Good teaching wins over technology!

A news entry on Inside Higher Ed this week refers to students' use of technology. The fact that they are using 'more technology than ever' will come as no surprise, but a report by the Educause Center for Applied Research looks more closely at how students use information technology in college and how it can be harnessed to improve the learning experience. I was particularly interested in the conclusion that 'students appear to segment different modes of communication for different purposes.' The report suggests that e-mail, Web sites, message boards and Blackboard are viable ways of connecting with professors and peers, but this is not so for chat, instant messaging, Facebook and text messages, because students 'want to protect these tools’ personal nature '. So whilst social networking sites are increasingly popular, students may feel that their experience is spoilt by teaching staff trying to get in on the act! The findings of the report suggest that the utility of technology in a teaching environment depends upon how it it used, not whether it is used - students prefer good teachers who do not use technology rather than poor teachers who do. The suggestion is that 'as new methods of interacting with information become more ubiquitous...students will grow up with different expectations and preferences for acquiring knowledge and skills' and there will be a focus on 'active learning' that that 'comes from synthesizing information from multiple types of media.' The report does seem to conclude that technology is no substitute for well designed and executed, but at the same time proposes that teachers need to start thinking from different perspectives and not necessarily assume that technology will fit into their current ways of teaching.