“TECNOLOGÍAS EDUCATIVAS EN TIEMPOS DE INTERNET”

Edith Litwin

Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 4 – Main Topics

1. Beginnings of Education Technologies. Debates about Didactics. Differences between the classic Mass Media and the New Technologies. The lack of Technology Didactics.

2. Technology and Culture. Globalisation.

3. Education Technology or Technology in Education? Differences. Education Material. Examples & Considerations.

Introduction

The author introduces her work with some questions she proposes in order for the

readers to start reflecting upon technologies, and more important, technologies in the

education field.

Those questions are the core of the investigation which gave birth to this book.

She also reflects upon the role of schools after the changes society suffers.

Questions/Reflections

After the adoption of technologies, is it possible to obtain different ways of thinking and accessing to knowledge?

Could school become an integration zone where multiple social and cultural experiences can generate new senses?

School changes because its surroundings change and generations that go to school also change. School has changed its role and perspective towards the future.

1. Beginnings of Education Technologies (ET)

There have been ET proposals since 1950. In those days, technology was “the magic solution to all the problems.”

It was born in USA as a response to the inclusion of means and material for instruction, under an efficiency

concept of teaching (conductism).

In 1980, Cognitivism theories replaced the previous ones with cautious condiderations and critical analysis about Mass Media messages. Perception is now regarded as

a construct, the result of a process which includes interests, feelings, imagination, evaluation and judge in

opposition to those perspectives which considered visual perception a passive register.

Education & Didactics

By 1950s, teachers considered ET helpful for some difficulties in the instruction or

comprehension.

ET were regarded as tools.

Since 1980, ET is considered a body of pedagogical and didactical knowledge made

up of derivations of different fields dealing with teaching, in which technology development

produces an effect.

Differences between the classic Mass Media & the New Technologies

Classic Mass Media

For the vast majority of the population.

Pretend that people share interests.

Strong in popular areas.

New Technologies

For only a small portion of the population.

Unite people who already have things in common.

Little communicational force among people with unsatisfied basic needs or in rural areas.

The lack of Technology Didactics

When we use technologies, we try to generate cognitive remains.

When we adopt technologies, they set certain limits, adequate usage criteria. They require some time and they condition experiences. Their rhythm of change is fast, which derives in an adaptability problem. When we use technologies, they also use us.

There is a lack of a theoretical body to define the usage criteria. There is a lack of Technology Didactics.

It is necessary to analyse the new technologies within a current political, economic and cultural frame.

2. Technology and Culture. Globalisation

Technologies are tools to show, to show something to people in order to make it easier for them to understand.

Culture surrounds teachers and students, and it slips in through schools’ windows.

Education must give an account of the social and cultural complexity, offering tools to helps the instruction of critical citizens.

Minority groups can find a broader canal in the new technologies (Internet) than in the Mass Media.

3. Education Technology or Technology in Education?

There is a distinction between the products, means or materials created outside the Educational System and those created for schools. One example of the first are films, which have been created for commercial, aesthetic purposes, and are projected in the classroom because teachers consider them appropriate for the treatment of a particular content. The second, are created to help teachers and students.

Education Material.

Adaptability and the possibility of different treatments are the most important characteristics about the creation o

selection of appropriate teaching material.

Teachers state that good materials are those which can be used to different targets, allowing the development of

multiple proposals.

Teachers training policies should acknowledge the priority of the incorporation of new technologies development in the basic education processes. Teachers should become

expert users in order to analyse new technologies critically, to make good use of their capacities and to

recognise their weaknesses.

Examples/Considerations. PORTALS: are a variant of filters because they

are lists of sites approved by a person or group. They imply the acceptance of imposed

norms or restrictions.The great amount of available information forces

students to apply selection and validation criteria, which are not part of the instruction

obtained from their teachers.Electronic format allows a very fast renovation of

material and at a low cost. However, the larger the links, the more difficult the renovation.

Examples/Considerations.

PROJECTS: allow a much more complex cognitive process. Internet helps a lot in this

matter. FORUMS: where everybody participates and

integrates to a common discourse. Problem: group dynamics, with differences in language,

culture, age, etc. False belief: if technology developments can False belief: if technology developments can

help a teacher in an efficient and sufficient help a teacher in an efficient and sufficient way, then, they can also replace the teacher in way, then, they can also replace the teacher in

the classroom. the classroom.

Television.

It is a phenomenon with a life of its own. It expresses tensions and contradictions among

social senses. It has a role in the constitution of identities, knowledge and practices, and

through these, in ordinary human relationships. Today, the social institutions are: family, school

and TV. There is a difference between Educational TV (televisión educativa) and School TV (televisión escolar). The first

promotes the general knowledge, whereas the second cooperates with the Education System.

Television Didactics.

Implies the communication decisions which are assumed in the process (production) and are

reflected in the result (programme).

The way to knowledge proposed by the TV and grabbed by teachers tries to move away from

school deficit: adventure vs. routine, entertainment or fun vs. boredom, pleasure

vs. obligation.

Video.

Teachers can take one of three positions. Teachers are mediators in the classroom.

The video is responsible for the instruction. The teacher avoids that responsibility.

Teachers stop the projection to make sure, through questions, that students understand. The teacher identifies with material.

Teachers give students the opportunity to create modes of comprehension. This is the most productive of the three positions.

Conclusion.

Technologies are here to stay, so we cannot turn our heads on them. They can improve

our practices as teachers and help our students to construct knowledge.

It is our duty to become critical users in order to make good use of the different proposals the

new technologies have to offer.