Photo by Fredrik Thommesen
While I have the good fortune of working with some brilliant faculty, both academically and technologically, I’m beginning to see the future of online and technology-enhanced education (that’s a somewhat redundant term, huh?) as more and more of a question mark.
There’s very little argument that the education system in the United States is experiencing somewhat of a downturn - or crisis - one aspect of which is that most new teachers are leaving the profession within five years. While this predicament deserves it’s own post, or even an entire blog, my particular point involves the delay this places on technological improvement in education. While the tools of digital education continue to improve as more and more great technological minds step onto the service side, fewer and fewer tech-savvy young teachers are leaving their mark within the education system.
All this talk of a digital divide between educators and their audience becomes moot when the natives are both teacher and student but we seem unable to make this reality. Meanwhile, as the level of comfort with technology between teachers and students widens even further, the ability to communicate and understand one another in the classroom becomes more of a challenge for instructors and more isolating for students and the time it will take to correct this issue grows exponentially.
Alex Olson says:
First off, let me say I think you’ve found the groove for your layout and design, this looks spectacular.
Furthermost, I had a similar subject on my mind yesterday while on my way back from buying groceries. First, I stopped at ALDI to get the essentials, then I accessorized so-to-speak at Price Chopper. There was such a deviance between the subjects of necessity and thrift, even within each store, that it spurred a lot of thought on divides in general.
I wonder if those of us that have had the privilege of a keyboard at our fingers since an early age, despite our particular generation, have advanced this model so far that for some it is impossible to relate to or even attain a proper understanding. I saw an image earlier that day that was a photoshop of a Mac notification window titled ‘Did You Ever Imagine…’ and a No/Yes option to the question: “Did you ever imagine that you would spend the majority of your life interacting with a lifeless machine?”.
There is no industry with more product turnover, it seems, than the net industry: we cycle through applications and services as quick as we do lines of information and trains of thought. The model runs parallel to and is indicative of the current state of education and it seems they have a greater impact on each other as they respectively advance and decay.
Sep 18, 2008, 2:47 pmbendi says:
Great point, Alex. I think technology and education will be at odds for some time to come and, though there is a great opportunity for a symbiotic relationship, we’re foolish if we think we’re already there.
Thanks for the props on the design, though I modified this particular theme very little. No need to with such great work from yichi at vikiworks.com.
Sep 18, 2008, 3:18 pm