I left off my last blog regarding the final paper with the decision that I would pursue the second topic.....but I decided to change my mind, I think!
Just last Wednesday, I had a unique opportunity to have a decent conversation with Dean Markowitz. The specifics of how it got to that are unimportant, but I will just say that I was lucky and smart enough to chat with him despite having a cancelled Business Forum class. One of the many things we touched upon was how he was creating materials for an online course that students will be able to take in the summer. There were various tools that made possible for him to engage in the same kinds of activities that he would normally do in class, and students taking the course would be able to get just as much from it as anyone who physically took Dean Markowitz's class. This conversation immediately reminded me of how technology is changing higher education.
"Are modern-day college campuses technopolies?"
Technopoly - a self-justifying, self-perpetuating system wherein technology of every kind is cheerfully granted sovereignty over social institution and national life (according to Postman)
In other words, did technology take over our college campuses?
Well, in a way, yes. Actually, scratch that. Definitely yes.
But I think the real question is if technology has helped or worsened the conditions within Universities. The problem is, it has done both, depending on the situation. I don't quite know how to clearly state one way or another. Perhaps an overall exploration will suffice for me.
The only thing I'm worried about, though, is the fact that I have to use "ample citations and/or quotes" from the Postman book....seeing that it was the second reading we did, I don't quite remember every little detail. Hopefully I will have enough time to re-read the book and have a clear idea soon enough!
No comments:
Post a Comment