When the Five Questions: Beth Simon article showed up in my Google News feed this morning, I was hopeful of discovering some new tidbit of excitement in the arena of educational technology for the classroom. After reading the article, I was left with the impression that all we have to look forward to is a way to make PowerPoint interresting (althought the article uses the word interactive - but interactive for the instructor only)...hrrrumph!
- Gleaned from the article:
- PowerPoint can be dull - make it less dull using a TabletPC
- Bad educational technology is expensive, unreliable, useless, and dull
- There may be a difference in personal ethics and technology ethics that needs attention
- Wireless technologies will bring new forms of community to campuses
- Computers are having an impact on paperless philosophies
OK, so the article didn't exactly blow me away (and yes, I am whining a bit). Perhaps I was expecting more than an ad for someone's favorite new toy. It does, however, represent the opinions of one IT person in higher education...and I respect that...(well, sorta')
In the context of who will conquer the technology dragon and make life easier for the world to live happily everafter, I have my hopes that geekdom will produce our much needed Joan of Architecture. It is becoming more and more obvious to me that there are serious, but understandable, gaps within the IT community on what is good technology and what is good for instructional technology for higher education. There are leaders, creative thinkers, followers, and used-car-salesmen-bait types within the higher education IT community. Let us hope that the upper end of that scale prevails.
...pass the collection plate,
Whine anyone?