Am I leaving something out? What do you think?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Future Technologies and Education (W1_Reflection)
Many future technologies were discussed in class during this first week. I believe we all share a few common ideas about these technologies. In the year 2020 we expect more flexibility and accessibility to the technology available for the communication and sharing of information. Also, we expect to be able to provide students with tools that let them experience different situation and environments without leaving the classroom.
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One of the more prolific writers about technology change and its relationship to social change was William F. Ogburn.
The effects that change has on a people may differ depending on the quickness that such changes occur. As Ogburn (1964) noted, some natural change such as the movement of glaciers over European and North American continents, occur slowly – a few feet a year. Technology change, such as the movement from steam engines, to internal combustion engines, to atomic reactors can occur very quickly – a few hundred years. Humanity has also seen communication tools change within a very short time as well. Inventions such as the pony express, newspapers, telegraph, magazines, telephone, radio, movies, television, computers, networks, FedEx, infrared devices, fiber optics, satellites, cell phones, the Internet, and others have changed the way we communicate and the way in which society is structured and operates.
“It is no wonder then that our society with its numerous institutions and organizations has an almost impossible task in adjusting to this whirling technological environment.” (Ogburn, p. 85).
I view the technological future for education with trepidation. The break-neck speed of current technological growth will only increase in the foreseeable future. Humanity will be caught between the adoption of new technology and the maintaining of, and continuation of, current tools. In my home I maintain 3 telephone systems: landline, cell phone, and now Skype. I have 5 different (main) email accounts that I am currently monitoring for incoming messages. I have a difficult time throwing away the old for the new. In my teaching, I have to maintain a parallel set of lesson plans – one for when the technology is working correctly and one for when it is not.
Ogburn, W. F. (1964). On culture and social change: Selected papers. Chicago: Phoenix Books.
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