Socrates
An article today in The Chronicle of Higher Education probes the usually-assumed, seldom-challenged point that classroom teachers have to compete with technology. What if that assumption is not true? What if technology can prepare students to benefit from their teacher’s time, knowledge, and insights? There are many points and comments to value in the Chronicle piece, but why is the headline so negative toward the role of technology in teaching?: College 2.0: Teachers Without Technology Strike Back
Would not Socrates have loved it if he could have told students to take their laptops to wireless hotspots and there explore everything written in the world about a subject? Socrates would then tell these students to keep their laptops closed when they have returned to discourse that subject with him.
Socrates would likely view today’s assumed conflict between teaching and technology as a paradox.
leonard waks says:
Interesting thought. Clearly the treasure lies with the interaction face of technology-based learning and a live human (whether or not a certified teacher, and probably the latter is better). My son loves the Kahn academy, where the young Mr. Kahn provides his own clear and fascinating lectures on every highschool and college class. Kahn’s goal is to prepare the student for the encoujnter wkith the live teacher and free the teacher from the thankless task of conveying inert “knowlegde”. The student can view all the lectures repeatedly until the material is learned, and then discuss it and test his knolwedge against real world case-examples and problems with the teacher kibbitzing.
A footnote about Socrates. He claimed that if anyone called him a “teacher” it would be slander. He also makes it clear that he doesn’t regard academic learning as of any particular value. Accused of teaching speculative and scientific subjects, he says that he never knew much about these things or cared to; he was interested only in the care of the soul.
19th August 2010 at 10:17 pm