Technology and Teaching

I plan on posting a more complete essay on our blog after Tuesday's discussion, but after getting this week's reading I was chewing some thoughts. Look how far our technology has come since 1998...leaps and bounds. The questions and fears presented here, at times, seem so far in the past. The questions about this thing called Electronic Mail (e-mail) for instance. How would it contribute? How would it change the student/teacher relationship?

I especially liked the statistics concerning the availability of computers for students. A few students had their own PC, some could borrow from friends and still some students could try and gain access to the "very few public access terminals that the university provides." (218) Who would have thought that our system would become so reliant on computers? We have so many computers on this campus that there is even overflow into the hallways in the very building where we hold our class.

I don't think that anyone could have predicted that technology would progress as quickly as it has, and that it would have such a huge impact in such a short time period. Take for example our class blog. There has been some great writing done here this semester. It has in no way taken anything away from the need and importance of our class meetings, and if anything it has enhanced the whole process of our discussions.

It is difficult for me to remember what it was like before computers were so common. When I started as an undergrad in 1998 computers were already fairly common on campus. I was not any good with them, but I still could use Microsoft Word or whatever it was at the time to write papers, print them out and turn them in. No type writer or carbon paper for me. With time I came to understand them, and sometime in 1999 I bought my own. It just blows my mind how dependent we are on them now, and how different and more difficult life would be without them.