Answering the Critics of
Educational Technology
The Computer Delusion
 At a time when school districts are zealously investing into new
computers and technology (through the blessings of the Clinton
Administration), programs such as shop classes, art, music, and
physical education classes are being cut to fund the new innovations.
 Critics of new technology in education are afraid that the possibilities
of students incorrectly using the technology outweigh the positive
possibilities.
 Critics state that studies that show improvement with the
implementation of technology do not take into account other
influences that may have contributed to the positive change.
 Critics state that computers have become the filmstrips of today
allowing both the teacher and student to operate on automatic pilot.
The Computer Delusion continued…
 When educators totally rely on software programs such as Reader
Rabbit, critics say that students show a decline in creativity.
 By implementing techniques that utilize the five senses through
real world experiences, students will learn more than through a
mediated world.
 Critics fear that the business world will influence the curricula
taught too much because of the amount resources they contribute
to schools.
 If students start using computers at too young of an age, they will
diminish their abilities to use imagination.
Thwarted Innovation
 The only way that e-Learning will be effective is when instructors
change the methodology of their teaching.
 Because of the economic situation, institutions have not been able to
fulfill the promises of e-Learning due to financial difficulty and
longevity (Fathom and NYUonline).
 Critics state that one of the major obstacles to distance education is
the fact that there is no “dominant product design.”
 In this 15-month study, e-Learning did not have an overall positive
benefit shift in the attitudes of the institutions involved.
 When compared to other areas of e-Learning, providers of the services
focused more on Business and Investing instead of Education.
Thwarted Innovation continued….
 Students are more concerned with being connected with each
other (in today’s time this would be Facebook and MySpace) as
compared to valuing e-Learning.
 Critics state that PowerPoint allows instructors to incorporate past
lecturers into fancy presentations. However, the content has not
changed.
 Critics of e-Learning state that the zeal to create new avenues of
learning online was too hasty in promoting products that were not
tried and tested before implementation.
 According to this 15-month study, the failures of e-Learning
outnumber the positive contributions.
Unintended Consequences
 Critics point out that institutions rely heavily on adjunct
professors to teach the distance education courses instead of
full-time faculty members.
 Critics state that the money that is saved by hiring adjunct
instructors is actually wasted in maintaining the IT
department within the university.
 Because of the cost to maintain the IT department, the cost
of tuition has increased rapidly.
How Computers Change the Way We Think
 Turkle states that she concentrated not only on what computers
did for us but also on what they do to us.
 Turkle states that computers have changed our “sense of human
identity.”
 With the new technologies that allow students to share their
private lives, Turkle and other professors are afraid that students do
not understand that “privacy is a right” not just a “privilege.”
 Because of the new simulated realities, students may not have the
abilities to relay their emotions and feelings with others.
 Turkle states that PowerPoint focuses on the presentation aspect
and not on conversation or debate.
What are the benefits of educational
technology?
A Retrospective on Twenty Years of
Educational Technology Policy
 We need to invest in educational technology to help deliver
instruction to diverse audiences located in various locations.
 We also need to invest in educational technology to further sharpen
the skills of students to collect, organize, and apply complex data.
 To ensure that the United States maintains its dominant role both
economically and politically in the global community, students
must be able acquire the skills necessary.
 Culp, Honey, and Mandinach state, “…the technological literacy of
the public would improve decision making, increase citizen
participation, support a modern workforce, enhance social wellbeing, and narrow the digital divide (National Academy of
Engineering, 2002, Chapter 2)” (6).
A Retrospective on Twenty Years of
Educational Technology Policy continued…
 Through the use of word processors and distance learning
technologies, students will benefit by increasing their writing
skills. This is especially true for students located in rural
areas.
 Instead of using technology just as a classroom tool or
resource, educators should use the opportunity to use it to
reform schools.
 “…educational technologists have begun to understand with
more nuance that technology needs to work in concert with
other factors like effective leadership, instructional priorities,
and the day-to-day demands of classroom practice” (22).
A Retrospective on Twenty Years of
Educational Technology Policy continued…
 As the technologies have changed, educators have also
shifted in their views of how to utilize them in the classroom
to enhance student achievement.
 “…technology shapes, often in unanticipated ways, how we
live and work as well as how we educate our children” (24).
Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18
year-olds
 “The sheer amount of time young people spend using media-an
average of nearly 6 ½ hours a day-makes it plain that the potential
of media to impact virtually every aspect of young people’s lives
cannot be ignored” (39).
 Since students are using the various forms of media, educators
should find ways to utilize them and apply them to student
learning.
 Contrary to popular belief, studies have shown that students who
