I just received an email from someone who read my article in The Conversation, “Technology is no longer a luxury for universities – it’s a necessity“. They asked two questions and I thought I’d post my response here. The questions were:
- Do you think teachers have to show students how to use the software which is relevant to their major?
- Do you have any other reasons to explain why technology is important in class?
Here are my responses:
I do believe that teachers need to be able to show students how to use technology as part of their courses. If the technology is being used pedagogically, then it is closely tied to the way the course is taught, which means that it’s probably not going to work for the IT department to show students. When my students use technology in my courses, it’s because I want them to do it in a very specific way, because the use is tied to the objectives I want them to achieve. I also want to be able to explain why we’re using the technology. It has an advantage over other approaches and I want to be able to discuss that.
I think that using technology is important because it does 2 main things:
It enhances communication: By including technology into our channels of communication (note that I’m not suggesting that it replace other channels) we add the ability to enhance communication in ways that are difficult to do without technology. For example, adding rich media like animations, audio and video files, and images helps to convey complex ideas in addition to text or lectures.
It accelerates: adding technology simply allows us to do things faster. Instead of having to search for something on a library shelf, I can search inside books online. Instead of having to flip through pages of course notes, students can search for keywords. Instead of having to write by hand, students can type faster. Technology helps us to do things, find things, learn things, etc. more quickly than the analogue equivalent.
What do you think? Would you have answered these questions differently?