Dream Tutorial

A helpful analogy in pulling your educational dream together is to think of technology as the clothes around your package; clothes very specifically tailored to your communication needs. As you review our e-templates, envision them as an outer wrap for educational content. The exact features utilized, color scheme, auditory enrichment, live video, virtual reality, animated instructor(s) or not, testing format chosen all act as a wrap for the chosen educational content. Within the wrap we believe is the secret to getting the educational content to stick and the fine line leading to e-learning tutorials capable of great good in today’s world.

Along this same vein, here is a concluding quote made by Professor Chris Dede, way back on October 12, 1995 in a Testimony to the US Congress, House of Representatives. This was at a Joint Hearing on Educational Technology in the 21 st Century, Committee on Science and Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities:

“Information technologies are more like clothes than like fire. Fire is a wonderful technology because, without knowing anything about how it operates, you can get warm just standing close by. People sometimes find computers, televisions, and telecommunications frustrating because they expect these devices to radiate knowledge. But all information technologies are more like clothes; to get a benefit, you must make them a part of your personal space, tailored to your needs. New media complement existing approaches to widen our repertoire of communication; properly designed, they do not eliminate choices or force us into high tech, low touch situations.

How a medium shapes its users, as well as its message, is a central issue in understanding distributed learning in K-12 schools. The telephone creates conversationalists; the book develops imaginers, who can conjure a rich mental image from sparse symbols on a printed page. Some television induces passive observers; other shows, such as Sesame Street and public affairs programs, can spark users' enthusiasm and enrich their perspectives. High performance computing and communications are creating new interactive media capable of great good or ill. Unless we apply innovative policies to shape the NII's evolution, today's "couch potatoes," vicariously living in the fantasy world of television, could become tomorrow's "couch funguses," immersed as protagonists in 3-D soap operas while the real world deteriorates.

The most significant influence on education will not be the building of a ubiquitous, topdown computing and communications infrastructure for our society; but the development of a second, bottom-up human infrastructure of wise designers, educators, and learners.”

If you would like to read the entire testimony, you can find it at the New Horizons for Learning website.

References

Dede, Chris." Testimony to the US Congress, House of Representatives. Joint Hearing on Educational Technology in the 21st Century. Committee on Science and Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities. October 12, 1995". New Horizons for Learning. October 2005. 29 Jan 2006. < http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/dede1.htm>