Useful BUT...
The readings this week presented technology in a dated fashion. Looking at the sources used for the articles, I notice dates from the 80's and 90's. Indeed, the rapidly changing world of technology makes me feel old. Listserves are presented in a positive light, though I would argue their use has been minimal (at best) for me. It seems that every listserve I belong to always gets a message asking to unsubscribe. Others then send the same message, and soon my inbox is full. I notice I don't tend to get unsubscribed from listserves, even for organizations in which I no longer take part.
Email, of course, is a tool I use daily for personal and business issues. I do not tend to MOO, however, and I never chat. There is a live chat requirement coming up for a course I am taking, so I'll be expected to use that technology then (hopefully on my new iMAC!). I question whether advancing technology enhances learning for online courses. In some ways, of course, it does, but many of the students in the online course I am taking do not have much experience with computers. They tend to be older teachers (though by old I mean 30's and above). :) The discussion forum is filled with logisitcal questions and panicked notes about the technology not working. I notice, then, that there is a lot of tension in this course BECAUSE of technology.
Another problem with technology in online courses is the following: while taking a timed exam this summer, the power flashed off in my town. My test was lost and I had to email the professor when the power came back on, and retake the test. The remaining 5 exams were very stressful because I anticipated a similar catastrophe. In-class, paper and pencil exams never causes such anxiety. I think we have to be careful about relying too much on technology to communicate in cases like this. While cognitive needs of students are surely enhanced by technology in most cases, affective needs suffer when one worries about technology backfiring.
Bethany
Here is another great example! The spellcheck will not work for this blog.
posted by Bethany Snyder-Morse at 1:57 PM
1 Comments:
I agree Bethany. Quite a few of our print sources in the discipline don't always address the newer technologies, in part because the rate of technological change far surpasses the rate of scholarly publication. Thus, it's conceivable that you can write about a techno-tool in your classroom and by the time it's publish, the tool is passe or obsolete.
You raise good points about the techno failure rate and students' resulting anxiety. Here's my question. What role can and should teachers play in alleviating that anxiety? What strategies can we provide to students to handle the inevitably techno glitch or at least no that there can be a plan B. Sometimes I think that the best comfort in a techno environments is the acknowledgement that we're all still human behind our screens and a little TLC goes a long way.
Kris
5:41 PM
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