COLLOQUY

Of course, if rushing to provide technology to classrooms causes a degeneration in the well being of people then of course we may judge the implementation as being negative. We do need to understand the negative effects of technology with clarity, so that we can harness the potential that it has to offer. It is a question of equilibrium. Understanding the criteria by which we determine positive and negative consequences of computers reveals at least part of our personal narrative about what we believe effective education to be. We all know that computers and networks are not a panacea for education... neither is a pencil and paper... neither is a class of students sitting in rows... neither is a standardized test... neither is a lecture theatre. All of these things seem to me to be a solution in search of a problem. But to simply dismiss technology or exalt it misses the point.

If we can use new technologies as one of a possible many ways to help people learn to plan their own individual learning, articulate thoughts with greater clarity, represent knowledge in multiple and diverse contexts, engage them in deep explorations, focus attention on exceptional content, increase concentration to the task at hand, discover patterns and relationships by shifting information from one context to another, extend perception, and embrace the wonderful opportunities provided by collaborative projects and learning environments then we have done a good thing. And the more ways we can find to help people do these things the better. If we aren't helping people in this way, we've done a bad thing -- whether using computers or not. And, by the way, let's not spend too much time reflecting on the good ol' days when all of this was happening before computers arrived on the scene.

-- Brian Alger, Director - MindWave Inc. (posted 1/16, 11:40 a.m., E.S.T.)

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