Introduction: Educational Technology from Different Points of View
Why should the introduction and use of any new technology in schools be a source of controversy? Are the controversies inspired by the introduction of computers at school different in kind (or only degree) from those inspired in other professions by the use of computers (e.g. in medicine or architecture)?
From Larry Cuban's analysis in Teachers and Machines (1986), there appears to be something especially robust about the resistance of schools and classrooms to new technologies. Indeed, in an article written after both the personal computer and the internet had become inevitable facts of educational life, he argued again for the durability of the traditional classroom -- the article was titled "Computers Meet Classroom: Classroom Wins." Most recently, in Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom, Cuban extends his analysis to higher education and reports similar finds in a chapter on Stanford titled "New Technologies in Old Universities."
Whether or not one is discouraged/annoyed by Cuban's findings and arguments, his work reveals the way truths about the introduction and use of technology in education depend in the perspective from which the questions and issues are raised. In CS92 we have the task of making ourselves aware of the perspectives of different disciplines (e.g. the history/philosophy of education and cognitive psychology as well as the various sectors of CS); the task is pleasurable for the same reason it's challenging and sometimes infuriating!
This week we're considering computers and education from the point of view of the history of the US school classroom. Next week, we'll consider the "same" issues from the point of view of the philosophy of education. After that we'll see the cognitive science point of view, and after that we'll see how the designer of technology approaches these issues. An overall goal of CS92 is to let you develop your own perspective on these issues, while you get to know the landscape of the edutech "field".
The 2004 Project Pool
We'll begin the week with a discussion of each of the proposed projects, and questions of how the CS92 teams will work with the sponsoring teachers. One of the most challenging things about CS92 is that we begin with program specifications that "underdetermine" both design and programming details. One of the goals of the course is for each student team to make judgements about these details and create something that pleases not only the sponsoring teachers and her/his students but the team itself.
Larry Cuban's Oversold and Underused
We'll discuss Cuban's most recent book this week, with some reference to his earlier book, Teachers and Machines (a set of quotations from that book will be helpful for those not familiar with that book). We'll begin with some questions about chapters 1-3:
Continuing with chapters 4-6, and issues perhaps closer to home, we'll consider the following questions:
We'll end the class 3:30 on Thursday, to allow everyone to sign up for their preferred projects.
For next time: Read John Dewey's Experience and Education (1938) for Tuesday, and Scheffler's "Computers at School?" (1986) for Thursday. We'll begin the listserv after class today, and you'll receive mail about the project teams early tomorrow. Your TA will then send members of each team the contact information for their sponsoring teacher.