EDUCATION,
TECHNOLOGY, AND CHANGE: QUERIES
Revised, October,
2000
Steven W. Gilbert
and Ingrid Werge of the TLT Group, et al.
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The following
is an evolving list of questions intended to help individuals and institutions
clarify values, set important goals, and review progress. These queries reflect the ongoing search for
balance and clarity as institutions increase their commitments to integrating
information technology into teaching, learning, and the life of the school
community.
Participants in a workshop led by Steven W. Gilbert at the Second
International Congress on Quaker Education developed the framework for the
following series of questions, which have subsequently been expanded in a
workshop sponsored by the Friends Association for Higher Education and the
Friends Council on Education at Earlham College in the summer of 2000. We look
forward to engaging others in extending this activity, revising our efforts,
developing more queries on related topics, and learning how to use these
queries most effectively.
For more information contact <gilbert@tltgroup.org>
1. Humane and Appropriate Use of
Technology
Do we individually and collectively use computerized and networked
information technologies in a humane and appropriate manner that safeguards and
edifies the dignity and sanctity of the person and the good of society?
How can educators avoid using information technology in ways that
encourage illegal or unethical activities (e.g., intellectual property)?
2. Technology and Community
How can
information technology enhance human interaction? In what ways is technology bringing people together, keeping them
apart? In what ways is technology
affecting the sense of community at the institution?
3. Equity of
Access (within institution, across institutions, inside/outside, public)
In what ways does your institution support access to information
technology for all members of the community regardless of their specific roles
as students, staff, faculty, alumni, neighbors?
4. Technology and
Economics
In your decision-making about and use of information technology, do you
carefully consider the wider economic implications of participation in the
processes of technological change?
How will the growing educational uses of information technology narrow or
widen the gap between the quality of and access to educational experiences for
those who are divided by wealth? How
will participants deal with the disparity of access to information technology
within a technology-rich school situated within a poorer community?
5. Compatibility with Institutional Values
How can the core
values of the institution be integrated with educational uses of information
technology? [How can the educational
uses of information technology transform the teaching/learning process while
maintaining overall goals of Quaker schools?]
6. Accommodating/Understanding
Diversity of Attitudes Toward, Responses to, and Skills with Information Technology
In what ways does your [requiring/urging] use of information technology
recognize differences in the level of comfort in using information
technology? Familiarity with
information technology? Skill level in
using information technology? How can
those who are NOT “early adopters” be supported and encouraged to participate
consistent with their own values, beliefs, and skills?
How can an educational institution use new technology
applications that support new modes of working together – without coercing
participation from those not yet ready?
How can an institution engage some people without forcing everyone? Avoid an all or nothing choice?
How does your educational program help users become more comfortable with
and adept at using information technology?
As you evaluate the effectiveness of your educational programs do you
seek a wide range of people’s reactions to (and their guidance for) the use of
technology to improve teaching and learning?
7. Coping with Information Flood
How can you as teachers help your students distinguish between
information that clarifies and information that clutters? How can you as teachers ensure that your
students inwardly digest and incorporate new information into their spiritual
and mental growth, rather than simply gathering endlessly?
8. Keep Up, Slow Down
(Discipline)
Do you inquire at regular intervals about the viability and
appropriateness of the information technology you are using? Do you schedule your use of information
technology so that the information can be reflectively considered over an
appropriate time?
How can information technology be used to slow down the accelerating pace
of living, communicating, thinking?
[How will the growing uses of information technology affect Quaker
simplicity?]
9. Enabling Use
Do you seek to use technology to extend your capabilities and those of
your students? Do these uses provide an
advantage over — or replacement for — other methods? Do you seek to adjust the technology to provide new or different
insight(s) into your task or inquiry?
How can educational uses of information technology enhance or support the
variety of teaching/learning styles?
10. “Opening Doors” to Broader,
Deeper, Understanding, Wisdom
In what ways are you encouraging, through interdisciplinary studies and
otherwise, an educational process which helps students organize, integrate, and
give comprehensive meaning to the information they are receiving and which
encourages then to remain open throughout their lives to new insights and
understandings unfolding in the world?
11. Move from Lecturing to
Facilitating and More Active Learning
What is the best use of the limited time students and faculty have to be
with one another? When is a lecture the
most effective means of conveying information?
What tools and environments are most effective in enabling teachers to
facilitate student learning?
How will educational uses of information technology
diminish or enhance contact among students and teachers? Can information technology be integrated
into teaching and learning in ways that allow the teacher to share students;
“Aha!” experiences?
How can information technology foster a culture of
inquiry among undergraduate students?
12. Evaluating and Selecting
Combinations of Face-to-Face Meetings, Telecommunications, etc.
How will the availability of new technology options change the ways of
education?
In what ways are you identifying or developing the most educationally
useful combinations of face-to-face meetings, telecommunications, and
independent work? What are you doing to
understand more fully the unique educational assets only available in
face-to-face meetings? What are you
doing to learn how to use various forms of telecommunications to improve the
quality and learning for students who can attend classes on campus and for
those who cannot (or those who find it highly inconvenient to do so)? How can we tell if educational uses of
information technology are improving the quality of education within an
institution?
How will educators resist the pressures to adopt commercially attractive
options that may have little intrinsic educational merit?
13. Resource Distribution and Job Security
How will the
growing educational uses of information technology affect job security for
teachers? Other professional educators? How can an educational institution reach
agreement about faculty needs for access to information technology
resources? How can the associated costs
be allocated fairly and equitably? How
will an institution be guided to allocate limited information technology
resources and professional development services?
14. Lifelong Teaching, Lifelong
Learning, Lifelong Professional Development
In what ways are you encouraging and supporting lifelong teaching and
lifelong learning? How do you enable
students to teach their peers, to teach their teachers, and to help others
within and outside of your institution?
How do you encourage and support alumni and retired faculty to continue
learning and help with teaching? How do
you use information technology to support lifelong teaching and lifelong
learning? To what extent is each and
every faculty member, staff person, and administrator engaged in activities
that extend their own abilities to find, compare, select, and use new
applications of information technology and new approaches to teaching and
learning?