Technology Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
In doing the assignments for the "design" class, I started thinking about design and technology. My thoughts occurred because there is a fair amount of technology involved in the class. Having grown up in the post WWII era, I am comfortable with reading, but not comfortable with technological innovations.
Yesterday-My First Techno Experience
My first experience with technology, post radio, was the television. In the early 50's, my family was fortunate enough to have a Halicrafters (brand name) television, which looked like a heart monitor with a small screen. We laughed ourselves sick watching "Uncle Miltie" (the late Milton Berle, comedian) on the tube. Other programs were Kukla Fran and Ollie and Howdy Doody. Color tv did not make its entrance in our house until the 1980's.
Oh, and when I wanted to telephone someone to talk about Uncle Miltie, I had to put a nickle in the space on the telephone base. We even had a special telephone table and chair used for sitting down to make our phone calls. In the late 1980's, my husband and I bought the latest telephone technology-a bag phone. The phone was portable, and in a bag on the floor. This was quite an advance and reassuring, if there was an accident with the car. Now telephone technology has moved from the wall, to the bag, to the ear, with the advent of cellular phones.
Oh, and when I wanted to telephone someone to talk about Uncle Miltie, I had to put a nickle in the space on the telephone base. We even had a special telephone table and chair used for sitting down to make our phone calls. In the late 1980's, my husband and I bought the latest telephone technology-a bag phone. The phone was portable, and in a bag on the floor. This was quite an advance and reassuring, if there was an accident with the car. Now telephone technology has moved from the wall, to the bag, to the ear, with the advent of cellular phones.
Computers
My first experience with computers, was in the 60's. My husband was going to graduate school and he was taking ITRAN and FORTRAN, computer languages, the forerunners of Cobal and Pascal. He would punch cards and put them into the computer to get output.
A decade or two later Radio Shack created a home computer and we bought it. It was much more reasonable than the MAC which my cousin bought. I felt the family needed the computer for the kids to be competitive in high school. Soon, thanks to donations by MAC grammar and high schools had computers for computer classes. Needless to say, the kids' knowledge and skills in this area soon outstripped mom and dad. My skills progressed as I had to work with computer for my dissertation. The inscrutable DOS came into my life. After many sessions of hair pulling and tears, I did finish it with the help of my friends. I fondly remember the green lined paper and the tapes of the mainframe. Ah, memories! Now I am immersed in techno world.
A decade or two later Radio Shack created a home computer and we bought it. It was much more reasonable than the MAC which my cousin bought. I felt the family needed the computer for the kids to be competitive in high school. Soon, thanks to donations by MAC grammar and high schools had computers for computer classes. Needless to say, the kids' knowledge and skills in this area soon outstripped mom and dad. My skills progressed as I had to work with computer for my dissertation. The inscrutable DOS came into my life. After many sessions of hair pulling and tears, I did finish it with the help of my friends. I fondly remember the green lined paper and the tapes of the mainframe. Ah, memories! Now I am immersed in techno world.
Ed Tech
Educational technology that I have worked with runs the gamut from the primitive (penciled in in overheads, print overheads), to the fairly modern (power point slides). In 2003, I attended a large university's technology camp for faculty. The hot topic was how to prepare and use power point slides! My first efforts were replete with animation and sounds. I quite drove my students crazy with the cacophony.
Today
Sweeping advancements in technology are now a common occurrence. We now not only have cell phones, but phones that provide games, music, and other apps. Our tvs are on the wall and flat and the computers we use are the size of a small notebook, and I use them every day and sometimes evenings for social and educational activities. I am even learning to marry design with technology.
Design and Technology
Although I am a little more comfortable with computers I am a beginning online instructional designer. I have designed face to face classes previously, but now I look at design with online issues in mind. As Nichols writes in the E-Primer series, the goal of instructional design is to "help the teaching and learning process by ensuring that education experiences are optimised for particular learning goals" The key word is "optimised". My challenge is to optimise instruction in a meaningful way for online delivery. Since technology is a concern for me, I need to optimise my teaching by becoming more comfortable with good design technology. I remember the sage advice given by Rita Marie Conrad in her article "Save Yourself from Drowning in Online Classes": harness technology, provide feedback, and promote student-student interaction.
As I keep doing online classes, I will be more comfortable technology. As this happens, I do not want to lose sight of good design principles. I will keep close at hand, the article "Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses", by Graham, Cagiltay, Ro-Lim, Craner, and Duffy. This will be my "guiding light for keeping my techno fears at bay and maintaining good design principles. Their best practice is to:
- Encourage student-faculty dontact
- Encourage cooperaiton among students
- Encourage active learning
- Encourage prompt feedback
- Emphasize time on task
- Communicate high expectations
- Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
These principles are a good foundation for my future as a designer of online courses. They keep one focused on educational quality.
Tomorrow
I tremble in wonder to think what tomorrow will bring! Tele-pictures? Oh wait. We have that already with Skype. I bet virtual reality will expand so that teachers won't have to hold class, our Avatars will. Maybe we will tele-transport to class or meetings. I will snap fingers and my design and digital production activies are done for me. The possibilities are endless.
