The History of Information Technology in Education
| When |
Oct 01, 1988
to
Jul 31, 1990 |
|---|---|
| Where | London |
From the prospectus:
|
The History of Information Technology in Education Richard Millwood The introduction of information technology in education is bound up in social, political and industrial motives. Why are the opportunities offered being taken up: for reasons of improving education, from fear of politically incompatible nations achieving technological advantage (the 'Sputnik' effect) or because 'computer literacy' serves the needs of industry? This course will look at the recent history of information technology in education and will consider the policies adopted at all levels of education for coping with an industrial revolution in process. |
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Reflection: This was the first time I had full responsibility for the design and delivery of a complete module of 5 sessions at Masters level, which I delivered twice in 1988-89 and then again in 1989-90.
I had some preparation - I had also contributed to the Masters module 'Recent Developments: The Use of Computers in Education' over the previous five years with these sessions:
- 1984 'Hardware & Software Alternatives and Issues'
- 1985 'General purpose software across the curriculum - databases, modelling etc.'
- 1986 'Introduction to the course - What can computers do?'
- 1987 'Educational programming languages'
- 1988 'Modelling'
The teaching of this full module involved an introductory session with a presentation from me, followed in the next four weeks by student-led reading presentations from papers selected by me and a debate based on questons set by me and points raised by the students themselves.
Reflection: This practice was vital to the development of my own thinking in the following ways:
- pedagogically, at HE level, I could see that the students could collaborate to develop knowledge rather than simply listen to me - I was primarily a facilitator of learning rather than an authority;
- in terms of the course content, I was required to engage with social science paradigms and to build much wider ranging concepts of the system within which my practice was situated;
- my confidence increased as I discovered that I could perform at this level with good feedback from participants.
(Words: 422 )
