Frank Gillespie, Coordinator for Instructional Support, Office of Instructional Development, The University of Georgia
The Promises: Teaching and learning with computer technology has a history of about 35-40 years. Since about 1960 digital computers have been used to support teaching and learning in several ways; initially as a content to be taught, and as a means to enhance learning, followed by use as a support tool, and finally, as a vehicle for multimedia delivery, and an asynchronous communication link between faculty and students.
About twenty years ago serious promises began to be made that computer technology would soon greatly influence teaching and learning by supplanting the source and information transfer functions of teachers; freeing them to devote more time to the personal concerns of students and providing time for diagnosing learning problems, developing appropriate learning strategies, and monitoring the effects of instruction. Students would benefit by being actively involved in the learning process, receive immediate reinforcement about performance, and be able to proceed at their own pace.
The actual impact of computer technology on instruction has not been that great. Until just very recently the computer has been used mainly as an aid to faculty productivity and to support or enhance normal teaching activities. There have been very few examples where computers have really changed how we teach or what is actually taught.
The promises of twenty years ago have not been realized, but progress has been made in the development of new digital tools to support learning.
Changes and trends in digital learning: During the past twenty years there has been a shift in digital forms of learning:
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Changes in approaches to teaching and learning: Coinciding with a shift in digital forms of learning has been a shift in how we look at teaching and learning in higher education. The use of new technologies is seen by some as a major factor contributing to a shift away from traditional or conventional approaches to instruction and toward new or reform approaches to teaching and learning.
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An examination of some of the current trends in higher education indicates that technology is playing a significant role in the development of some new models of teaching and learning. Some of these new models are directed to improving learning by reducing time, labor, or costs. Others provide new or more convenient ways to deliver instruction or increase or improve educational access. Still others are directed to exploring the potential that technology has for improving the quality of teaching and learning.
How can technology influence the quality of learning?
Some reasons for integrating technology with teaching and learning (Crossroads Project)
The most popular instructional technology applications used in higher educational today are:
Everyone wants technology. Efforts to become involved with technology are often not rewarded or supported by colleagues, departments, or administration. No provision is made for release time or support to incorporate new technologies into existing programs. Little systematic attention is given to examining how limited technology resources can be shared and applied to the missions of teaching, research and service. As much as twenty percent of the population may be afraid of technology.
Everyone is ready for technology. Major systematic changes to facilitate the widespread use of technology for teaching and learning have not taken place. Little has been done to modify requirements or restrictions about seat time, class meetings, credit hours, course completion time, graduation requirements, and assessment and grading methods. Training and support in the use of some very complex systems are inadequate or absent. Little or no cooperation exists within and between departments regarding technology planning and use. There is often uneven access to technology across departments.
Faculty can easily adopt new instructional practices. It is unrealistic to expect anyone to quickly replace old behaviors with new ones, especially when the new behaviors are only described and not modeled. Demo or die!
Technology can do anything. Given enough effort, time, money, and computing power, just about anything can be accomplished with technology. There are many trying to apply this principle to teaching and learning. Instructional technology is presented as a solution to our teaching and learning problems, but it is a solution for problems we have not really identified.
Technology is a good investment. With current technology students can take responsibility for their own learning. They can access information from many more resources than just one instructor or textbook. They can collaborate with other students, They can be expected to do quality work by being asked to do something over and over until they get it right. Faculty can assume the roles of counselor, guide, and mentor. They can spend more time planning for and facilitating learning and developing higher order thinking skills, and less time presenting content. Technology has the potential to do many things for teaching and learning. Is what can be accomplished with technology really worth it? We can not answer this question because we have not answered, or even asked more fundamental questions.
A systems approach is required. We must examine our teaching, research and service missions and determine what we need or want to accomplish. Only then should we begin to identify strategies where technology has the potential to help us achieve our goals. We must experiment together with and assess the effects of these strategies. The results of our explorations ultimately should be used to select, design, implement and support technology strategies that can influence how our students learn and how we teach.
In the meantime, until we learn how to work together, we can learn how to use information technology tools in our everyday work. We can cooperate with each other in learning about and using technology. We can show others how we use information technology in our teaching and learning. We can provide many examples and models. We can recognize, reward, and support adopters of technology. We can encourage access to technology for everyone that wants it. We can examine the effects of technology on the teaching and learning of others and develop realistic plans for incorporating technology into our own teaching and learning.
What do we hope to gain with the transformation taking place in education?
What are the positive aspects of applying Web technologies to teaching and learning? (UGA)
What are the negative aspects of applying Web technologies to teaching and learning? (UGA)
Obstacles to improving teaching and learning with information technology (Steven W. Gilbert, Making the most of a slow revolution, Change, March/April, 1996)
WWW - The WWW, or The World Wide Web, or just The Web, is the latest way to access The Internet, a vast world-wide network of computer and communication resources with perhaps as many as 100 million users.
Instructional Computing (1960-now)
In the early 1960s information technology and the computer provided a new content to be taught. Units within courses and entire courses relating to the following topics were developed. Many examples of computing or instructional computing courses continue to be offered today.
Computer Assisted Learning (1966-now) In the mid to late 1960s the capabilities of the digital computer were employed to develop applications to support the teaching of computer related topics and other types of content. Applications of the following types were and continue to be developed.
Productivity tools (1977-now) The success of the personal microcomputer encouraged the development of a variety of tools to enhance personal productivity. The following types of applications had their beginning in the mid 1970s and continue to be used and refined today:
Delivery of multi-media instruction (1985 - now ) Increased performance of personal computers during the mid 1980s encouraged the production of multi-media educational programs. These packages were often CD-ROM based and had the following characteristics.
Today there are probably over 5000 titles that are examples of these types of programs.
Provide for communication between faculty and student (1990 - now ) Establishment of local and wide area networks and improved access to computers and communication resources during the early 1990s encouraged the development of a variety of new teaching and learning activities:
The Future: The technology revolution in education will continue to be about access to information but also about ways of sharing information. Instructional technology in the next decade will support both synchronous and asynchronous interaction between the learner and the sources of knowledge and information. Incorporating digital text, audio, graphics, animation, and full-motion video into lecture, laboratory, self-study, and interpersonal and inter-group communication activities will be the norm. Real-time, simultaneous two-way video, multimedia presentations, personal support systems, and "education on demand" will be delivered to students where they live, work, or study. Communications and connectivity will increase between the student and the teacher, other students, the office, the dorm room, the classroom, the library, the campus, and the world.