Technological Understandings
Constraint is defined as the act of holding back or repression because of external forces or conditions. Restraint is defined as control over one’s thoughts, actions or feeling–reserve, to curb, check or bridle, and this is internal to the individual. – Rob Roy Kelly
The introduction of two significant new instructional tools – computers and the World Wide Web – has revolutionized the way education is designed and delivered. Although it may seem that suddenly everyone is using computers, the process of accepting computers for everyday use has taken several decades. The first computer users were a few researchers who used the Department of Defense ARPA network to exchange data (ARPANET is the precursor of the Internet). As early as the 1960s, schools began to use computers to organize and manage information (database became a word.) But the only instructional use was in the training of programmers; computers were seen as not appropriate for classroom use.
By the 1970s, most people in the U.S. (including teachers) knew about computers but few had used one. In the early 80s, Apple Computer began donating personal computers to schools and commercial software manufactures began developing computer-based tutorials and learning games. Educators were persuaded by commercial interests to use computers as instructional tools. At first, classroom computers were simply a curiosity, an experiment funded by industry.
Among the early adopters of personal computers were graphic designers. I was a graphic designer in Santa Cruz, California in the 1970s and 80s. Santa Cruz is on the edge of what has become known as “Silicon Valley,” the home of Apple and IBM. I remember very well the curious little 1984 Apple Macintosh with its easy to use MacPaint and MacDraw software. But in 1985, a company named Aldus (after Aldus Manitus, a 15th century printer and publisher) created a program called PageMaker that revolutionized communication technology. Enthusiasm among designers for the computer as a creative tool for communication was diffused throughout American culture. Persuasion was easy: remember graphic designers work in the field of advertising and marketing.
With the development of the Internet and the Web in the 1990s, and continued improvement in computer hardware and software, computers have become generally accepted and their use is widespread in homes, businesses, and schools. The assimilation is so complete that it is now impractical to conceive of teaching without computers. Yet, my impression is that the decision to implement computer technology in the classroom is still industry-driven. Purchasing decisions are based more on what the computer can do for the student than on what the student can do with the computer.
The incredible number of options afforded by computers can be both an educational advantage and a pitfall for users. Access to information on any subject is now so instantaneous and vast that it’s become critical to train students to evaluate sources in an effort to distinguish between truth, opinion, and propaganda. I am now seeing students use the World Wide Web as the exclusive tool for problem solving. The innovation of using computers for better communication carries with it the risk of narrowing awareness.
It is the teacher’s responsibility to instruct students in a manner that makes them beneficiaries and not victims of computer technology. This involves sound instruction in the evaluation of information and teaching the value of self-imposed restraint.
Evidence
I have used many different media and technologies to deliver instruction. Its easy to become seduced by the pizzazz of digital design, but neither PowerPoint, PDF, nor Web-based instruction can impart knowledge by themselves. An intelligent teacher realizes that these media help develop the acquisition of knowledge only when used in tandem with personal instruction. Click on these links to view examples of instructional technology I've utilized:
PowerPoint presentation: Use of Space in Graphic Design Layouts
One of hundreds I've used to illustrate a classroom lecture. PowerPoints are simple to make, but limited in the amount of information they can deliver.
Acrobat PDF: The History of Printing From 500 to 1550 a.d.
PDF presentations are my favorite method of illustrating lectures. They allow more complexity than PowerPoint which supports their use as supplimental reading.
Website: The Development of Written Communication
Although the creation of a website is labor intensive, students can access them at all hours, which makes them a valuable delivery method. The drawback is that students' questions cannot easily be anticipated and answered. In addition, the visual design of a website can destroy a students interest. I used an unconventional layout in this one which may not be appropriate for online viewing, but I like it anyway.
Online Course: ART2165: Issues In Web Design
Issues in Web Design is a college course that I first developed with the intention of teaching it in a computer lab. However, Northwest College is in a remote part of Wyoming, where the numbers of students available to attend a lab-based class are limited. In the fall of 2005 I converted this to an online format and have taught it as an online course in the spring of 2006 and 2007
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Technology n.
[Gr. Technologia systematic treatment] 1. Industrial science; systematic knowledge of the industrial arts. 2. Terminology used in arts, sciences, or the like. 3. Applied science.
Technical adj.
[Gr. An art.] 1. Of or pertaining to the useful or mechanic arts, or to practice, method, procedure, etc., in any science, business, profession, sport or the like; as technical training or skill. 2. Peculiar to or used only in a particular trade, profession, science, art, etc.; highly specialized, sep. in sense; as technical words.
Understanding n.
1. Discernment, comprehension or interpretation. 2. Power to understand; capability of comprehending and judging. 3. The intellectual power or the capacity of a particular person to form reasoned judgments. 4. The power to render experience intelligible by bringing perceived particulars under appropriate concepts.
Instruct v. 1. To impart knowledge, to inform, to furnish with direction.
Instruction n. 1. act, practice, or profession of one who instructs. 2. That which instructs or is imparted in order to instruct; esp., a lesson or teaching.
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