Teacher and Technology

Welcome to the blogspot for EDUB1990 Teacher and Technology at the University of Manitoba for January - March 2008

Several guiding questions will focus the course over the next few weeks. The fundamental question is simple: What do middle years teacher candidates need to know about educational technology? The corollary question takes us a step further and asks: What do middle years students need to know about educational technology? What do they need to know about technology? In spite of the similar "look", these are very different questions with very different answers. Each is important, but it is the first which must remain the focus of this course.

The first class begins with a video/film: Norman McLaren's 1961 classic Opening Speech . The short film asks more questions than it answers, though its ultimate question is indeed answered. Within the short film lie the germ of the idea of educational technology.

At the outset, it is important to state what this course is NOT, and at the same time what educational technology is NOT. This is important, because it is almost always misunderstood. The question about technology, the philosopher Heidegger famously said, "is nothing technological." The question about educational technology is not to turn teachers into technicians. You are teachers. You are NOT techies. For those of you who are teachers and who are also techies, we will try not to hold that against you. Nor is educational technology about becoming computer scientists, and understanding how to use Java, or how to program in html or how to set up a website.

Then what is technology about? Technology is a complex system that involves cultural, political, social, economic and aesthetic issues. These shall form the foundation for this course, but all funnelled through a pedagogic or educative filter.

Names to remember from Class One:
Norman McLaren
National Film Board of Canada
Opening Speech (1961)