Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Put Down the Shiny Object: The Overwhelming State of Higher Education Technology

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I'm sympathetic with the main line of argumentation in this article, but there's a disconnect that's glaring. The suggestion is that students aren't as good at tech as people suppose, so institutions and (especially) professors should think twice about introducing some 'shiny new tech' as part of the course. And I get that. But the disconnect is this: when the students are asked, they report struggling with the core technologies in use, things like the LMS, or file management and editing with MS-Word or Excel. And I wonder whether the problem isn't that students are struggling with shiny new tech so much as they're having difficulties with crappy old tech. The online world students use has evolved past these tools. Maybe higher ed should too.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: May 04, 2024 5:14 p.m.

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