Teaching Technology There Are Many

Teaching Technology

There are many reasons why professors are not interested in new technology and feel that they are not overly confident with it. They are used to teaching a small group of students in a classroom where they can get to know the students one-on-one, remember their names, and put these names with particular faces. However, by utilizing distance learning courses professors have a very impersonal relationship with their students and they do not get to know them in the way that they normally would (Jones-Delcorde, 1999).

Because of this, they do not feel that their competency level as instructors is as high as it was before the new technology (Jones-Delcorde, 1999). It is hypothesized that much of their lack of competency comes from their inability to teach the way they want to and get to know their students, not from their inability to utilize the new technology and understand it. Traditionally, there are three separate functions to the role of a faculty member. These are service, research, and teaching (Jones-Delcorde, 1999). Service can include many different types and many of the functions of faculty members are not related. Recent research studies have suggested that there may be a link between non-classroom forms of instruction and the research function of faculty members. The original plan for faculty work was a vision of each faculty member carrying out all three of these specific functions (Jones-Delcorde, 1999). However, there are academic institutions that do not require this. Some faculty members carry out only one function and as long as there are enough faculty members with different interests and traits this works out very well (Jones-Delcorde, 1999).

Some have full-time research individuals that have no instructional duties at all and many have part-time faculty members who teach but are not required to conduct research (Ehrmann, 1995). There is no need for all of these individuals to become acquainted with the new technology unless they wish to, because those that do not have teaching responsibilities do not need to utilize the new technology for the help of other individuals. Unfortunately for the future of professors and their dealings with technology, there is little information to be found about how they actually feel about this issue and how confident they actually are (Ehrmann, 1995). However, determining how students feel about technology-based education should provide some insight as to the best methods to determine how professors feel about it as well. Surveys have been mentioned, but how important surveys are and what should be included in them is an important point to discuss. Surveys, while not a technical instrument for gathering information, are widely assumed to be very reliable when one needs information about a particular issue from a group of individuals. A review of available literature would also be a good method, but it appears that the literature pertaining to how professors feel about their competency with new technology and distance learning is rather sparse.

Because of this, a literature review would be important but would not be significant enough to be utilized as a legitimate research method in determining which professors feel comfortable with technology-based education and why. Professors who deal with technology-based education should be asked basic survey questions such as how long they have been teaching and whether they grew up with technology (Cornell, 1999). Most of this can be judged based on age, but technology has been around in one form or another for a long time and many individuals who are older still have a great deal of knowledge based on the more simplistic forms of technology that were available years ago. Just because someone is of advanced age does not mean they do not have technological knowledge, although it would appear that most individuals with Technological knowledge are younger individuals who have a better idea of what technology is all about and how it should be utilized (Ehrmann, 1995).

However, these are not the only types of questions that should be asked. Whether individuals like technology is also very important (Ehrmann, 1995). Professors who have no use for technology and do not like it at all in any way for any reason will often do poorly at their competency in it because they are not interested in learning how to deal with technology and how it can work for them. They see it as a necessary evil to be used only when necessary and they do not derive any kind of enjoyment from technology or what they may be able to do with it. This is unfortunate, as it is a disservice to the individuals that are being taught (Ehrmann, 1995). The reason behind this is not only that many individuals greatly enjoy technology and like to learn new things but also that most jobs in this day and age require a basic understanding of technology (Ehrmann, 1995). Many individuals will not hire those that do not understand technology in at least a fundamental way, and those that have only basic understandings of technology still have a difficult time getting hired (Ehrmann, 1995).

It is necessary in today's society for individuals to learn all they can about technological aspects of their life and how these will be affect the job that they choose. Because of this, professors who utilize little or no technology cannot help these individuals learn what they need to know to succeed in life (Ehrmann, 1995). And this is, after all, one of the main things that professors are supposed to be doing when they undertake teaching students. It is true that there are specific classes designed to teach students technology and many professors believe that these classes are enough. However, students would argue that there is not enough time in these particular classes to practice everything that they need to know about technology and therefore they will learn a great deal more practicing other technological issues in classes where professors utilize technology even in simple and basic ways such as sending and receiving e-mail or being asked to undertake projects that require the use of the Internet (Ehrmann, 1995). Whether or not a professor likes technology is not the only thing that affects their competency. However, it is a large factor.