use a variety of media actually are more involved with hobbies,
family activities, and physical activities.
 Because students spend so much time with media every day, our
attention as educators should be on how to harness the technology
for learning.
The Impact of Education Technology on
Student Achievement
 The following are quotes from John Schacter and the findings
of many educational technology studies.
 Research shows that technology does have a positive impact
on the overall success of student learning.
The Impact of Education Technology on
Student Achievement continued…
 Kulik’s Meta-Analysis Study (James Kulik 1994)
 “Students who used computer based instruction scored at
the 64th percentile on tests of achievement compared to
students in the control conditions without computers who
scored at the 50th percentile” (4).
The Impact of Education Technology on
Student Achievement continued…
 Sivin-Kachala’s Review of Research (Jay Sivin-Kachala 1998)
 “Students in technology rich environments experienced
positive effects on achievement in all major subject areas”
(5).
 “Students’ attitudes toward learning and their own self-
concept improved consistently when computers were used
for instruction” (5).
The Impact of Education Technology on
Student Achievement continued…
 The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT 1994)
 “The ACOT experience appeared to result in new learning
experiences requiring higher level reasoning and problem
solving, although the authors claim this finding was not
conclusive” (5).
The Impact of Education Technology on
Student Achievement continued…
 Harold Wenglinsky’s National Study of Technology’s Impact
on Mathematics Achievement (1998).
 “Eighth-grade students who used simulation and higher
order thinking software showed gains in math scores of up to
15 weeks above grade level as measured by NAEP” (7).
 “Eighth-grade students whose teachers received professional
development on computers showed gains in math scores of
up to 13 weeks above grade level” (7).
Learning Effectiveness Online: What the
Research Tells Us
 One benefit to computer-based education is that it allows
students to have an individualized program and immediate
feedback.
 Computer-based technology eliminates the old obstacles of
time and space and allows for more flexibility in educational
goals.
 “…students perceive online learning as more equitable and
more democratic than traditional classroom
learning…because it allows for the presentation and inclusion
of multiple points of view” (9).
With the studies supporting the use of
technology in education, where do we go
from here?
Confronting the Challenges of
Participatory Culture: Media Education for
the 21st Century
 With the use of technology, Henry Jenkins (Director of the Comparative Media
Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) suggests
eleven new skills that students need for the 21st century.
 These skills will assist students with the skills needed to be productive in the
21st century workforce.
 Students will need to be able to use images, sound, and other digital media
and know how to apply or manipulate them for the future.
 “…youth need skills for working within social networks, for pooling knowledge
within a collective intelligence, for negotiating across cultural differences that
shape the governing assumptions in different communities,…to form a
coherent picture of the world around them” (20).
Henry Jenkins’ 11 New Media Skills (4)
Play
Performance
Simulation
• The capacity
to experiment
with one’s
surroundings
as a form of
problemsolving.
• The ability to
adopt
alternative
identities for
the purpose
of
improvisation
and
discovery.
• The ability to
interpret and
construct
dynamic
models of
real-world
processes.
Henry Jenkins’ 11 New Media Skills (4)
Appropriation
Multitasking
• The ability to
sample and
remix media
content.
• The ability to
scan one’s
environment
and shift
focus as
needed to
salient
points.
Distributed
Cognition
• To use tools
that expand
mental
capacities.
Henry Jenkins’ 11 New Media Skills (4)
Collective
Intelligence
Judgment
Transmedia
Navigation
• To pool
knowledge
and compare
to achieve a
common
goal.
• To evaluate
the
credibility of
different
information
sources.
• To follow the
flow of
stories and
information
across
modalities.
Henry Jenkins’ 11 New Media Skills (4)
Networking
• To search for,
synthesize, and
disseminate
information.
Negotiation
• To travel across
diverse
communities,
discerning and
respecting
multiple
perspectives.
Resources:

Culp, K., Honey, M., & Mandinach, E. (2003). A Retrospective on Twenty Years of Education Technology Policy. U.S.
Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology.

Goode, B. (2004). Unintended Consequences: Distance Learning and the Structure of the University. Distance Education
Report.

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A., & Weigel, M. (2005). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture:
Media Education for the 21st Century. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Oppenheimer, T. (1997). The Computer Delusion. The Atlantic Monthly. 280 (1) pg. 45-62.

Rideout, V., Roberts, D., & Foehr, U. (2005). Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds. The Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation.

Schacter, J. (1999). The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say.
Milken Exchange on Education Technology.

Swan, K. (2003). Learning effectiveness: what the research tells us. In J. Bourne & J.C. Moore (Eds) Elements of Quality Online
Education, Practice and Direction. Needham, MA: Sloan Center for Online Education, 13-45.

Turkle, S. (2004). How Computers Change the Way We Think. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 50 (21), pg. B26.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i21/21b02601.htm.

Zemsky, R. & Massy, W. (2004). Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to e-Learning and Why. The Learning Alliance at the
University of Pennsylvania.