[Air-l] Technology Transforming Education

[Mary-Helen Ward]

I agree. I was replying to Steve's assertion that it is not necessary to 
'redesign teaching' (except in response to natural disasters) with a 
counter assertion that this isn't a choice that's been brought about by 
web-based technologies - it's happening anyway.

M-H


Michael Baron wrote:

>I think the core teaching skills remain the same. It is only the delivery
>methods that evolve over the time. I see evolution of the classrooms as
>normal. The world is changing and the education industry is chaging with it.
>
>On 5/23/07, Mary-Helen Ward <mhward at usyd.edu.au> wrote:
>  
>
>>I'm not clear who 'we' are  (people on this list? Academics?) or why we
>>would limit this engagement to the US. Shifts in the technologies of
>>learning are happening worldwide.
>>
>>Teaching is always being redesigned - the classrooms my children sat in
>>in the 70s and 80s bore little resemblance to the classrooms I sat in
>>the 1950s. The classrooms my grandchildren sit in today are very
>>different again
>>
>>M-H in Australia.
>>
>>
>>
>>Steve Jones wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>><nostalgia>That takes me back to my UIUC days, and PLATO...Programmed
>>>Logic for Automated Teaching Operations.</nostalgia>
>>>
>>>(That probably gives away my age as much as admitting I have a
>>>"record collection.")
>>>
>>>These are the kinds of discussions in which I wish we could engage
>>>many U.S. faculty and administrators. One of the things I'm seeing on
>>>a lot of campuses the last couple of years is excitement among
>>>administrators about "blended" learning because it promises to free
>>>up classroom space, which ties into two important administrative
>>>matters, namely an interest in increasing enrollment as a means of
>>>increasing revenue, and an interest in keeping a lid on construction
>>>costs (or, in some cases, the cost of leased space). I agree that
>>>those are important matters, but I disagree that they are sufficient
>>>reasons to "re-design" teaching (though maybe in really dire
>>>circumstances, along the lines, say, of what happened in New Orleans
>>>and along the Gulf Coast due to Hurricane Katrina, it would be
>>>justifiable as a temporary solution to buildings that must be
>>>rehabbed and are unusable in the meantime).
>>>      
>>>