adopted, our way of doing things changes; we adapt because a better way has become available. But because we have adapted based on that technology, now the technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Computers are a perfect example. For hundreds of years, education got along without computers. Then they began showing up in schools, and soon after they became widely adopted. In many places today, it's an expectation that computers will be available in school, and teaching practice has changed as a result. Because we teach differently, the computer has become a necessity.
Becky