My procrastination is bearing fruit. For a variety of reasons, my preparation of the new course outline has been postponed, delayed, and otherwise interfered with by circumstances that I will claim are out of my control. The result of which is that I’m trying to get a semester’s worth of outline down before Monday’s class start. (Yes, students, even teachers wait until the last minute.) While this is costing me sleep, it’s also allowing me to intersect with reality in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to do – say – two weeks ago.
The new course – Technology, Education, and Culture – has run smack into the “why aren’t teachers using technology?” meme. It’s neither surprising nor ironic that the question is being asked by a group of teachers who use technology and I think the answer to the question is the subject of the course.
The question itself has been around for — gosh — about 2500 years or so. I think Phaedrus asked it of Plato about Socrates. Socrates had the little run in with hemlock before he adopted the new technology (some teachers will do anything to avoid changing a syllabus), but luckily Plato was more receptive and so he adopted the new technology — writing — and we are able to learn about the controversy. Over the years, it’s been kind of a simmering-pot issue on the back of the educational technology stove, but somebody bumped the burner up and it’s starting to boil over.
The (flawed) assumption is that there is a culture of Education or of Technology. The fundamental notion is that the evolution of technology has changed culture. The commonest examples are “the printing press” and “the automobile.” You can throw in “radio,” “movies,” “the microscope,” and “the internet” if you like. Pick your favorite example. They all apply.
My not really expert opinion on this is that there never was *a* culture to change, and since the starting point isn’t a point but rather a collection of different starting points in terms of culture, the effect of a cascade of technologies — not just some arbitrary generic big-T Technology — is not an entree, but a smorgasbord.
Where do we start and why do we have such small plates?
First, we have this big table full of cultures to choose from. We have a lot of “Western culture” here on this end of the table, but not far down there’s a bit of “Eastern.” There’s “American” and a small constellation of stars, stripes, and bibles. And “Canadian” with a broader landscape of languages, tastes, and flavors. There’s cultures of color, and cultures of language, and cultures of ability. It’s not single culture offered — as Serling might say — “for your consideration.”
Second, we have this big table full of Educational philosophies and practices. It may be even larger than the first because each culture carries with it twists and variations on the subject. A jumbalaya of elementary philophies and a rich curry of secondary. There’s the eclectic palettes of higher education and the haute cuisine offerings of graduate school. It’s fanned across the continuum of behaviourism, constructivism, and connectivism until the table fairly groans under the load.
Last, we’ve got this steam table covered with hot dishes of technology. Way back there on the far side we have “spoken language” and, next to it, “written language.” There’s some “print” offerings back there and a whole host of offshoot technologies. There’s a swath of communications carafes and another of transportation trenchers. On this end of the table we’ve got the hottest new digital dishes that many are walking past in order to get to their long established favorites. No matter how we urge them, they continue to consume those dishes with which they are most familiar — a kind of comfort food level of adoption. In troubled times, we all tend to retreat to comfort food, so who can blame them?
So? What do we put on our plates? Why do we make the choices we make? Does a culture change a technology? Or does a technology change a culture? Is the purpose of Education to maintain Culture or define it? Does the twitterverse effect your education? Or just your learning? A single Ning doeth not a Culture make, and two Pownces don’t make a trend, but do those technologies each have a culture? Is there an IM culture?
Can teachers teach Shakespeare without learning first to read? Do we care about Shakespeare? Or only about reading? About teaching?
Or is the point to it all the learning?
January 12th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I think that a culture and technology can definitely change each other. I’m not sure if education’s purpose is to maintain or teach culture, my guess is that it does a little of both.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I think that it’s a little of both, but I lean to the side of technology doing the changing. In the past 10 years, think about how much technology has changed our culture! We can’t have a commercial break on TV without hearing a web address. There are many pop culture icons who are famous by means of “Myspace”. Students know more about these so-called internet celebrities lives than what they learned about in science class earlier that day. We can now sit in front of a computer and have enless information at our fingertips thanks to search engines who do our research for us, when all we have to do is type in a short word or phrase. I remember being in school and using encyclopedias and other reference books at the library to do reports. Now, all my students would have to do to learn about something is to open their Internet Explorer and type in a short web address.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I think that we can teach people Shakespear without having the ability to read. It doesn’t really matter about what it is, we can teach just about anything if we have the willpower. What I love about teaching is when we teach without them knowing, and they are learning without even realizing.
