Technology, Communication and Information
Technology has been, from it’s inception, used primarily to develop new ways to communicate the information we acquire. It was true for books (publishing) and continues in forms of electrical and electronic methods. After all computers also speak a language and transfer ‘information’ we call data. I think that we, humans, created technology to mimic our own self. A brain which can compute, memory where information can be stored, ‘share’ information through ‘languages’ – we even call them ‘languages’. Cameras and microphones to provide the input, output, screen which perform the same functions as our face and hands i.e. express and provide information to the one we interact with. Technology is human creativity stretched further. A religious text comes to mind: ‘God created man in His own image’! and so did man when imagining and inventing computational technology. Here lies our intimate connection to technology. We shouldn’t loose this connection and ‘purpose’. Information and Communication Technology was created to assist us in the quest to seek and share knowledge, and it exists to act as an extension to ourselves. It mimics all the human functions – and we continue to improve the technology to compute more and faster, store more, over longer periods of time and share the knowledge with each other.
I also see fear in adaption of technology. This is often talked about in schools and educational circles. More terms were coined: ‘flipped classroom’, ‘blended learning’ to assist us in combating these fears and bringing this ‘new human clone’ into the methods of learning. So, can technology take the role of an educator? is it just like a human but simply on super steroids? and if yes then what is the role of a ‘teacher’ in today’s world.
1 COMMENT
A good question! I would love to hear your answer!