COLLOQUY

1. Those who love the new technology, spend hours finding new ways to integrate it into their teaching, and regard questions about its actual efficacy or negative side effects as heretical.

2. Those who argue that machines can never replace a live teacher, and resist the introduction of the computer into classroom teaching, although they may use computers in their own work. This resistance usually takes the form of doing nothing in the belief that this means nothing will be done.

Administrators, backed by those faculty who genuinely believe in the educational value of the new technology, will bring computers into the classrooms. Doing nothing, including failing to use them once they are there, will not stop this. Regardless of where they stand on the computer issue, faculty need to take an active role on how they are used or that role will be defined by others.

In the best of all possible worlds, those who favor computers and have already used them creatively in the classroom will open their minds to some of the reservations expressed in the article. They will extend their efforts into research and provide some studies showing the actual effect of their efforts and suggesting ways to counteract some of the negative side effects. At the same time, those who resist the use of computers will recognize that doing nothing about them is not an effective resistance strategy, and learn more about the new technology. They can then use this knowledge to keep their more enthusiastic colleagues from going overboard.

Ideally, both sides could learn from each other and come up with a balanced approach to teaching with computers that makes the most of their advantages while taking care to avoid the pitfalls. Extensive experience in faculty politics tells me that this is unlikely to happen, but I keep hoping.

-- Toni Levi, College Admissions Consultant (posted 1/16, 10:10 p.m., E.S.T.)

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