Educational technologists do hope that there is research on educational needs before we introduce new technologies into education, but that is because we don't want to be wasting time on flashy new items that may not have much of a purpose yet. But in my digital divide work I sense an ongoing interaction: people who have no access to technology (who are not sitting in nicely furnished schoolrooms) are hungry to learn and will make best use of what is available, until that moment when they are ready for the most professional equipment; and then the new challenge arises of how to get that equipment. If that equipment becomes available to them, then we can worry about wasting time on the latest bells and whistles.
And even games (ten years after it was predicted) are now being shown to have educational value. There is a muse of technology just as much as in poetry, and synchronicities abound. The creative person isn't going to stop creating just because we'd like more control. That would stifle creativity. In the accessibility portion of the digital divide we have a similar difficulty. Many people are now aware of the the need for accessibility to those with disabilities; but as soon as we work out ways to accomplish it, there are new technologies sprouting out of the woodwork, and they aren't necessarily accessible. We can deal with the accessibility issue best by working on policies of always having people with disabilities involved in creating new technologies (because when it gets right down to the actual work, this creation is a team effort.) And I also personally think it would be best if there were always an educational technologist involved, someone who could ensure, not that the research is done before development, but rather that the development takes education into account and builds in possibilities for using new technology in educational ways. I would definitely love to have an educational discount on one of these. Think what it would mean to a small group of underserved people to be asked to FIND the educational uses. Sandy Andrews -- Sandra Sutton Andrews, PhD [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digital Media and Instructional Technologies Arizona State University On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:23:38 -0800, Alfred Bork <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > There are half a dozen projects for producing cheap computers, including > ones at MIT and Carnegie Mellon, most more interesting than the simputer. > But none of them is based on any analysis of educational needs. I propose > that we should delay such design until we have a sizable body of well > evaluated learning material. > > > Alfred Bork > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE > in the body of the message. > _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
