The Chronicle of Higher Education: Colloquy

COLLOQUY

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"A prophet is not without honor save in his own country."

Computers are tools, not silver bullets. It is appropriate for a ten year old to use a handsaw, but not a band saw. Some can do it, but many will lose their fingers.

We use computers at McMurry extensively to support critical thinking. We're a small liberal arts university where we teach people with technology to ask questions like "Is all this technology relevant, necessary -- good?"

As long as we teach students to ask these questions, then we as a society can own the technology and use it for good. When we fail to ask those questions, the technology owns us and uses us for its own good.

We are a wired campus, but we work to remain wired into our students hopes, needs, and aspirations. We don't give the kids a CD, tell them to look at and take the exam on Monday. If the educational community isn't careful, that is what teaching could become.

-- Robert Frazier, CIO, McMurry University (posted 1/14, 12:50 p.m., E.S.T.)
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