Who's Doing What With Technology

Alan Levine, MCLI

I asked Alan Jacobs (SCC) if all of the effort to use instructional technology has been worth it. He smiled. The author of It's a River, Not a Lake (a report on the use of instructional technology in the District) replied, "We have no choice; we have to take the effort. The tools that people need to understand the world now are technology tools." The methods of conducting and means of reporting research are changing to a pattern of on-demand information that requires people to talk more directly to experts.

Jacobs has seen dramatic changes in the way that mathematics is taught with the adoption of graphing calculators. Looking at technology in general, he asks, "What is its agenda?" The answers might be:

Use me. If you do not then I am just wasted, perhaps expensive, junk.
Use me well. It may have to change the way you do things.
See the world through me. Change your world view.

Jacobs sees the Internet as a prime example of technology with an agenda. While the tools are exciting, they will require more skills of critical interpretation on the part of the information receivers. "Television sees us as consumers," says Jacobs, "but on the Internet we are learners." Yet we need to become active learners, not just channel surfers.

Wouldn't it be useful if there were a single resource listing the instructional technology applications within the Maricopa Community Colleges? This issue of the Labyrinth tours the ten colleges with brief descriptions of "who is doing what with technology." This is by no means a definitive, comprehensive list (our disclaimer!), but what is here represents a wide range of innovations that promote effective learning. Look at the creative ways in which learning is driving technology and not the other way around. The list is not limited to snazzy multimedia applications, but includes a variety of instructional uses of technology such as:

introducing the Internet as an information medium
augmenting lectures with off-the-shelf CD-ROM software and video discs
bringing multimedia into the classroom and computer labs
replicating unwieldy lab exercises with computer simulations
encouraging discussion via the Electronic Forum
analyzing and interpreting real world data with graphing calculators

If we missed mentioning you please contact us at the MCLI so you can be in the next year's issue of "Who's Doing What With Technology".

Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction (MCLI)
The Internet Connection at MCLI is Alan Levine --}
Comments to alan.levine@domail.maricopa.edu