Technology will continue to alter the nature of learning in many educational settings, and it is difficult to fully anticipate the consequences of some of these changes. However, it is useful to further examine some of the most important changes in organizations in order to both anticipate what might occur in educational settings and better understand and learn from previous problems. For example, flexible and alternative work arrangements such as “hoteling” (where mobile employees can go to a hotel-like environment that contains equipment such as desks, computers, and phones to do their work) and telecommuting typify the types of organizational changes that have taken place. Will we see many of same arrangements in educational settings?
While it is evident that learning will become more automated, the idea of a fully automated educational experience in which a machine delivers all instruction, instructional events, and materials and all student interaction is mediated by preprogrammed machine-based technology, seems implausible in the near future. Privateer (1999) asserts that technology should be viewed as a tool to redesign educational curricula, rather than simply as a replacement for tradi- tional instructional methods in higher education. Indeed, if a century of educational research and technological experiments have taught us anything, it is that it is the not the medium, it is the method that makes a difference (Clark & Zuckerman, 1999). Availability of technological media does not guarantee that these media will be properly integrated into instructional techniques. Instead, the greater challenge appears to be the human component of this process. Humans should endeavor to shape technology to fit both their physical and psychological needs (Kock, 2001) and not simply produce advanced technologies that they are not comfortable with. Ultimately, technology will continue to dramatically redefine learning and teaching and will have a profound impact on the educational institutions that enable these processes.
Brothen (1998) observed that there is an increasing gap between available technology and creative uses of it, and Molebash (1999) similarly states that, with respect to technology, education is moving along at a snail’s pace while the world outside is speeding by at a supersonic rate. On the one hand, computer technology is more inexpensive, available, and powerful than ever before, but on the other hand, it appears that educators have not exploited its powers to transform teaching. Instead, it appears as if distance education technologies
have been grudgingly implemented as a reaction to an increasing social and economic demand.
The Internet bubble has burst, much of the fin de siècle hype about “the new economy” has not been realized, and virtual schools have not replaced “brick and mortar” campuses. As education mirrors industry, the proliferation of educational technologies is perhaps preordained, but educators need not be simply along for the ride. In this new industrial order, will “formal education” as a technology evolve and thrive, or will it join the likes of teaching machines and Airborne Television Instruction in our closet of curiosities?
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