Other factors include the amount of technology that an individual has been exposed to, their age, and most likely their intelligence level (Ehrmann, 1995). Some people just pick things up much faster than other individuals and these people will have less trouble understanding new technological concepts than those that are somewhat slower to catch on. For some people, technology makes sense and comes easy, and for others it continues to be a world that they do not understand or comprehend (Ehrmann, 1995). However, almost anyone can be taught the basics of technology and often this is all that is necessary for the confidence level of many of these professors to rise significantly. This can be measured in a qualitative way by studying professors and how confident they actually are when teaching technology. Those that are not good at technology and not confident about what they are doing can be taught much more confidence if they are taught only a little more competence (Ehrmann, 1995). In other words, learning just a few basic things about technology, mastering these things, and learning how to use them well, will help these individuals gain a great deal of confidence in a world that is becoming increasingly more technologically advanced.

The Internet is not the only technological model of this age, as cars, compact disc players, and many other items are becoming increasingly more difficult to work on and sometimes more difficult to operate based on various advances that have been created either for safety or ease-of-use (Ehrmann, 1995). Some of the advances created for ease-of-use on computers and other items do not necessarily make them easier to use, and this is especially true of individuals who have little to no knowledge of how these things work in the first place (Ehrmann, 1995). However, professors who are still uncertain about their competency and how well they will be able to utilize distance learning will find that most of what they need to learn is not all that difficult. Most professors fall somewhere in the middle of how they feel about their competencies in using distance learning technology (Ehrmann, 1995). There are those that feel extremely comfortable with it and those that would venture to say that they would never be interested in doing that type of work because they would never be able to understand it.

These are the extremes, and most people fall somewhere in the middle of the pack in that they have some knowledge of how to do these things but are not comfortable enough to go out on their own. This is where professors need support staff and others that will help them through the rough times and problems that they may encounter, but they can be left alone to do the majority of the work themselves (Ehrmann, 1995). Most Internet providers will create Web sites for their members, and there are large amounts of software that can be purchased to create one's own Web site as well as companies that will do this for a fee. Because of this, creating a web site for a particular instructor and his or her particular classes will be relatively easy. Most universities already have allocated this type of space to each faculty member and even adjunct professors often have space for Web sites for distance learning classes. These are usually not overly fancy, but this is irrelevant based on the fact that any type of web site which provides the necessary information clearly and correctly will be sufficient to do what is needed for a class to learn and understand (Cornell, 1999).

This type of simple web site and an e-mail address are really all the faculty needs for a very basic course, but distance learning courses are somewhat more difficult. They usually involve the use of chat rooms or other online get-togethers where individuals can share their thoughts and feelings. Some of the more simplistic distance learning courses offer message boards where individuals must read something for the class or perform some action and then go on a message board by a specified date and time to post a message as to how their project came out or what they thought about what they read. Students who do these things are graded on what they have to say about what they did or read and the depth of understanding that they show in the comments that they make. They are free to respond to other students' comment, and other students are free to respond to theirs. The instructor is able to monitor the message board so that he or she can respond to whatever is necessary and also ensure that there is no verbal abuse or harassment going on between any of the students online.

As has been mentioned, and assessment of whether the technological skills are effective and what impact they have is basically a qualitative analysis. It is important when studying this type of measure to realize that there are many thoughts and feelings that are involved in this type of issue, and the emotions of many individuals are affected. In other words, the impact of the technological skills that a particular instructor has or the effectiveness of these skills cannot easily be measured in a concrete, numerical, or statistical fashion. Some parts of it can be measured this way, as in whether the professor has created a web site, whether they can use e-mail, and so on. These are yes or no questions that can be measured quantitatively. However, the largest majority of the issue must be measured in a qualitative fashion due to the fact that it relates to feelings and perceptions about how well someone is capable of performing an action. The impact of the technology skills that a particular professor has can best be determined not by the professor himself or herself but by the students that he or she teaches.

This is due to the fact that when one creates something of one's own, one often has a different perception about how it really looks than do their students. A professor who is very unhappy with the way a web site looks because it is not fancy, for example, will likely find that his or her students are quite content with the web site provided that it does what it is designed to do and is clear and easy to understand. There will always be some students who are very advanced in the ways of computers and will find these types of Web sites upsetting and unpleasant. However, for the most part students are not aware of how to do Web sites and create graphics any more than the teacher is and will not be disheartened by the fact that the teacher has not created something unduly fancy. Often these things are just distractions and are actually more annoying to many students who are serious about their education that they are pleasing to students who like to see those types of things on Web sites.