Teacher and Technology

This is the first entry of a blog for EDUB1990 at the University of Manitoba. The course is set to run beginning January 2008.

Several guiding questions will focus the course over the next few weeks. The fundamental question is simple: What do middle years teacher candidates need to know about educational technology? The corollary question takes us a step further and asks: What do middle years students need to know about educational technology? What do they need to know about technology? In spite of the similar "look", these are very different questions with very different answers. Each is important, but it is the first which must remain the focus of this course.

The first class begins with a video/film: Norman McLaren's 1961 classic Opening Speech . The short film asks more questions than it answers, though its ultimate question is indeed answered. Within the short film lie the germ of the idea of educational technology.

At the outset, it is important to state what this course is NOT, and at the same time what educational technology is NOT. This is important, because it is almost always misunderstood. The question about technology, the philosopher Heidegger famously said, "is nothing technological." The question about educational technology is not to turn teachers into technicians. You are teachers. You are NOT techies. For those of you who are teachers and who are also techies, we will try not to hold that against you. Nor is educational technology about becoming computer scientists, and understanding how to use Java, or how to program in html or how to set up a website.

Then what is technology about? Technology is a complex system that involves cultural, political, social, economic and aesthetic issues. The next class will examine some of the definitions of educational technology.

Technology is already a part of the classroom. That technology must be low cost or even no cost, and user friendly. The focus must be on using the technology to assist the teacher, not to interfere.