perils-promise-main

=The Promises and Perils of Educational Technology=

A Review of Works and Ideas Relating to the Power and Problem associated with Technology in Education and Beyond CREATED BY: Pepperdine University's Online Masters of Educational Technology Program: Cadre 9

Overview:

The content of these essays offers an examination of technology in todays educational environment and gives practical information to those interested in these ideas. These essays were written by a team of 17 students over a three-week period. We all read different content and working in two groups, the first week each group created the notes and first draft on one topic. The groups switched topics and edited the outline and structure created by the other group. In this way all 17 students worked on both drafts.

For some of us, this was their first experience in forming a synthesis of information into a reivew of literature. This activity preceded the individual work of create a literature review as part of the planning process of our action research. By writing it collectively, we worked through the process of beginning with some notes from readings, finding some salient ideas, organizing the ideas into a structure and then developing the ideas within the structure using all of the resources to help understand each of the topics. Some students were more skilled than others at the analytic and organizational part of this activity and provided more leadership but everyone found a way to contribute to the group process. In the end, the internalization of the process is the goal. The experiment in instructional design is to see if this method based in part on the ideas of the "zone of proximal development" (Vygotsky) results in higher quality literature reviews. As such an endeavor, it models the process of action research.

The two essays can be found here:

Promise of Technology main page Perils of Technology main page

MMR suggestion: Instead of two essays, consider making them sections so here might be an outline with Intro (this page) sections 1 and 2 and then a conclusion followed by references and links --then on the promise page there is a section 1 and the perils section 2 both leading you to the conclusion. This makes it more of a single lit review.

Cadre X combined the two essays- HERE.