Learning has to become all the time, and to me that is what culture is, it almost a lifestyle. Just first nature, what you are doing when you aren’t thinking about it.
I am beginning to believe that culture is changed by us, and what we do with our lives, so if we are using technology, then that is going to change the culture. Anybody else agree? It isn’t about the technology itself, it is what we as a race of people are doing.
January 13th, 2009 at 7:19 am
[...] For a little more background on the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet we’re about to start on, see Pownces and Twitters and Nings, Oh My. [...]
January 13th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I think cultures are changed by the use of new technologies. We change as a result of using new things. I think education is not simply about defining culture, but also about maintaining a particular culture. As we change, everything around us changes and we learn more and more about new things each day which in turn leads to changes among us.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I believe, like Tippi, that culture and technology definitely change and affect each other. For example, if you take a country who has hardly any technology in their schools, then all of a sudden, they are given classroom computers and Internet, imagine the affects it would have in their classrooms with their students! It helps them to reach across to all different cultures and subject them to different areas of the world! Also culture affects technology because of how it is used and understood. Some cultures may not use IM for it is not considered the appropriate way to interact. Unlike most of us, it is commonplace. I think education helps to open peoples minds to the different cultures and understandings that people may have. We still have so many people who do not understand the different cultures in our society and this sometimes causes conflict.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I feel that technologies are injected into cultures. All cultures have technologies they use to further educations, communication, and entertainment. They are resources and as an individual, not matter what culture, we make choices to use technologies availible. I have to admitt I don’t feel I have to learn certain technologies to use another one. I have looked at blogs without knowing how to use a gator, but knowing how to use a gator has made it easier for me. As for educators I feel that they need to be taught how to use and make technology part of thier own culture. They are comfortable with what they do to teach. They may know there is a vast amount of plates on the table, but feel they don’t need them. They didn’t need to use a virtual classroom to communicate with other students, they sent a letter and waited a weeks or months for a reply. The need to want to change there culture needs to be established before we can teach new technologies to be used.
January 14th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I think that Tippi did a great job summing it up. I believe that education and the implementation of technology can, has and will continue to change our culture.
As for those who go for the “comfort foods,” I wanted to go after a healthy serving of mac-and-cheese with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy this week. I have been playing and using various forms of technology for as long as I can remember. I grew up with video games, and I have had a computer for a few years. I have always felt pretty comfortable using technology, but this week our school introduced a new, or new to us, clicking system for students to use. I became a little frustrated when I couldn’t figure them out immediately because things seem to come to me pretty easy when it comes to computers. I eventually figured them out, and I developed an immediate appreciation for them, but I found myself wondering if this was how my veteran colleague felt when she couldn’t figure out our new grading program or other programs. I felt stupid and inadequate. That alone would make me go for the comfort food. Hopefully more teachers will feel more comfortable with technology so that they can use it more.
Wow! These questions are something to consider. I think that cultures want to evolve and grow, but to maintain their traditions. I think that learning will help us preserve our traditions and cultures while also teaching us new, innovative things that will allow us to compete with the rest of the world in various arenas, like education, technology, economy, health care, etc. Learning is fundamental to living regardless of the content being taught, so I guess learning is the point of everything.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Does a culture change a technology? Or does a technology change a culture? Is the purpose of Education to maintain Culture or define it?
