Technology and the Classroom

Starting the semester with an introduction to aesthetics is always a joy. I emphasize the beautiful in life. It is a joy to be alive.

On the first day of class I recounted an experience of mine on a flight into San Francisco. The pilot announced, as we landed, that "any flight you walk away from is a good one." From this I added that any day I waken up and am able to get up and go is a good day, a great day.

As I am around academia more I realize that I am not the most technologically challenged individual, as I have previously thought, and also that at times it is an added attribute to be capable of empathizing with some students who are not tech-savvy. One student was happily relieved when I answered her question about the level of tech-savvy needed to participate in my class - zero.

This is not to say that techy is not desirable. It is, but it should not impede the learning process. After all there is a lot of learning to be done without technological assignments and/or use of technology. Technology is ubiquitous and therefore it is something to learn but we should not allow it to be the "only" way to learning in the classroom.

My virtual "friend", Professor David Silver, makes some interesting points in relation to the development of technology in the classroom and beyond. It is obvious that technology must be used in the class he is now teaching, Digital Media Production, but I wonder if the use of technology back in his 1995 class, Material Aspects of American Life, took emphasis away from the class material itself.

Perhaps the presence of technology everywhere is a good enough reason to avoid too much of it in the classroom? Perhaps the students will learn the technology in life outside the classroom or in the techy classes. Maybe some classes can be learning experiences without the necessity for technology?

I do, however, use a projector, lights, DVD player, audio, speakers, etc.