Elise Italiano at Public Discourse, in her article Community, Contemplation, and Computers: the Role of Technology in Education:
Though it is becoming clear that technology is changing the way we learn, it is not yet clear that it is improving it.
Though concerned with recent developments in K-12 education (especially in light of the White House's ConnectED Initiative), there's plenty here for higher-ed folks to contemplate regarding the relationship between pedagogy and technology.
Those who embrace the White House’s view of education share three main presumptions:
- Education should be highly individualized;
- Digital interaction with concepts and ideas is an effective and desirable means of learning;
- Education should be primarily geared toward helping produce students with skills for the workplace.
We, obviously, are in the education technology business. We really think Populi can help small colleges. But as we've written before, there's a lot of hot air about online learning that has nothing to do with actually getting students a meaningful education.
The best presumption anyone can make about online learning is that it's an amplifier: both in the sense that amplifiers get your voice out to more people, and in that small pedagogical problems are more likely to become big ones.