Not easy questions, but I believe that technology changes culture. Things are invented to make things easier, but until that technology is adopted by people, it is useless. Education exists to help others learn. Its purpose is both to maintain and define culture. I don’t think it has to be one or the other.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Technology and culture are like gears in a machine, they turn each other. The way in which technology evolves changes the direction of cutlure, and if culture changes before technology, then the technolgy carves out the direction of technology. I don’t know if you can say its a culture defining attribute or not, but writing styles have certainly changed since the days of Instant Messengers and texting, and this is easily witnessed when looking at papers turned in by many students.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I may be the odd man out here. I don’t really think that technology changes culture, nor does culture change technology. I believe that they are intertwined and adapt to each other in more ways than we can imagine. Both will change regardless of our personal desires.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Scott,
Are you saying that it really depends on how each person chooses to use technology? That culture is the same but it is just getting more choices out there for us.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
This question reminds me of the saying: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Has technology changed culture or culture changed technology? I think it is a little of both. To me the definition of technology is a tool that can help fix a problem. So, if I go by that definition, then I would lean a little more towards the notion that culture has changed technology. Whenever a problem is encountered, someone develops the technology to alleviate that problem. For example, many years ago, it took a long time to travel from place to place. A horse and buggy was unable to get you to your destination quickly. So inventors created automobiles, trains, and planes to speed traveling. In this case, the culture changed technology.
In other situations, it seems that technology has changed culture. For example, the Internet has changed the way people communicate. People used to write letters or talk on the phone. Now teenagers spend countless hours on facebook, talking to not only people they see in their everyday life, but also people they would have never known or come into contact with in the “real” world. The Internet has changed the way people socialize.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I think technology can definitely change a culture and help or hinder their advancement, which ever way you want to look at it. But, I believe ethics produces the “brakes” on what is accepted and what is not. Technology offers many forms of communication that allow people from across the globe to influence the other without ever meeting personally. This has allowed cultures to mesh in forms of what is accepted. When communication did not move so fast, cultures were not influenced so readily by outside sources. So therefore, cultures tended to stay the same or advance at a snails pace. As communication has progressed through technology, a person that lives in the hills somewhere far from civilization can actually go to college online and get a college degree.
January 18th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Technology has affected culture in an important way, it has made the influence of different cultures reach farther than before. With the internet and television, we have an infiltration of ideas and beliefs from every part of the world. Yet, does culture affect technology. I would have to say yes to that one as well. Last semester I read an article (if anyone can remember the title please email me) about a program that provides laptops to impoverished schools in the world. The schools would not accept the computers at first because they used a different style of teaching than they used. Instead of depending on memorization and repetition, the computers promoted exploration and formulation of their own ideas. The schools believed the computers were a vessel for forcing our culture on their own. In this instance, I feel that culture changed the technology. Just as was mentioned early, the old comfort food was preferred to the new food.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I see Scott’s point, it’s not that technology changes culture alone or that culture changes technology alone, they are so interwined with each other that the changes are interdependent. Remember when the internet was new (to the public)? It wasn’t that the culture of the world was depanding it, it just seemed the next logical step to communication. So it seems with the social networking elvolving now. The world has gotten so busy, and varied, communicating with friends and family via the internet is a necessity.
This question reminds me also of the saying: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s not that one pushes the other, but that they each adapt to the other.
Is the purpose of Education to maintain Culture or define it?
The purpose of Education is to define and maintain and redefine our culture! Where would we be if we only maintained what was already there?
Is there an IM culture? Most definitely, think of those that don’t even know how to IM, they are totally left out and really don’t understand some of the shorthand of IM ing.
Can teachers teach Shakespeare without learning first to read? Yes, in our society, you can watch and listen to Shakespeare, and never read a word.
Do we care about Shakespeare? Or only about reading? About teaching?
Or is the point to it all the learning?
This is the point of it all. It’s not memorizing the formula as knowing where to find it quickly when you need it. It’s the lesson learned from Shakespeare not so much the actual story itself. Reading is just the tool by which learning can be accomplished. The more we learn the better person we become, and the better our life can become.