Teaching with Technology

For the next several weeks I’m going to be reading and summarizing articles from the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) which can be found at this link. I chose this journal because I believe as both the breadth and distribution of bandwidth increases globally, forms of instruction that rely less on classrooms and more on digital architecture will become increasingly prevalent. As a higher education financial administrator my professional interest is that such courses are cost-effective as well as pedagogically effective. I also believe traditional public and private four-year institutions will face increasing competition from private for-profit institutions relying on online delivery modalities.

My perusal of JOLT suggested it combines methodological and scholarly rigor with a broad, interdisciplinary perspective on the ongoing evolution of online teaching. You, too, can apply to review articles for JOLT – but they might say no depending on your qualifications. That seems like a balanced approach to me. It also struck me in looking at different journals that we have come a long way in a short time in dealing with digital interfaces. One journal article from the 1990’s, not all that long ago, spent what today would seem an inordinate amount of time explaining hyperlinks. Click on the hyperlink and it will take you somewhere else. Well duh. Except, I remember when hyperlinks were a new and exciting concept teeming with unrealized prospects and possibilities and the need of explanation. So too with much of what we’re learning about online learning: it’s new, and teeming with unrealized future realities that we shall soon be experiencing for ourselves.

How will those experiences and new realities come to pass? Yesterday I cited a comment that suggested students might pick up an iPad in lieu of paying for a college course. Armed with an iPad, the writer suggested, students could teach themselves; after all the iPad has the same (or more) information for less cost. And it’s probably true that just as Abraham Lincoln taught himself the law without the benefit of formal instruction, many students could realize efficacious educational experiences – enrichment or skill acquisition – utilizing only an iPad. It may “work” for the rare student. If it does, work that is, understanding how and why it works is part of the work of JOLT, which also works to describe and explain how online learning can work for much larger groups than a few.

Which brings up a concluding thought about technologies. They are both the creations of fellow humans and, through social media, our own evolving and interactive creations together. The characteristics of digital technologies reflect our own human capacities and capabilities: we both shape and are shaped by the technologies we have created. Digital technology is in its infancy and so too is our understanding of how it can and might contribute to our learning and education.

Gil Brown