Alex Kuskis says: <<I agree with Michael Gurstein's point that educational bureaucrats lack any understanding of educational technologies and how they should be implemented. Furthermore, even where hardware and software is in place, the majority of teachers will resist using them, without training and the incentive to reform an outmoded, industrial era educational system. Attempts to implement eudcational technologies without a corresponding curriculum reform and considerable teacher training are like pouring new wine into old bottles and are bound to fail...>>
If an "educational bureaucrat"-presumably a school principal or a university leader or the head of an educational regulatory agency-wanted to bring to his school or college or educational network a practitioner and a set of practices that have proven their worth, where would he or she go for such expertise? Is there an example-perhaps a faculty member from a school of education-of a change process that has been set in motion that led to to successful change of the kind Mr. Kuskis says is possible? A change process that was not simply pouring new wine into old bottles, but actually poured the new wine into new bottles? Does that example also include convincing evidence that the new wine and the new bottles did in fact accomplish the transformations and the improvements claimed for them? By now there have been many-thousands?-of educational change projects built around the introduction of the new technologies. Surely one or two of them did the whole job-new wine, new bottles, hardware and software, teacher training, the entire package advocated by the champions of the new technologies. If even a few of them demonstrate the clearly what the new wine and the new bottles can do for learning, and we are told about them, we can use those stories of success to accelerate the tempo of change. The bureaucrats may be resistant to preaching and pronouncements, but even they have to be open to evidence. Without these demonstrations of possibility many of those indifferent or resistant feel justified in arguing that the advocates are the new faithful, asking the world to accept the new dispensation on faith rather than evidence. Steve Eskow [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ 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.
